You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/epos-h3-hybrid-gaming-headset.1919/

When I took a look at EPOS’ wired H3 headset earlier this year, I praised it as one of the most comfortable headsets I’d used to date. Thanks to its oval earcups and incredibly lightweight design, it proudly sat atop my head for hours at a time with no strain or pain. I still think the H3 is a fantastic and worthwhile choice if you’re looking for a wired headset, but what if you want something more? It’s time to look at the hybrid option.

At a glance it really doesn’t look like much has changed. Outside of the fact this review unit is black, while my original H3 review unit was white (both models are available in both colours), everything looks quite similar. You have the same oval earcups, the same bulky microphone, and the same overall aesthetic. There are some changes though. The headband feels far more premium, featuring some sort of mesh-like fabric on the outside. The inside of the headband still has that same comfortable padding that moulds to even the most dome-like of heads too, providing what is still one of the nicest headphone experiences I’ve come across when worn for an extended period.

Across the casing of the earcups, you may notice there are a few additional ports and buttons. Where the original H3 was very much plug and play, the Hybrid gives you a range of options worthy of its moniker, these largely housed on the left earcup. You have a USB C port, the same assumedly proprietary jack that gives you a 3.5mm plug on the other end, and a power button. The main drawback of the headset to me comes from the power button and the necessity for the device to always be turned on to be used, even if you’re indulging in a wired connection. This isn’t so much a problem if connecting to a PC using the USB C port, since the headset will be charging at the same time. With a 3.5mm jack though, it just feels odd. There’s some solace to be found here in the 24 hour battery life advertised. As long as you remember to charge the headset every so often, you’re unlikely to run into issues.

As mentioned, you have two wired options when wanting to use the H3 Hybrid in a 3.5mm and USB C connection. On top of these, you’re also able to use Bluetooth to wirelessly pair to your device of choice. It all sounds quite standard on paper, but the Hybrid headset takes my favourite feature from my time using the LucidSound LS50X: the ability to connect to multiple devices simultaneously. It’s marvellous, even if it isn’t implemented quite as seamlessly as in the LS50X. Unlike the LS50X, one of the devices has to be wired, and the other has to be Bluetooth. On top of this, the more limited controls makes it a little more difficult to balance the audio of both devices when compared to the earcup dials of the LS50X. Having said that though, it’s a great feature for any wireless headset, and something that would be essential to me if I didn’t already own a mixer.

The out of box sound quality itself doesn’t seem to have changed all that much from the original H3 headset to my untrained ear, and that’s not a terrible thing. As previously said, it sounds fine, and ticks my box of game audio just sounding as I expect it to. No enhancements, no fancy AI manipulating it, just normal. If you are somebody interested in tweaking though, EPOS has their own Gaming Suite software with plenty to play with. Outside of the EQ, you also have a number of settings for the microphone, including a side tone slider. While I’m really not a fan of side tone, this is a headset I can at least acknowledge a use of it thanks to just how well the earcups isolate you from external sound. As with the H3, there’s no active noise cancelling, but I definitely wouldn’t hear somebody knocking on the front door if I were wearing these.

One final change from the original H3 headset is in the Hybrid’s detachable microphone and dual-microphone setup. Now the microphone in itself looks and feels just as it did before. A point I didn’t note in my original review is the interesting build of it, featuring a rigid base and end, with the central part being adjustable. It’s a really great design that allows you to get the microphone how you like it without making it a challenge to twist back up when you’re done. What makes the detachable nature of the microphone such a game changer for me is in the value it adds to the package in terms of versatility. While the headset still remains somewhat bulky, without the microphone attached I’d consider it at least viable to take with you on the go, and because of the microphone lurking within the earcup you’d still be able to take calls should the need arise.

All in all the H3 Hybrid is a fantastic upgrade from the original H3 model, but these upgrades do come at a cost. Jumping up from £89 to £149, you move into a far more competitive market of premium devices. Can the H3 Hybrid hold its own among this crowd? To an extent I believe so, and I largely think it’s propped up by its ability to connect to multiple devices at one time. They sound great and feel great, and if you’re looking for a more versatile way to enjoy what made the H3 so great, the extra £60 is more than worth it. If wireless connectivity and additional versatility isn’t so much of a requirement for you though, the original H3 is still available and still something I’d recommend.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/redmagic-6s-pro.1911/

I’m quite fond of RedMagic as a brand. Having bought and covered the 5S last year for its emulation capabilities, I’m fortunate enough to have been sent the RedMagic 6S Pro prior to its launch to explore what’s new, and whether this one’s worth a look. Having used the phone for almost a month now I’m excited to show it off for its gaming goodness in what I hope to be a more in-depth review.

First Impressions

Unboxing a RedMagic phone is always a joy. Where other brands strive for minimalist perfection with clean and simple designs, likely to draw focus to the phone itself, RedMagic instead decides to throw paint against the wall. Featuring unusual and eye-catching designs, they have a genuine appeal to them and are one of the things I look forward to each time I see a new release from them. It’s over the top, it’s unnecessary, but it’s something I’ve come to know and appreciate them for. While this design is a little more muted than the 5S box I have handy, it still stays true to my expectations.

Lurking within are your standard assortment of the phone itself, a case, a USB C to USB C cable, and perhaps increasingly-rarely, a 30W wall plug. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to use the plug since the model I received came with a US one, but I’ve had no issues in continuing to use the 18W plug that came with the 5S. The feel of the phone in my hand is almost identical to the 5S in weight and size, which surprised me given that the screen is actually bigger. The included case also has an exposed back much unlike the case of the 5S, which does go some way in solving the lack of synergy between the accessories of the product I previously criticised the phone for. With a new “dual-core” Ice Dock available, I’d be hopeful that it can just sit on top of the case.

Hardware & Design

Looking at the design of the phone, it shares a fair bit with its predecessors, the RedMagic 6 and 6 Pro. Coming from the 5S myself, there are a few changes to get used to. The most notable of these for me is the bizarre placement of the volume rocker on the left side of the device. It’s not something I’ve personally seen before and despite being a minor decision, really does confuse me when the phone is on my desk. Thanks to the almost-symmetrical design it’s really difficult to tell which way it’s facing when sat in sleep mode. You’ll also notice the buttons a little lower down than your average phone, this to make room for the signature feature: a physical fan. Sitting where you’d usually find a power button on other devices, it pulls air in from the right side and spits it out on the left. It still seems like a bit of a gimmick, but if it even keeps the phone a degree cooler during intense sessions, it’s a success in my books.

The colour options of the 6S Pro are disappointingly standard. Where I could enjoy the completely outlandish red and blue with the 5S, you’re more limited to black here. I will give due credit and commend the more premium model for its transparent back and RGB fan though. I think transparent tech is a great trend that unfortunately fell out of fashion after the days of the N64 and GBA had passed. Being able to see some of the internals is great fun, and adding a centrepiece to it in the form of an RGB fan brings it all together wonderfully from the renders I’ve seen.

As you might expect from a new gaming phone, what lies under the hood is some of the best portable technology available to the mobile market. The 6S Pro is stacked. Featuring the latest and greatest Snapdragon 888+, it comes equipped to tackle the most challenging of Android titles and emulation challenges. Add to this the same 165Hz display of the RedMagic 6 series and two unnecessarily-responsive touchpad shoulder triggers and you have everything you need to enjoy powerful portable gaming. There is one particularly odd addition to the mix here in the form of a new mappable area on the back of the phone. Situated between the RedMagic writing and the Nubia logo, there’s a small strip you can activate by sliding it. While I didn’t find a way to comfortably use it, there could be some utility here for people with smaller hands who perhaps would struggle to grip the phone in a way as to be able to reach both of the shoulder triggers. It could also be useful for those more familiar with claw grips than myself.

