Tom's Guide

If you're clued into social media, or terminally online like I am, you may have noticed posts of people realizing that photos shot on iPhone look different if they stick their hand in the frame. Instead of the drab, washed out browns and greens, you end up with a photo with warmer and more vivid colors than before. The only trade-off is that you need to have your hand in frame to get the effect. Obviously, I was curious about whether this was actually true, and how much of an impact sticking your hand in shot actually makes to the final photo. As it turns out, yes, I could mimic the same effect by putting my own hand between the camera and the foliage. And there's a very good reason for it, and that reason means iPhone 18 Pro owners can avoid going to these same extremes.

I’ve spent thousands of hours with my PS5 since launch. But in all that time, every single one of the best PS5 games I’ve enjoyed has been played on a stock DualSense controller. I’ve never used a so-called “pro” controller. That was until this week, when I got my hands on Nacon’s new Revolution 5 Unlimited controller, designed for use with Sony’s current generation console (and PC). It’s opened my eyes to a whole new way of experiencing competitive gaming. It's made returning to my regular old DualSense a challenge (sadly, the Revolution 5 Unlimited sometimes needs to charge). This $230 / £179 pad most definitely qualifies as a pro controller, offering a vast array of features and upgrades: Magnetic TMR joysticks, dual-mode actuation triggers, and seven (yes, seven) fully programmable shortcuts. And that’s just the start; there’s one upgrade that stands out most of all, and it turns this third-party controller into a genuine game-changer.

I'm just going to rip off the Band-Aid: the xBloom Studio coffee machine is $599. Alright, now that's out in the open, let's get to the bottom of what the xBloom Studio actually is. Although it looks like something you'd find in a minimalist NYC apartment (life goals), the xBloom Studio is a maximalist coffee machine. It's a pour-over, scale, and grinder in one. It's even app-compatible, so you can customize your drink down to the milliliter. Like the Ratio Four ($279), it's an automated pour-over, but unlike the Ratio Four, it's got the aforementioned built-in grinder, built-in scale, and app control. Is that extra $329 worth it?

If you read any review for Apple’s new MacBook Pro, you will see a lot of folks drooling over the new PROLED XDR display. And they’re not wrong — flawless color calibration, a new touchscreen interface and up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness. But if you look past the shiny new Dynamic Island, you’ll see a darker reality. One where what I like to call “OLED washing” is happening. Apple didn’t build a machine for the next generation of computing (local AI). They built a $2,899 luxury item. If you want to see what a real, weaponized local AI computer looks like in 2026, you need to look away from Cupertino and start looking more closely at the better value-for-money monsters being built with Nvidia’s RTX Spark and AMD’s Strix Halo inside.

The GMKtec Neo-X1 Pro is a desktop gaming PC with a twist. Unlike other large, bulky desktops, it’s remarkably compact with a volume of 14.6 liters, making it even smaller than the HP Victus 15L. Known for making some of the best mini PCs, the Neo-X1 Pro is GMKtec’s first-ever small form factor (SFF) gaming tower. To get its design this small without overheating, the company used a custom all-in-one liquid cooler paired with a high-end mobile AMD CPU. However, the Neo-X1 Pro still packs in a desktop-grade Nvidia RTX 5070 dedicated GPU. I’ve been using the Neo-X1 Pro as my daily driver for both work and gaming for the past two months, and it has continued to impress me. From its compact design — complete with carrying handles — to its near-silent performance even under load, this gaming desktop certainly delivers. Just as if you built your own SFF PC, you are paying a premium for its more compact size.

The iPhone Duo launch has not been without its problems, and I don't mean the lengthy waits people are suffering to get hold of one. Some users are experiencing what has been dubbed "crackgate," with their internal screens breaking for seemingly no reason. Nobody is quite sure what the problem is, but one leaker claims Apple may have figured out which phones could be affected. According to Kang on Weibo (via Ice Universe), the issue itself has been traced to "defective materials" at one of Apple's two hinge suppliers. They claim this isn't an issue with the hinge design, which presumably explains why it hasn't affected more Duo users. Then again, it's impossible to tell how many Duo users are out there, considering how limited the initial supply seems to be. Plus, social media posts give a very distorted view of just how many screens have broken, and all we have from Apple is a claim that "only a small number of iPhone Duo units" are affected. Kang says Apple can identify the affected iPhone Duos from their serial numbers, which should mean the company can be more proactive in how it deals with the crackgate problem. However, it's unclear what Apple's plans are and how it intends to deal with this botched batch of Duo units.

Apple has long opposed releasing a touchscreen MacBook, with Steve Jobs himself calling touchscreen laptops “ergonomically terrible” and saying that “touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical.” As recently as 2021, current Apple CEO John Ternus stated that “the Mac is totally optimized for indirect input” and that Apple hadn’t “felt a reason to change that." Now, in late 2026, Apple has reversed course by releasing the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display — its very first touchscreen MacBook. Touchscreen laptops have been around for almost two decades, so Apple is decidedly late to the party here. That said, the wait has arguably been worth it for touchscreen lovers, as the feature works as well as Apple has advertised. As someone who has tested dozens of touchscreen laptops, I can tell you that the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is easily among the best.