Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 review

We love an all-singing, all-dancing flagship phone here at Stuff, but we're suckers for a great bargain, too.

After all, why splash out crazy money on the latest thing, when a much cheaper model can do a similar job for much less moolah? That's exactly why it's been hard not to recommend Vodafone's budget phones over the past year.

Both the Prime 7 and Prime 7 Ultra are stunning bargains that show Samsung how it’s done on a tight budget. Now, though, Vodafone is really stretching itself. 

The Smart Platinum 7 is not a £100 phone, it’s a £300 one. One with serious hardware, and a serious price to match - a combination that might be enough to lure you away from dropping top dollar on a Samsung's Galaxy S7.

FIX UP, LOOK SHARP

Vodafone’s cheaper mobiles used to be happy to trade a fancy design for a bargain price, but that's all changed now. The £75 Smart Prime 7 even had a hint of style to it, and the Smart 7 Platinum goes all-out.

There’s glass on the front, glass on the back and bevelled aluminium around the sides. No doubt about it, this is top-notch construction.

As for looks, though? The Smart Platinum 7 isn’t going to blow its rivals off the catwalk. I think it looks better from the front than the back, mostly because of the pseudo-3D carbon fibre-effect finish that's desperate to catch the light, and the ugly text covering the sticky-out camera. 

I might not edit any fashion magazines, but I reckon it would look a shade better with something like the Sony Xperia Z5's frosted glass rear. 

It's only a few millimetres wider than the Galaxy S7 Edge, but feels even bigger in your hand because the shape is a wee bit boxy. It doesn't feel at all cheap, though, and isn't as much of a palm destroyer as the iPhone 6s Plus.

FINGER ACTION

As the first truly expensive Vodafone phone, the Platinum has a lot to prove, so plenty of top-spec features make the cut. You get a fingerprint scanner on the back, for example - right where Huawei and LG tend to plonk their pads.

It's a mystery which company actually makes the phone (Vodafone uses manufacturing partners), but I get the feeling it may have masses of experience with these things.

The fingerprint sensor works just fine, but it's clearly a bit slower than the scanners on other top-end phones. Those try their best to convince you they're scanning before your finger even touches the pad, but this one is in much less of a hurry.

In standby mode, I regularly had to wait a few seconds before the Platinum would notice, like pressing the buzzer at a B&B reception in the deepest, darkest recesses of the English countryside. Fingers crossed this’ll quicken up with a software update, as it's normally nippy enough, and its ability to deal with wet fingers suggests the hardware's up-to-date.

The other design highlight is the pair of front-loaded speakers. They’re deliciously subtle, with little grilles above and below the screen being the only sign they're there at all. They also sound terrific - for a phone setup, anyway.

They do a great job of making the sound wide and involving when you’re stuck down a YouTube rabbit hole of cartoon theme tunes from your youth. Or whatever else you waste your life away online with.

Sound quality is remarkably good too, with unusually good bass power and even a pretty good sense of separation between the parts of a mix when you play music. They don’t make the Smart Platinum 7 turn into an angry vibrating plate as soon as you turn the volume up, either.

I wish they were an extra notch louder, as they are overpowered by the OnePlus 3, even though this phone’s sound quality is significantly better.

SHAM-SUNG?

The Smart Platinum 7 waves two fingers up at Sony, HTC and LG with its 2560x1440 OLED screen. That's rubbing shoulders with Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

It’s big, it’s pin-sharp, and there's a good chance it uses a Samsung-made panel, so has more in common with top-end Galaxys than mere resolution.

If you’re a screen snob like me, you’ll find the colours a bit oversaturated when you first switch it on. Vodafone's borrowed a few more ideas from Samsung, though, with ‘natural’, ‘adaptive’ and ‘vivid’ screen modes. There’s a temperature slider too. 

I liked the Smart Platinum 7 with a natural, warm-leaning setting: it’ll look like the phone equivalent of a knackered old library book to some of you, but you can go your own way.

The Smart Platinum 7's screen is no match for the best Samsung phones in some other, though. Take it outside on a bright day and visibility is only OK.