Red Magic OS & Game Space

Red Magic OS, the phone’s Android skin, hasn’t changed much since I last visited it. And that’s not necessarily the best thing. At its core, the experience is typical Android. You have a decent assortment of customisation options and anybody familiar with the operating system will feel at home. For those coming from iOS, you can also use a layout more closely resembling Apple’s with all your apps on the home screen; pretty standard stuff.

There are however some bugs, and these bugs have been around for many iterations of the RedMagic line. Having used the 5S as my daily driver for a decent amount of time, there were some I noticed straight away. One of the more irritating things for me was the appearance of a blank page on my home screen that could not be removed. After some trial and error, I found this bug was caused by you disabling the setting to automatically place new app icons on the home screen. Enabling that and deleting the icons manually, the extra screen plagues you no longer. There’s also a quirk with certain notifications not being dismissible, these seemingly limited to music streaming apps. The only one I’ve noticed it with was YouTube Music, though I’ve seen reports of it affecting Spotify too. These notifications are hidden away and only accessible once the notification menu is fully expanded though, so it’s not so much of an issue to me.

I did recently discover something that does improve the overall user experience though, and that’s the ability to swap out your launcher. Now, you’re probably thinking this was an obvious first choice if Nubia’s standard launcher is disappointing, but until recently I didn’t think it was actually possible. If you just download a launcher and try to set it as the default one using the usual prompt, it doesn’t work at all, taking you back to the standard launcher when you press the home button. To get around this you need to navigate to the following:

Settings > Applications > App info > “…” in top-right corner > Default app settings > Desktop

Through this totally intuitive assortment of options, I was able to set Nova as my launcher, giving me a good bit more in the way of customisation and ironing out a few of the rough patches. It should be noted that changing the launcher doesn’t have an effect on your notifications though, so you’ll be stuck with the streaming apps showing up there.

One very notable improvement for me comes from the changes to Game Space and perhaps more importantly, the fact you don’t have to use it at all to reap its benefits. On paper I like Game Space. Having an enclosed space to give you easy access to your games with extra tweaks and settings is exactly the kind of thing that should set a gaming phone apart from a more generalist device. The end product ends up being something else though. It’s just too rough around the edges to be something I’d want to use regularly thanks to its unpolished UI and almost entirely-untranslated menus. I will cut a little slack here, this is a pre-release unit, and I’m hopeful there will be an update before the phone launches to at least provide some kind of basic translation. Having said that, I can all but guarantee it won’t be great. There’s occasionally some charm to be found in dismissing a low battery notification by saying “I know”, but really it’s just an unnecessary mark of low quality Nubia could avoid by getting a decent translation team in.

As mentioned though, you can avoid Game Space altogether once you’ve been in it to mark your appropriate apps as games. As long as you’ve done this, the apps will boot as if you’re in Game Space either way, giving you access to the useful control panel of macros, framerate display, and mappable device buttons. Though even this limited part of Game Space suffers from the same poor translation, a lot of it is genuinely useful regardless. Giving Call of Duty Mobile a go for the first time, I’m left questioning how you’re supposed to comfortably play without some kind of shoulder triggers to aim and shoot.

What would really make the 6S Pro thrive as a gaming phone to me would be the inclusion of a dedicated desktop mode for when using the device with a monitor. Though you can plug it into any display and have the screen be mirrored without issue, fitting a 20:9 image on a 16:9 monitor just doesn’t cut it for me, and results in huge borders should you want to watch or play 16:9 content. I did have a play with the experimental desktop mode you can find in the Android developer settings, and I have to say as a prospect it’s a promising one. With companies like Samsung and Huawei including a polished version of this as standard with their range of phones, it’s a huge shame to see Nubia not go the extra mile here given the work creating Game Space must have been. While I do think the 6S Pro does enough to be a great phone, the versatility of a real desktop mode would have made it something more, and I really want more companies to explore this. Modern phones have so much power, why not use it to the fullest?

Benchmarking Results

For benchmarking, I’ve included test results from Geekbench 5 and AnTuTu below. As somebody who isn’t incredibly technically-minded, I don’t have much commentary to add here outside of saying the Snapdragon 888+ is probably the best mobile CPU on the market at the moment, and the scores do reflect that when stacking them up against more mainstream flagship devices. Though the 888+ is the best out there, it should however be noted it is an incredibly minor upgrade from the standard 888, so if you have one of those, the marginal performance boost will likely not be worth putting the money down for a new phone.

For the Geekbench 5 results, you’re looking at a single-core score of 1146 and a multi-core score of 3704. Running the compute benchmark, you get a score of 4698 using OpenCL, and 4061 using Vulkan.

For the AnTuTu results, the overall score sits at 863789, reportedly defeating 99% of users. To break that down, the CPU score is 223353, the GPU score is 327140, the memory score is 141296, and the UX score is 172000.

Gaming Overview

It might surprise you to see just how short the gaming section is on a gaming phone review, and that’s because there really isn’t much to talk about. As mobile devices go the 6S Pro is really the cream of the crop, and hasn’t struggled with any Android titles I’ve thrown at it yet. Genshin Impact maintains a steady 60 frames per second at the absolute maximum of settings, which leads me to lament the lack of controller support for the Android version. I’d be interested to see just how far this phone could push the game if it ever allows for an unlocked framerate.

It should go without saying that apps like Dead Cells, Disgaea 1 Complete, Forager, and Stardew Valley also run like a dream. The reason I list these ones specifically is because they all support controllers, and I’ve been having a great time playing them with my Razer Kishi plugged in. Despite the hefty 6.8 inch 20:9 display, the Kishi will just manage to wrap around the device, giving you a good grip to enjoy a good range of games. I’ve also spent a good bit of time with the likes of Geforce Now and Game Pass on the go using this setup.

Emulation performance is naturally fantastic too. Much like the 5S I looked at previously, the 6S Pro has handled everything I’ve thrown at it exceptionally, with it able to play Wii games at 1.5x and 2x resolution. The one game I’ve come across that this phone does struggle with is F-Zero on the GameCube. Regardless of which version of Dolphin I’ve tried (MMJR2 being my version of choice), I see significant drops at almost every part of the game. I am happy to see Fortune Street run at full speed now though, as the only game I tried on the 5S that wouldn’t run well for reasons far beyond my comprehension.

Camera Performance

Of all the areas I wasn’t expecting to be impressed by, the cameras were at the top of the list. When I originally covered the 5S last year, I somewhat glossed over this part of the phone, writing it off as a subpar non-focus for a gaming-centric device. To some extent, the same remains true in the 6S Pro. When comparing to a modern flagship or even a midrange more generalist device, you may be left wanting. There’s little in the way of fancy additions. You have no crazy zoom, no telephoto lens, and no weird AI features being talked about. What it does have is a three camera array, featuring a 64MP Samsung sensor at the top, an 8MP ultrawide sensor in the middle, and a 2MP macro sensor at the bottom. I’d likely be doing the sensors a disservice to attempting to talk about them in-depth, so instead I’ll cut right to the chase and get into how they perform.

Having just returned from a trip to Northern Ireland to see family, I had a great chance to try the camera out to its fullest with a nice assortment of buildings and beaches at various times of day. Frankly I’m really impressed. You can browse the pictures below.

The camera app itself is fairly intuitive for any Android users, but there are a few caveats of note. First of all, there’s the watermark. I decided to leave it on for the sake of this review, but it’s something there by default that could be easy to miss if you just pick up the phone for the first time and find yourself needing to snap a quick picture. I’ve not seen other phone brands stamp images this way so it’s odd, even if it is easy to disable. Secondly, the phone’s 64MP camera mode is hidden away in the “Phone ratio” choices of the camera app settings. This one is something I almost missed, just assuming the phone was giving me its best as I was happily taking pictures on the beach. Much like the comments on the Xiaomi 11T’s camera though, I can completely understand why this isn’t an option as standard. As well as producing huge images of between 15 and 35mb, there’s also a noticeable delay when taking a picture of around half a second. It didn’t get in the way of my picture taking, but I can see it being an irritation if I were stuck with it all the time. Whenever you close the app, the phone resets the camera mode to the non-64MP mode, which is handy given the delay. It would have been nice for this to be an option however. Much like the OS, the camera app is also littered with odd translations and limited explanation. There’s a special setting for “Intelligent Beauty” and I really couldn’t tell you what it does.

Day to Day Usage

As a daily driver, the 6S Pro has done me well for the past month or so. With a fantastic 5050mAh battery you’re able to get around two days of light usage out of a single charge, with around one day of what I would call regular usage. Using the included 30W plug, you’re able to get right back to 100% in just 65 minutes though, so to many who live their lives around plug sockets, battery life is becoming less and less of a common issue.

There is more to using a phone than how long the screen can stay on though, and I’ve touched on my major gripes in other areas of this review. Thanks to being able to use Nova launcher, I’ve had a certain degree of freedom to get the phone exactly how I like it. I can swap out the gamer-aesthetic stock application icons, I can hide apps I can’t uninstall, and I can avoid a few frustrating bugs. With the 5S, I did come across a bug where phone calls would show as withheld even if registered in the phone’s contacts. That does seem to be resolved here from the calls I have taken, so at least one thing has been fixed since then. What would put me off recommending this more than anything at the moment though is the state of the software translation. It just doesn’t feel complete, and I really hope that is because it isn’t complete yet. I reached out to the PR team for some kind of confirmation of a pre-launch update, but they’re yet to get back to me with anything solid. Nothing the phone does is particularly prohibitive to using it as a daily driver from my experience, but there are a lot of small frustrations that seem like they could have been avoided. And these do add up to an extent. A huge boon in the phone’s favour though is the stunning display and just how smooth 165Hz is in action though. If you’re coming from a 144Hz or even a 120Hz phone the difference might not be much, but for those used to the standard 60Hz it’s night and day.

Closing Thoughts

All things considered, the 6S Pro is a mixed bag for me. It is undoubtedly a phenomenal device with some of the best specs on the market, that much I can’t take away from it. What keeps me from telling you to run out and buy one now however is the current state of the software. I’m almost certain it will get better, but to what extent is what’s so difficult to predict. If you’re just wanting a powerful and portable device at a relatively affordable price (£519 for the model being reviewed), I will say you can’t go wrong for the money.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/asus-zenscreen-mb16ac-portable-monitor.1902/

I have too many monitors. I’m not going to beat around the bush on that one. I have monitors on my desk, monitors on the floor, monitors on arms, and even a monitor somehow attached to a flimsy folding table. Monitors are at the heart of my day to day life after all. I work from home on them, I watch videos on them, I play games on them. I’m sure you get the idea. But what about when I want to be productive elsewhere? How can it be feasible to throw a second screen in a bag? Given the banner image above, the answer is clear: a portable monitor.

When it comes to productivity on the go, there really is nothing sweeter than being able to pull a second screen out and get stuck in. In my mind, the apex of this idea is something we already reviewed in the SideTrak. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to what I hoped in both portability and general display quality. To this day, I’m baffled how my eInk tablet can have a better response time than a monitor, but that is the reality. Until sliding mounted monitors can become lighter and frankly just better screens, they will remain a dream for me. What comes next though? If the convenience of having a second screen attached to your laptop just isn’t feasible, what’s the next best thing?

ASUS seem to think they have the case cracked with their impressive range of lightweight and thin screens. The version I have to review today is the ZenScreen MB16AC. It’s a 15.6 inch display coming in at 780g and less than a centimetre in thickness. With it advertised as a portable monitor, I hadn’t quite come to terms with just how big 15.6 inches actually is. Taking it out of the box for the first time it struck me, and I’m a little conflicted. When you have it out on a desk, that additional screen space is undeniably appreciated, but to me this size is just one notch too large to be truly portable. The big use case however is for those already carrying laptops with these large displays. In that scenario, it’s just a case of slotting it in the bag, and thanks to its weight and thickness, I doubt there will be any issues. For those like me, there is some solace in the fact there’s another model available in the MB14AC, which is the 14 inch sibling to what I have to look at with, to my knowledge, an identical feature set.

Alongside the screen, ASUS include a folio case and a USB C cable to enable you to get started straight away. It’s worth noting that with this being a rental review the USB C cable was missing, so I can’t comment on the specifics of that. The folio case however is a bit of a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong, it’s functional. When you don’t need a stand it protects the screen admirably, and when you need something to prop it up, it offers a number of different positions to best suit your need. It’s even capable of supporting the monitor on its side, which is genuinely great. Have I used it at all with my time with the monitor? I have not. It’s just too finicky. It gets the job done, but boy do you have to fight for it. When I was trying to get things working for the first time, it took me several minutes to just find how it attaches to the device; it does so with magnets if you were curious. I’ve had the monitor propped up against my PSVR box (the most use I’ve had out of my PSVR in months honestly) since I first plugged it in and have had no issues. For my needs, a Surface-like kickstand would have been better suited, but I do understand how this can detract from a larger sense of versatility. Such a stand would make vertical positionings difficult for example. The case is fine, and a necessity for any monitor wanting to call itself portable, but it’s just not quite there for me. Where it’ll shine is with people who have clear desks, who don’t prop their monitors up with the boxes of long-since defunct tech. To get the most out of it, you really just need to have the space to use it and play around, and that’s something I’m lacking.

While getting started with the ZenScreen isn’t quite plug and play, it isn’t far off. Using the single USB C port on the side of the monitor, you can connect it to your PC using either a USB A to USB C or a USB C to USB C cable. Of these bountiful options, I was particularly interested to see how it performed using the more abnormal USB A. For this functionality, you do need to install a driver from ASUS, but once that’s out of the way, it’ll be detected normally and can be adjusted like any other monitor via Windows’ display settings. As a PC companion it does a great job. With the monitor pulling power through the USB connection, it’s ridiculously hassle-free to use once you’ve jumped the initial driver hurdle. I wouldn’t say it’s flawless though; advertising 5ms response time, there is a noticeable difference when used together with my other 4ms monitors. Without the capacity to test response times accurately, I can best describe it as noticeable but not to a degree that impacts day to day use. I have no issues using this for writing reviews (this one in fact!), browsing the internet, or reading manga. The only time you’d really feel this is if you happened to be using the monitor for a game that relied heavily on you being at your quickest. Having said that, this isn’t a gaming monitor. For what it advertises itself as, it performs admirably. If you are wanting something snappier though, as you might have guessed, ASUS have you covered with another of their many models. The MB16AH sports a Micro HDMI port for compatibility beyond your PC, but if you’re really wanting to go all out on gaming, there’s a whole range of ROG Strix monitors, some of which going all the way to 240Hz gaming with a 3ms response time. It’s a baffling labyrinth to look through all of the variants of these monitors. Every time you find yourself wanting a feature, a quick search tends to reveal that ASUS already have a model to support it.