A Galaxy S7 Edge goes all DEFCON 3 when it’s bright out, overdriving the display and radically ramping-up the colour saturation to make things as clear as possible. The Smart Platinum 7 has no similar tricks. It copes outdoors, but not with the same style.

RED LIGHT DISTRICT

Then there’s the tricky bit: the software. Do you really want the phone you spent £300 on to be plastered with network-branded apps, and be locked to Vodafone? The Smart Platinum 7 feels like you’re getting a good deal in pure hardware terms, but the OnePlus 3 and Oppo F1 Plus also land around the same price.

Don't sit scratching your head, though. The Smart Platinum 7 only has five Vodafone apps, which mostly just sink into the app drawer like the calculator you spend three minutes looking for once every six months.

The more invasive ones are the calls and texts apps. They’re actually pretty similar to the ones you get with any other Android phone, but push Vodafone’s internet calling and texting services. As someone who exclusively uses WhatsApp to text and considers phone calls an unfortunate part of life admin these days, I haven’t really used either.

The only annoyance is how the deep red shade of icon Vodafone uses for, well, everything is so much less chilled-looking than the one Google uses for its Chrome and Gmail apps.

They’re little red boiled sweets stuck onto what is otherwise a totally standard take on Android. The apps menus and home screens could have been ripped right from a Nexus phone, and the Platinum launches with the up-to-date Android 6.0.1.

MIDDLE-WEIGHT SPARRING

The built-in apps don't slow the Smart Platinum 7 down at all, even if it doesn't have the Snapdragon 820 CPU phones like LG's G5 are so very proud of.

The Snapdragon 625 it has instead is every bit the mid-range CPU. It's not as fast as the very best for raw speed or 3D graphics, but keeps up wit hthe Snapdragon 808 in last year's LG G4, and matches Samsung's Galaxy A9, which costs more but otherwise has lower-end specs.

Still, with eight cores, that translates to a score of 4943 in Geekbench 3 - miles faster than the Snapdragon 618 and company you might find in other phones costing £200-300.

Harcore techies might raise an eyebrow that this is a 28nm chip, not a newer, (potentially) more efficient 14nm one, but before we drown in numbers, let's look at whether that matters out in the real world.

Day to day? Nope. The Platinum 7 feels nippy all day long. It does have 3GB of RAM, after all. It was only with a few games that I saw a tiny hint of compromise. 

In Asphalt 8 there’s an occasional frame rate drop when the graphics are maxed-out. That’s it. In Minecraft you can fiddle with the view distance and the POV until it’s almost uncomfortable to play, and Dead Trigger 2 plays perfectly.

Apart from the more powerful OnePlus 3, this is one of the best gaming phones you can get at the price, especially with those great stereo speakers pumping out sound.

STUTTERY SHUTTER?

The 16MP camera on the back certainly sounds right for the price. It's got phase detect autofocus, LED flash and an f/2.0 aperture lens, so it'll open wide and stay locked on your subject before you hit the shutter button.

In the right light, the Platinum can really hold its own, capturing loads of detail and judging how much to expose a shot with good accuracy. Vodafone claims it has 'zero shutter lag', and while it's not quite that instant, normal snaps are dead easy to shoot.

Can you feel the "but" coming? There are a few issues that stop it from being anywhere near as good as the Galaxy S7, currently the bishop of bad-assery when it comes to phone cameras.

First, the processing sometimes ends up super-ugly. A few of my daylight shots look so grainy they could have been made by some particularly talented kids with a glue stick and some colourful sand. There’s no obvious reason why, either: fast shutter speed, low ISO: sounds right. They look fine zoomed-out too, but a horror show up-close.

Switching to HDR seemed to fix this, showing that whatever software brains are running the show just aren't that well-optimised. You can't switch to HDR and snap away 24/7, either. HDR is much slower than normal shooting, making the Platinum's camera much less fun to use.