The overall picture quality really blew me away when I turned it on for the first time. The ZenScreen has some of the most vivid colours I’ve ever come across, and produces a delightfully sharp and clear image. The IPS display does a good job in mitigating glare too. While I can still spot outlines of the person peering in on darker images, it’s something I really have to look for. If my vision is focused on text, or any other element on the screen for that matter, it’s something I don’t notice at all. You also have a reasonable assortment of settings to toy with using a somewhat clunky two-button menu navigation system. I don’t know why there couldn’t have been a third button. A third button would give you an option for up, down, and confirm or back. As it is now though, you’re left with an awkward system of navigating a menu like a one-way street, with confirmation relying on you not touching anything for a few seconds. It works, but it’s definitely something that needs work should ASUS look at iterating on the ZenScreen.

Looking at the options themselves you have a fairly standard array of things to change. You have a number of pre-configured modes, a variable blue light filter, colour settings, image settings, and a few miscellaneous system tweaks that are bundled together. There’s a lot to play with but having had my play I’ve found most of the default settings to suit my needs best. The one setting I do recommend trying is the game mode. It just makes the colours pop in a way that makes the monitor incredibly pleasant to look at.

The big question is always the same though: is it worth the money? In some ways it is, and in others it isn’t. What you should be asking yourself before browsing what’s on the market is what you want out of your monitor. Looking just at ASUS’ ZenScreen range, you have monitors ranging from 14 inches to 15.6 inches, some with Micro HDMI ports, some with built-in batteries, some with touch screens. After my time with the MB16AC, I feel confident in saying it’s a quality display at its current price point of around £200.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-torch-usb-microphone.1898/

If you’ve been keeping up to date with my reviews, you’ll likely remember the Roccat headset I recently had a look at. For those, who might have skipped over this one, I can summarise it nicely. It’s a great headset, but quite unlike my usual self, I had lost the detachable microphone within a week. While much of the reason comes down to my own idle idiocy, a significant portion of the blame has to be attributed to the fact I was just using something better to record my dulcet tones. That something is Roccat’s new Torch microphone.

Lurking within the box is the microphone itself, a base to mount it on, and a small assortment of cables. Assembly is about as simple as it gets; pop the mic into the base, connect to the base using a cable, then connect the base to your PC using a separate cable. The cables themselves are relatively standard offerings for Roccat, with some fairly sturdy-feeling braiding on show. Mounted in the base, the microphone can be rotated freely, limited largely by the length of the cable connecting it. As well as this it can be leant back, though I’m not certain of the use case for this as somebody who traditionally talks into microphones in an upright position. Even when pushed fully back though, the base offers enough stability to keep the microphone from toppling over. It’s perhaps not the most stable in this position but it’ll withstand a few knocks without falling. On the back you also have a 3.5mm jack to plug in your earphones, which is certainly a nice addition if your PC happens to sit a little distance from you.

A base or stand with a microphone is a fairly standard inclusion. With my previous Blue Snowball coming with a fairly simple tripod, I was really interested to see mixer-style controls attached to the base of the Torch. In easy reach you have a slider to adjust gain on the fly, a rocker to adjust the output volume going to your earphones via the jack, and one final rocker to move between the different patterns available to the microphone. The whole package comes together to a standard I’ve come to expect of Roccat. No part of this feels cheap, no part unintentional. The mixer functionality on the base is genuinely useful and goes a long way in justifying a more premium price for what could be considered an entry level streaming microphone.

Looking at the mic patterns available, you have the option to switch between cardioid, stereo, and whisper modes. For the vast majority of people, cardioid will suit you perfectly well. It captures the voice directly in front of the microphone, and I’ve found it significantly better than my Snowball for capturing just what’s in front, in oppose to the greater world lurking around it. If the world is what you’re wanting people to listen to though, stereo mode has you covered. Utilising the left and right audio channels, you get what could be considered a fuller sound. While I don’t think this improves the quality of speaking into the microphone, there is some definite utility to be found if recording with multiple people, instruments, or if wanting to simulate your position relative to the microphone for some kind of ASMR content. Finally, and to me, most usefully, we have whisper mode. This follows the same general ideology as the cardioid setup, with the bonus of boosting the volume somewhat. I’ve found this incredibly useful for late-night streaming with the walls in my house being relatively thin.

Though at first glance a gamer gimmick, the lighting on the microphone serves a great purpose in showing you its current configuration at a glance. With both the Roccat logo and strips of lighting to the left and right of the microphone glowing, you have a constant view of what you’re doing even if you occupy a dark room where viewing the icons on the base is too difficult. Light blue is whisper mode, yellow is cardioid mode, and purple is stereo mode. As well as the colour, you can tell the current gain level by how much of the light strips are lit. If the whole thing is lit up, you’re as loud as you can be. Half of the light strip means you’re half as loud, I’m sure you get the idea. I love the versatility to fiddle with things quickly and easily, with the visual feedback giving further incentive to pick this over software options.

The final standout feature of the Torch is a simple one, but one I really do appreciate: the ability to mute it with a wave of my hand. Thanks to a nifty sensor at the top of the microphone, you have the power to silence yourself without having to fumble about or hit any noisy buttons. You can toggle the detection range of the sensor using a switch on the back of the base, with the ability to disable it entirely also available. I’ve found it work really well when streaming, but if you happen to have cables lying near the top of the microphone, you’ll likely want to disable the feature. It can be a little too trigger-happy if the area directly above it isn’t usually empty. You can also mute the microphone by pressing in the volume rocker if you don’t mind the momentary clicking sound.

When it comes to software-based customisation options there’s surprisingly little on offer. I don’t think it’s a particularly terrible thing. As with the Syn Pro Air, I’m relieved to see Roccat moving away from Swarm as their driver software of choice in place of the newer Neon. Unlike the Syn Pro Air however, there really is nothing to tweak for the Torch. And that isn’t an exaggeration. What exactly do you use Neon for? As the aptly titled software may suggest, for the AIMO lighting. My recommendation though? Don’t. AIMO lighting is something I praise every time I review a Roccat product. The idea of a unified and smart lighting system that just decides on its own when to flow, when to dance, it’s genuinely one of my favourite things about Roccat. With the Torch though, there’s just no room for it. All that changes is the Roccat logo on the front of the device, creating a messy and uncharacteristically ununified appearance, with the bars of light surrounding it still indicating your selected pattern and gain levels. It’s a nice option I’m sure some will appreciate, but I’m a little disappointed they didn’t do a little more with it. Lighting around the base would have been particularly interesting, keeping the microphone lighting for its purpose and allowing you to experience the joys of AIMO in an unobtrusive way. I do understand something like this would have increased costs however, and at £89.99, it’s already skirting what some may deem reasonable for an introductory microphone to streaming.

I’m not going to pretend to be particularly knowledgeable when it comes to the specification of microphones. I say this a lot with headsets I pick up, but frankly, I am an end user more than I am an expert. I want to be able to use a product and know it sounds right, that it sounds good and clear. After using the Torch for around a month now, that’s exactly what I feel. Setup is as simple as plug and play, and right out of the box it sounds great. You can see below for some stream highlights showing the microphone in different settings, namely the cardioid and whisper modes. For clarity, the video of losing to Brawly is using the cardioid setting, and the video of losing to May is the whisper setting.

With not being an expert, there’s no fancy tweaking happening here. Outside of the standard OBS noise suppression plugin to mask the sound of air conditioning, you have a vanilla experience on show. To me, the standard cardioid setting sounds best, but I was quite impressed to hear just how clear I sounded with whisper mode. For those wanting to tear apart the full specs, you can find them below:

• Sample/Bit Rate: 48kHz,
• 24-bit with optional selection for 44.1kHz
• Capsules: 2 × ROCCAT Proprietary ∅14 × 6.5mm condenser capsules
• Pickup Patterns: Cardioid, Stereo, Whisper (ROCCAT Proprietary)
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Max SPL: 110dB
• Zero-latency 3.5mm, 4-Pole headphone socket

All in all though, the Torch is a microphone I love. A distinct upgrade from my aged and beloved Snowball, it stands as a fantastic entry point to better sound quality for the budding streamer. £89.99 might be a price to put some off, especially when starting out, but I feel the features offered paired with the ease of use and sound quality go a long way in justifying it. It’s one to check out.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-syn-pro-air.1897/

I’ve reviewed my fair share of headphones while writing for GBAtemp. Ever in search of comfort and versatility, I’ve used sound-enhancing ones, ones that can connect to two things at once, bulky but undeniably comfy ones, and some really high end ones for the audiophiles in the room. Coming now for my first look at Roccat’s musical affairs, I try out the Syn Pro Air gaming headset to see if it can earn a coveted long-term spot atop my peanut-shaped dome.

When it comes to the Syn Pro Air’s design, it fits right in alongside the other Roccat peripherals I’ve recently reviewed. It’s sleek, it’s lightweight, and it has the same funky hexagonal lighting as the Kone Pro Air; maybe the term “Pro Air” is just Roccat’s way of branding honeycomb RGBs? Either way, it’s a headset that looks the part. Outside of the lighting you have some luscious memory foam padding lining both the headband and the inside of the ear cups. Pair this with the same oblong-shaped cups I adored in EPOS’ H3 headset and you have something that ticks all my boxes right out of the gate.

Much like the H3, they are brilliantly comfortable. I can’t express how much nicer an oblong-shaped cup is around the ear, and how well it blocks out external sounds for you to focus on whatever you’re trying to listen to. It’s the strangest kind of vacuum, albeit somewhat less airtight here thanks to Roccat’s more breathable material choice. I’ve worn this headset for hours at a time with absolutely no kinds of aches or strains, and I have no doubt I could wear them for hours more. Though still working from home, they unfortunately weren’t a fantastic fit for me to be wearing throughout my eight hour day, and it’s probably not for the reason you’re thinking. Turning up to a meeting with flashing RGB headphones might not seem the most professional to you, but it’s perhaps what many of my colleagues expect of me at this point. Where the Syn Pro Air fall short for me is actually in its connectivity options. While working, I have a wired set of headphones plugged into a mixer via a 3.5mm jack. This allows me to have my work audio for meetings and other workly affairs, as well as some quaint background music from another source to reach my ears in an unobtrusive way for others. It’s a setup I enjoy, but because the Syn Pro Air only supports connections via its USB dongle, there’s just no way to fit them into the equation. While my setup is quite unique, the problems of an exclusively USB headset are not. In terms of compatibility, it means you’re largely stuck with PC gaming, or consoles that support generic USB headsets. That limits you to the Switch, PS4, and PS5. 

When using the headset on PC though, the experience is really quite good. Much to my delight after many reviews of complaining about it, Roccat are moving on from the driver software of my nightmares, Swarm. In its place a new and modern program rises in the form of Roccat Neon. It’s not perfect; my biggest issue is that only a handful of devices are currently supported by it, so you’ll have to have both Neon and Swarm installed should you have older devices. Having said that, it’s incredibly easy to use and has a great assortment of settings to finetune your experience. I’ve played with a lot of the settings, the 3D audio standing out when playing games, but for general use, I’ve found the default configuration best. For those with a finer ear than mine, you can spend time tweaking the EQ exactly to your liking. Powered by the 50mm Nanoclear drivers from Turtle Beach, it feels like Roccat has leveraged the wealth of headphone experience from its parent company. Having not owned a Turtle Beach headset before, I now feel a little closer to truly understanding the praise the Recon 500 headset got when we covered it a few months back.

As an exclusively-wireless headset, battery life is an incredibly important factor. You want it to survive a long gaming session, or just a long day at your desk. In this regard, the Syn Pro Air meets expectations. Advertising a 24 hour battery life, it’s built to support the longest sessions, even if it isn’t required quite to the extent you’d think. A larger battery means not having to charge the headset as much, which is always a bonus. Having said that, this is also a headset you’ll exclusively be using at a desk due to its connectivity options, where charging them is hardly an issue. While I appreciate just how long modern headsets last, I wish this one in particular gave me more ways to utilise that lifespan. It’s also probably worth noting here that I did experience some issues with charging the device at first, with Neon reporting low battery levels even after a full day of charging. A few updates later, this seems to be fixed. If you are considering this headset, make sure to get everything up to date before going any further. 

Now a headset is more than just the headphones. Featuring a detachable microphone with such fancy features as being able to mute itself when moved to the upward position, the Syn Pro Air is fully kitted out for all your gaming needs. You can check out the video above for a recording of myself using the headset microphone while streaming Luck be a Landlord. In blunt terms, it sounds really clear for a headset microphone. Naturally, you’ll have the odd boom and the quality doesn’t quite stand up to standalone microphones, but for those starting out in streaming or just those wanting to talk to friends, it’ll more than do the job. There is an elephant in the room here though. You may notice I don’t have a single picture of the headset with the microphone attached. Why is this? Because I’ve already lost it. I really wish I were joking.

The Syn Pro Air is somewhat no frills when it comes to extras. Of note, there’s no case for it, and nowhere to store the microphone when not in use. Sure you can keep it on the headset itself, but then where do you put the rubber stopper that goes in the slot while you’re not using that? Of the two components, I figured the rubber stopper would be the smaller and therefore easier to lose part, and kept it safely stowed in the headset. Roll on a week or two and I have absolutely no idea where the microphone is. I can’t put too much blame on the headset for my own idiocy, but I would like to see more of these headsets come with basic storage solutions, or even just a more noticeable way to store an entirely black microphone. For all I know, it could be lurking atop my cable-infested all-black desk, just out of sight.

All things considered though, the Syn Pro Air is a great headset if all you care about is PC gaming. At £129.99 it’s hardly a budget option, but the price does reflect in the larger build quality and design. If you’re happy with using it exclusively via its USB dongle, it’s one to check out. Otherwise, it’s likely worth looking elsewhere for a better degree of versatility, or even holding out for an improved model from Roccat down the line.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/oco.1876/

If you’ve wanted a fair dose of puzzle platforming on the go, you may recognise OCO. Originally released in 2019 on mobile storefronts, it’s a relatively simple one button title where you make a square jump as it endlessly cycles around a circular map. Your aim? To collect all the bits. It’s remarkably simple and, at its core, I think this is a large part of why it was so successful on phones. Coming to PC last week, does it still stand up?

Now it’s probably worth saying this is the first time I’ve seen OCO. While it’s been available since 2019, my interest in mobile gaming only really took off towards the end of last year as I picked up my first gaming phone. Even with it though, I’ve focussed more on high-end emulation. It’d almost feel like a waste of hardware to play something so simple! I fear this was a mistake. Being provided a code for the PC version by the PR for the game, I took it upon myself to try and ultimately buy the mobile version to see how the experience differs and how each version stands to compliment each other.