The Galaxy S7 also destroys the Smart Platinum 7 in lower light. Shots turn a bit soft at night, like a cheesecake base that’s been left out in the sun. There’s no real software failing here beyond the colours looking undersaturated - the phone just doesn't have image stabilisation so has to crank up the sensitivity to stay afloat. 

You need to keep your hands steady, too, with the shutter speed slowing down to 1/12 of a second. It might let the Platinum take fairly good low-light shots for a phone without OIS, but you've got to be on the lookout for blurry results.

Video capture goes up to 4K, with software stabilisation meaning you don't miss out too much from the lack of OIS. The selfie camera is fairly good too, an 8-megapixel sensor able to capture a good amount of detail indoors. Like the main camera shots, though, colour saturation takes a slight hit when light conditions aren’t perfect.

BATTERY STRIFE

Camera and fingerprint scanner issues only become real problems here because, unlike the Smart Ultra, this phone costs serious money. Battery life is another so-so bit part.

This phone has the same 3000mAh battery capacity as the Ultra, even though the screen resolution is way higher.

It’s not too tricky to get the phone to last a full day, but you probably won’t get all that much more unless you start using the Android Power Saver mode, which puts great big orange bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Not a good look.

The Smart Platinum 7 lasts for 10 hours 30 minutes of video between charges. It's fine, it’s acceptable, it’s OK - but stamina is one of the least notable parts of this phone.

It comes with a fast charger that’ll get you from 0 per cent to around 90 in an hour and a half, though, which is pretty nice as apologies go.

VODAFONE SMART PLATINUM 7 VERDICT

OK, so the Platinum doesn't quite destroy everything in its price bracket like the classic Smart Ultra: the OnePlus 3 is flat-out nicer, even if it doesn't have quite as many screen pixels.

It feels like Vodafone hasn't made quite enough of the hardware in a few areas, too. The fingerprint sensor feels a little slow, and the camera processing doesn't quite make enough of what seems to be a good sensor.

Not quite a world-beater, then, but if you're only after a kick-ass screen and you're on a budget, this is still a fantastic buy.

TECH SPECS 

Screen

5.5in, 2560x1440 OLED

CPU

octa-core Snapdragon 625

RAM

3GB

Storage

32GB on-board, microSD

Camera

16MP rear, 8MP front

Operating system

Android 6.0.1

Battery

3000mAh

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Microsoft Xbox One S preview

The Xbox One is a big slightly overwhelming hunk of tech, especially compared to the streamlined PlayStation 4. Put the two together, and you've got a Hummer sitting next to a Ferrari. But that's all set to change.

It took about three years, but Microsoft is finally ready to address the complaints, with the new Xbox One S. It's a much slimmer version of the console, with a redesigned look and internal power supply (huzzah!), but it also comes with extra tech perks to boot.

Said perks include 4K resolution for Blu-rays and streaming, as well as HDR (high dynamic range) support for games and media alike. You've also got a top-end 2TB storage option for holding onto loads of games and other content, along with a new controller. Someone's been busy.

It's coming quick, so you'd better read up: here's what to expect from the Xbox One S.

XBOX REBORN

Intimidated by the hulking Xbox One hardware? The Xbox One S puts on a friendlier, streamlined facade with a new design that's 40% smaller than the original. And that includes a built-in power supply, which should save you a bit of room (and mess) in the entertainment centre. It's about bloomin' time.

It's not just smaller, but also redesigned, with a new "robot white" paint job, a nice contrast between smooth and speckled halves of the front face, and a big fan opening on the top to keep the console nice and cool. Microsoft also popped a USB port on the front for easier access, and built in an infrared blaster for using other remotes with the console.

Not only that, but this new form can be used either horizontally or vertically, with a handy vertical stand bundled with the 2TB model or sold separately for the less-voluminous versions. All told, the Xbox One S looks cooler and more distinctive – not just like a set-top box with an Xbox logo slapped on.

The newer model is still compatible with Kinect, assuming you still use (or want) Microsoft's largely abandoned motion sensor, but now requires a special adaptor since the port isn't built into the Xbox One S.