On my phone the game runs great. It’s something I expect will run great no matter what you’re playing it on, whether it’s a phone or low-end laptop. Starting out, the gameplay is as simple as mentioned earlier; you jump to avoid obstacles and collect bits. Naturally, there are a few other objectives that keep the game interesting. These are the bonus objectives of beating a given level within a “perfect” time, or within a specified number of inputs. These objectives are where the bulk of the puzzling comes in, forcing you to plan your route strategically in oppose to endlessly circling until you eventually hit everything. It’s addictive, as many mobile titles are. Though in the first world you only have basic ground and blocks that propel you in the air on contact, the game steadily builds in more elements as you work your way through it. This keeps the gameplay fresh and allows unique challenges to form around familiar concepts. I confess I’m yet to beat every level, but having sampled a bit of each world, I can safely say the levels are well designed. It’d seem like a waste to rush through them all when I have much more fun playing in small bursts. It’s not to say I haven’t been captivated for a few hours at a time though!

What really makes the PC version of OCO worthwhile for me is the brilliantly simple cloud saving solution. You log in on Steam, and you log in on your phone. And that’s it. When I finish up at my PC and pick up my phone in another room, my progress is ready for me. I really love playing a level or two on my train to work in the morning. Of course, while the game is free on mobile platforms, you will need to buy the Pro version to have access to the cloud saving functionality. This costs the same as the Steam version, at £3.99, but does bring it to the same level in terms of content and removal of adverts. Your achievements also sync across platforms too, which is always nice.

Though I’m having a great time with the standard set of levels, where the game has found and will continue to find its longevity is in user generated content. It’s remarkably easy to make and share your own levels, and it’s equally simple to play the levels of others. I personally found the making process simpler on PC thanks to the more precise nature of a mouse for clicking where you want blocks to go in the circular grid, but it’s perfectly passable on mobile too thanks to being able to zoom and pan with multiple inputs. It was in playing around with the level editor I realised that the music is entirely procedural also, adapting to what you interact with. It’s genuinely fantastic, and matches the gameplay well enough that I thought I was jumping to the music, in oppose to the music changing to my jumps. 

OCO is a game I really do recommend, regardless of which platform you think suits you better. It’s criminal it only has 14 reviews on Steam at the time of writing, and I hope I’ve given people enough insight to give it a shot. It’s a cheap punt on Steam, and completely free to try on mobile. If you enjoy addictive platforming, this is one for you.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/spiritfarer.1873/

Originally released last year, Spiritfarer is hugely acclaimed title looking at death and saying goodbye by combining character driven and management simulation gameplay into one neat package. With the game recently having seen a physical release on PS4 and Switch, I’m jumping in to see exactly what makes this title so beloved to so many.

Starting out with a cutscene, you’re introduced to the world and your role in it by the ferryman Charon. Soon to be departing, you are to be his replacement in fulfilling the last requests of spirits and eventually guiding them to the afterlife. The environmental design and music here are nothing short of magical. There’s an inexplicably whimsical sadness to it all, stemming by in large from the small connection you make with Charon, soon to be severed by his passing. This short encounter encompasses the core gameplay cycle and sets you up with a fundamental understanding of what is to come. You meet a character, you hear their story, and you help them prepare to move on before inevitably guiding them to the end. It’s all here in this first scene, and it pulls you in in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time. Leaving the scene as you paddle your small boat away, the game truly begins.

Frankly, it’s more of a journey than it is a game. Not long after the meeting with Charon, you come across your first spirit and acquire a boat of your very own. The first spirit, Gwen, has a number of small requests to get you used to how the game works, these generally being on of visiting a place or giving her an item. This is where the bulk of the gameplay lies, and I understand if that sounds mundane. To some extent, it is. It all ties together though. To give an item, you may need to refine materials. To refine materials, you may need a building. To get a building, you may need other resources. To get other resources, you may need to forage on an island. And while you’re traveling to that island, you may want to use the time to fish for food, plant crops, or, well, refine materials at the buildings you do have. There’s a simple intricacy to it all that I have to admire; one thing leads to another incredibly well.

With the setting of Spiritfarer being a large ocean with islands dotted around it, you have an issue similar to The Wind Waker presenting itself: you spend most of your time sailing from one place to the next. This ends up being different to Zelda however in how this is an integral part of the game. Instead of traveling being no more than a means to an end, it acts almost as a timer to get things done while you’re waiting to arrive at a destination to do something else. As a management sim, it does an incredibly good job of keeping you busy, while providing you with adequate freedom for your playthrough to feel unique. If I had to pick a flaw here, it would be in the very nature of the game. Though your ship may grow larger as you progress and upgrade it, allowing you to place more buildings on its grid-based deck, things still feel slow, even later into the game. I feel like factory games like Satisfactory and Factorio may have ruined other management sims for me. I’ve come to expect a degree of scaling and automation that likely wouldn’t have fit here. Such things would take away from the personal nature of growing, of refining, of cooking, and then of giving. Were it automated, you’d lose a certain extent of attachment and achievement, detracting from the interpersonal relations the game relies on to motivate you. It’s a flaw for me with how I like to play games, but it’s not something I’d change.

At the centre of the game is its characters though. As you play, every conversation carries a sense of value in it if only for your knowledge that your time with each character is finite. Understanding the point of your journey with each of them is for it to come to an end, you see even the most basic of conversation as something more. You have a build up from meeting them and growing attached to them, to eventually saying goodbye. And this is further elevated by the incredible backdrops and music. I don’t usually talk about graphics and music since they’re just kind of there. A lot of games I could play muted, a lot of games I could see a different art style working just as well as the one used. Not with Spiritfarer. Everything fits together like an intricate jigsaw, to the point that I couldn’t imagine the game missing any part of what’s offered. The physical version of the game that’s recently released is one I really think is worthwhile. Coming with what is a fairly standard soundtrack and art book, you have two of the game’s best components to experience again beyond the game, and I think that’s wonderful.

I’m not going to say Spiritfarer is for everybody. I don’t think that’s the case at all. It’s an incredibly personal journey about death, accompanied by fundamentally solid management simulation gameplay. It’s slow, but not void of content. If you’re the type of person who wants to explore, who wants to see all there is to see, and say all there is to say, you’ll have a marvellous time with the game. It’s one that’ll be in my memory for a good while to come.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/samurai-warriors-5.1871/

It’s been a while since I’ve played a Warriors game. After being disappointed by the latest Hyrule Warriors title in its performance on Nintendo’s hybrid console, Samurai Warriors 5 has had me excited for months. My favourite era of history with the fun and frantic formula I’ve come to love, on systems that are capable of showing it at its best? Sign me up.

Though I’ve been hooked on Warriors titles since the original Hyrule Warriors in 2014, I’ve never had the chance to venture into the Sengoku-era Samurai titles. At the core though, if you’ve played one Warriors game, you’ve played them all, and you’ll know exactly what kind of game you’re in for. This title follows the legendary fool Nobunaga as he takes some of the first significant steps in unifying a nation of warring states. The campaign is broken down into chapters which signify story arcs of sorts, with there being several individual scenarios to play to progress through each. The scenarios play out pretty much how you’d imagine. It’s a relatively large battlefield where you’re guided from point to point completing objectives, all while clearing out hordes of enemies with style.

Playing the first scenario I decided to see how the game fared on hard difficulty, and I can say it’s something I don’t really recommend. As with various other Warriors titles, Samurai Warriors 5 starts out slow. You only have one character, you only have one weapon, your movement is excruciating with no option to run, and your combos are limited. Naturally, it doesn’t stay this way for long. You build up your character choices, your armoury, you level up your characters, but at the start you have a slog. And this slog is only made worse by elevating the difficulty. Where standard enemies would drop in a few hits, they survive for four or even five. Add to this officers that that take upwards of a minute to take down and you have something entirely unlike the Warriors experience I come to expect. If there is a positive to the longer fights against officers, it gives you a good amount of time to learn basic mechanics like parrying and dodging, but it just isn’t worth it. After getting through the first scenario, I dropped the game down to easy, with the intent to return for the harder difficulties when better equipped.

With enemies falling faster, the game soon picks up pace. Even with limited resources at the start, you feel as though you’re making meaningful progress as things unlock throughout the first chapter. By the end of what is ultimately the tutorial segment, you have far more freedom to experiment and find what’s the most fun for you and then roll with it. The real turning point for me was unlocking Ieyasu Tokugawa and getting to experience his violent and frantic twin blades. Much faster and fluid than Nobunaga’s default odachi great sword, I was instantly drawn in and set to work upgrading the first one I found. Unlike the Nintendo Warriors games I’d mostly played before this, any character can use any weapon. Each character has a preference where you’ll get a mastery bonus, but ultimately, you’re free to use whatever with whoever. It’s fantastic. Where in Hyrule or Fire Emblem Warriors you may have been stuck using a character and by extension, a moveset, you don’t like for various story chapters, you can mix and match here to have as consistent or varied an experience as you’d like. Even if you do find the weapon you think will be the one, experimenting is something I really do encourage, if only for a bit of a break from your regular routine. With the Warriors franchise known for a certain degree of monotony, these small changes can go a long way.

Outside of the main campaign, Samurai Warriors 5 features a secondary mode as most other Warriors titles before it. I have to say this one is a little lacklustre to the other titles I’ve tried. Citadel mode, accessible after completing the first chapter, is really quite a simple concept. You progress through a list of scenarios, each time repelling enemies coming towards your base. If a certain number of enemies get into your base, you lose, and you receive various rewards based on your performance. The rewards in this mode go towards upgrading facilities such as the dojo or blacksmith, to upgrade your characters and weapons respectively. The higher level the facility, the more you you’ll be able to use them. With the way the game is structured, you won’t be able to get the most out of citadel mode right out of the gate. This is because to upgrade structures, your castle rank needs to be of an adequate level, this increasing with progress in the standard campaign. While I do feel this mode can be a little bit of a slog if you’re just going to sit there and try to get through it all in one go, I have to concede that probably isn’t how it’s intended to be played. Instead of thinking of this as a separate entity to the campaign, I feel it’s much better served as a supplement, a break of sorts. It comes again back to the breaking up of samey gameplay by providing a twist, if only a small one. By switching from the campaign as your castle levels up, to citadel mode to increase your facility levels, you have a back and forth that helps keep either mode from becoming stale. On top of that, you’re also rewarded with the time-saves that come from having these facilities upgraded, helping you diversify by training characters and upgrading weapons you perhaps may not have tried before.

Having played the Xbox version of the game on a Series X console, the visual experience was divine. Using Quick Resume I did experience a stutter just after I loaded back into a map, but aside from that the game ran brilliantly. With the game available on such a wide range of consoles though, perhaps most notably the Switch, your mileage may vary. The only real flaw I can take from the presentation is the lack of English dubbing for the dialogue. While this may seem like a matter of taste in many games, the Atelier series notably dropping English dubs in their new titles, this is a case where it has a genuine negative impact. In a game like Atelier, you have voiced dialogue you can read at your own pace. It’s supplementary to the larger game and allows you to better relate with the characters on-screen. In Samurai Warriors 5 you can say this still holds true. Before each scenario, you’re treated to a cutscene, and sometimes in-engine dialogue sequences. These are all fine with subtitles, or the usual dialogue boxes you can advance with a button press. Where things are a little less than ideal is during the gameplay, where you’ll hear a character call out that they’re in trouble, or alert you of a new objective. These are subtitled just the same, but in taking a moment to read them, you’re diverting your attention from the action, which can in turn have a larger impact on your overall performance if you’re trying to work up a high combo for a better score. A dub would have helped tremendously here.

As with any Warriors game though, I dare say this review serves as little more than a reminder a new game is out. At this point, everybody knows what a Warriors game is. Everybody knows of the frantic hacking and slashing through hordes, and everybody knows if it’s for them. If you love it, you’ll love this. If you don’t, this game won’t be the one to change your mind. While the series escalates over time, becoming more fluid and visually appealing, at its core it’s changed less than Pokemon over the years, for better or worse. I had a great time with the game, and hope to see it revisited down the line with an Empires edition to perhaps bulk it out a bit with more secondary gameplay. If you like the Sengoku era and you like hack and slash though, pick this up. You won’t regret it.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/asus-rog-claymore-ii-wireless-keyboard.1866/

I’m no stranger to a nice keyboard. Regularly rotating between my favourite mechanical marvels, I find great satisfaction in trying the new and interesting, so could hardly pass up the opportunity to put the ROG Claymore II through its paces.

Now “new and interesting!?” I hear you cry. It’s just another keyboard! And that’s true, entirely so. It’s not split, no weird ergonomics, no standout oddities at a glance. Looking down at it now as I type these very words, it’s remarkably normal-looking. You have a brushed aluminium plate serving as a cool-to-the-touch base with clean black keycaps littered above it. The font is blocky, but not so garish as to lean too hard into the gamer aesthetic of years gone by. Right off the bat though, I was struck by the clarity of the lighting shining through the keycaps. The colours are remarkably vivid through the lettering on the keycaps, with very little light bleeding out from beneath the keys. It’s not something that comes through as well as I’d like in pictures, but it really is quite remarkable. And it set a great tone for what was to follow. 

The Claymore II does hide a few tricks, the most notable being its detachable numpad. By sliding it from its rail, you’re able to transform this full-sized keyboard into a more portable tenkeyless model, which is fantastic for a wireless keyboard you may want to be taking with you. But that’s not where it ends. On top of being able to remove it outright, you’re able to slot it back in place not only on the right, but on the left of the keyboard. Heresy I hear you cry! I’m not going to pretend this is a revolutionary change that completely altered how I use a keyboard. It isn’t. But it’s not to say it doesn’t have its use cases. In MMOs where you may need a significant number of skills bound to keys, you could quite easily map 8456 as your traditional WASD movement, freeing up uninterrupted rows of keys. You could also just have a complete set of macros in easy reach. It’s not something I expect everybody to use, but those who do experiment will likely come to appreciate the options on offer.

Moving onto the star of the show though, it’s time to talk about ROG’s RX optical switches. To cut to the chase, these are without a doubt the most satisfying switches I’ve used in a mechanical keyboard. At a surface level, you might see red and blue variants and simplify the switches to quiet and clicky, just like other reds and blues, but to do so would be such a disservice to the typing experience they provide. With an actuation point of 1.5mm you’ll find every keypress to feel incredibly responsive if you’re used to standard MX switches. For blue switches especially, they’re also surprisingly quiet. You still have the click you’d expect, but that’s really it. My Keychron C2 by comparison, with box white switches installed, has an accompanying thud with each keypress as the key hits the base of the keyboard. While the box whites are the closest point of comparison I have, the RX blues are a world apart. These are supported by a unique hollow square stem that holds the keycaps firmly in place. They’re brilliantly stable, though this design does limit your options if you wanted to swap out the keycaps. It’s also in this we see just how the lighting is so concentrated. With each light sitting completely enclosed by the square switch it shines directly up, in oppose to bursting out all sides. I love it. 

Having recently built a new PC, I decided to give Armoury Crate another go after disappointing results in my Keris review. Thankfully it does work now, and it’s pretty much everything I expected it would be. Using the software, you can keep your device firmware up to date, as well as configure lighting and key values to your preference. The latter of those is particularly great if you decide to attach the numpad to the left side of the keyboard, making it an interesting and easy to reach macro pad as mentioned earlier. The software is remarkably simple to use, with a surprisingly clean aesthetic. The two issues worth mentioning here though are the lack of customisation options for the scroll wheel situated on the numpad, limiting it to volume control exclusively, and the lack of a configurable function layer. Where Roccat has its Easy Shift to give additional functionality to a standard keyboard layout, and the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard has four (it could even be more now with that having received several updates since my original review) configurable layers, the Claymore II feels notably lacking. It’s not so much of a deal-breaker for me, but it is something it lacks in comparison to much of its competition.

Despite this being a wireless keyboard, I have to confess I’ve mostly been using it tethered. Being somebody stuck at the same desk with the same PC for most of the day, there’s little need for me to be burdening myself with keeping on top of the battery life of wireless peripherals when they could just be connected. Having said that, I did naturally see what the keyboard had to offer in this department. Connecting to a PC with a 2.4GHz dongle, the wireless experience is no different to the wired one, at least to my eye. The keyboard packs a 4000 mAh battery with an advertised 43 hours of battery life with lighting on and the numpad connected, along with an incredibly handy battery level indicator. While it may seem like a small touch, the indicator being as clear as it is with four distinct bars is a huge positive to me. Too many wireless products resort to obscure means of telling you they need charging, or just don’t altogether, leaving you with a frustrating surprise. It’s great to see that isn’t the case here. While not being used wirelessly, the dongle can also be stowed away in the keyboard, where it’s held in place by magnets in an attempt to keep you from losing it, something else I’m quite fond of.

All in all, the Claymore II has quickly become my favourite keyboard in terms of sheer typing experience thanks in no small part to the RX switches. At £200 it may be a hard sell for some, but with great customisation options, a detachable and moveable number pad, and great wireless support, it goes a long way in justifying itself. This is a keyboard I’m genuinely sad to be returning to Asus after the review, and is something I would consider buying myself should my current stow of keyboards simultaneously break overnight. You won’t regret checking it out.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-kone-pro-air-wireless-mouse.1860/

Alongside the Roccat keyboard I reviewed a little while ago, I received a mouse. Much like the keyboard, I’ve had a Roccat mouse before too in the Kain 200 AIMO, and it’s actually been my daily driver since writing the review a little over a year ago. It was, and still is, a mouse with an incredibly premium feel to it, but since losing the wireless dongle a few months back, I’ve been eager to look for another. Enter the Kone Pro Air.

Having just finished up a review of Asus’ ROG Keris a week or so ago, I’ve been suitably engrossed in general mousery of late, and it’s been a fun learning experience for me. With my previous mouse being one of Roccat’s, I had a general idea of what to expect as I opened the box. It’s sleek and stylish, it looks the part of a premium mouse, but like the Keris, I was again struck by just how light it is. Though slightly heavier than the Keris at 75g, it does a good job in living up to the air moniker in its name. If you’re used to something heavier, the adjustment period is slightly awkward, but within a day or two, it’ll feel natural.

The shape of the mouse lends itself to right-handed users well. With a textured indent for your thumb to rest in, it feels fantastic to hold and incredibly comfortable to use over extended sessions. All the clicks are satisfying, but one thing that caught my attention in particular was the aluminium scroll wheel. It’s bizarre, and I don’t quite know if I like it. Looking at it from the side, you can see cleanly through it. It’s a fantastic look. I just can’t decide whether it feels nicer than your more standard rubber offerings. I find myself scratching at it with my nail subconsciously and being surprised each time as it feels almost ceramic instead of the softer materials I’ve come to recognise. It’s interesting if nothing else.

As with pretty much every Roccat product of this modern age, the Kone Pro Air effortlessly integrates into AIMO ecosystem, and the way it does so is striking. Where I praised the Keris for its distinct and clear colours shining onto the mouse wheel, Roccat take a completely different approach in shining its lights of many colours through a honeycomb pattern on each mouse click. It’s a brilliantly visual way to illustrate the internal structure of the mouse, with honeycombing mentioned frequently in this kind of light design. Outside of that though, it is genuinely unique and interesting to make the mouse stand out from a lighting perspective. Naturally, if you’re running Roccat’s Swarm software in the background it’ll interact with your other AIMO-enabled peripherals. Seeing a wave transition from your keyboard to your mouse is the weirdest kind of satisfaction.

Now I’ve not been shy in airing my grievances when it comes to Swarm. It crashed a lot when I reviewed the Vulkan, it crashed a lot when I reviewed the Kain, and it still crashed a lot when I reviewed the Pyro in recent weeks. It’ll be no surprise to anybody reading this that it still crashes a lot! There are a few positives to take away here though. First and foremost, Swarm isn’t required to get the most out of the mouse in the same way it might be for a keyboard. All the configurations done within the software are saved to the mouse and are usable on a machine regardless of whether the software is open, or even installed. Using Roccat’s Easy Shift, you get an extra layer of functionality for each button, allowing me to create a media remote without having to sacrifice any core mouse features. It’s a mouse that just works, and it works incredibly well once you’ve got it set up to suit your preferences. If AIMO lighting does mean a lot to you, I have also recently discovered an app called “Restart on Crash”, and it does exactly what it sounds like it does. It doesn’t necessarily excuse Roccat’s oddly unstable software, but it at least gives you a hassle-free way to keep using it.

Being a fairly premium wireless mouse, the Kone Pro Air has several connectivity options for you to pick between. First and probably most common nowadays is the wireless dongle. This is my go-to when lying on my bed watching things from afar. Thanks to the media configuration I have, I can effortlessly control my PC without the need for a keyboard at my side. It’s entirely plug and play with no kind of pairing process or drivers required. Next up is what I use the majority of the time: wired. Now sure, it might seem a bit counterproductive to be picking up a wireless mouse to just have it tethered to a PC the majority of the time, but for me, a wireless mouse is about options. If I’m in reach of a PC, a wire, especially such a flexible one string-like one as this, isn’t a hassle. Using this primarily also keeps the mouse fully charged for when wireless is preferable. Though I’m no kind of competitive gamer, I didn’t notice a difference in performance between the dongle and the wired setup, though I imagine those more sensitive to intricate movements may pick up on slight discrepancies.

Last but still certainly deserving of a mention is the mouse’s Bluetooth capabilities. This is something I’ve used once or twice in my few weeks of having the Kone Pro Air, and frankly, it’s not something I’m going to be using much in the future either. While it’s a convenient option to have, especially if you’re struggling for USB ports or happen to lose the dongle as I did with the Kain, you do lose out on some of the mouse’s better features. Ultimately, in Bluetooth mode, it’s just a mouse. All your fancy changes are gone and all your settings are standard. It gets the job done and I’m grateful to have it, but with the mouse being able to house its USB dongle in its casing, I doubt there’ll be a repeat of my previous misfortunes.

Looking finally to the sensor, we see Roccat’s variation of the PAW3370 in the Owl-Eye 19K. To the eyes, or I suppose more fittingly, hands, of a plebeian like myself, it’s brilliant. The cursor moves incredibly smoothly across the screen with no noticeable signs of correction or alignment to my inputs. For those wanting to dive deeper into the specs though, I’ll attach them at the end of the review for your perusal.

All in all, Roccat’s Kone Pro Air is a fantastic mouse, and one I can’t help but recommend for those after a heavily customisable and versatile wireless experience. At £120, you are undoubtedly paying a premium for these features, and that isn’t something that should be glossed over. If you’re just wanting something wired and don’t plan on swapping buttons around, there will be better options out there for less money. If however like me, you’re wanting a stylish, comfortable, and versatile mouse to last you, this is one to consider.