SHARPER THAN EVER

While the dream of 4K console gaming won't be realised on the Xbox side until next year'sProject Scorpio console, the Xbox One S is newly equipped to pump out sharper movies and TV shows. It supports both 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, and streaming media via Netflix and other services, letting you take advantage of compatible content if you have the TV for it.

And that's not all: high dynamic range support comes across the board. With HDR, your games and media will look even more beautiful than ever, thanks to a wider contrast between light and dark colours, and some video experts say HDR is an even more meaningful upgrade than 4K in many cases.

We'll leave that for you to decide, but all the same, we can't wait to play games like Forza Horizon 3 and Gears of War 4 with HDR lighting, or experience Mad Max: Fury Road all over again, with those stark colours blown out to an incredible degree.

Note, however, that the Xbox One will only support the HDR10 standard at launch (via Polygon), and there's no word yet on whether it will also support Dolby Vision HDR at some point. If it doesn't, and your TV prefers the Dolby flavour of HDR, then you might be out of luck this autumn. We'll update this if we hear any further word on the matter.

MORE POWER! (SORT OF)

While the Xbox One S uses the same chips as the original model, you might see a very tiny improvement in game performance at times: Microsoft says they've allotted a bit more power for developers to take advantage of HDR, but developers can apparently use it in other ways too.

Gears of War 4 studio The Coalition says it's using some of that power to improve the frame rate during especially intense moments in the upcoming shooter, which means a smoother experience for players rocking the latest console.

That might be disappointing for current Xbox One owners who don't want to buy a new version of essentially the same console, but take solace: any enhancements will probably be very minor, and games won't just "run better" on the Xbox One S without specific work by developers to make it happen.

All that said, however, if you buy the Xbox One S, you can be assured that you're running the best possible version of any Xbox One game. Well, at least until Project Scorpio arrives in late 2017.

SHINY NEW CONTROLLER

While the new Xbox Wireless Controller looks spot-on identical to the original at a glance, it comes with some important enhancements that should impact both comfort and its longevity in your living room.

Microsoft says it has a streamlined design, but the bigger perk could be the textured grips found alongside the bottom of the controller. And furthermore, the analog sticks have been redesigned to be much more durable and provide smoother rotations over time, which means less chance of them crumbling after hundreds of hours of blasting aliens in Destiny.

The new controller is also built to work more harmoniously with Windows 10 PCs thanks to built-in Bluetooth support, plus it offers twice the wireless range of the original model when used with the Xbox One S.

The gamepad will be bundled with all versions of the Xbox One S console and will also be sold separately. You can also customise the colour scheme via the new Xbox Design Labwebsite, and all orders sent in by the time August is up will be shipped in early September.

WHEN'S IT COMING?

Microsoft will release the Xbox One S in August - specifically, only the model with 2TB of storage and the vertical stand at first. It'll sell for £349 in the UK and $399 in the States, and is deemed a special "launch edition" version of the console.

Sometime soon thereafter, a 1TB version will follow for £299/$349, alongside a 500GB version for £249/$299. Neither comes with the stand, but at least you'll get the swanky new gamepad alongside the console in all versions.

The Xbox One S is a minor revision overall, meant to tide players over until the brand new Xbox One Project Scorpio console releases late next year, as well as offer a more appealing package to anyone who hasn't bought into the current console generation.

However, Sony also has an upgraded PlayStation 4 on the horizon, and it's rumoured to pack a lot more power, allowing developers to deliver significantly enhanced experiences and especially improve PlayStation VR games. If that ends up shipping this year, then Microsoft's 4K/HDR upgrade here might seem comparatively paltry.

We'll have to wait and see on that point. In any case, if you're an Xbox die-hard and you've got a TV ready to highlight 4K and HDR content, it's time to start setting aside cash for the August release, if you can't wait till Scorpio's release next year.

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Garmin Vivomove Watch review

Some things are just better in analogue.

Vinyl has a warmth that you'll never get from an MP3. A V6 engine stirs up something primal inside that the whir of an electric engine could never match, and a watch with ticking hands sits comfortably on your wrist in a way a digital one never could.

That's what makes Garmin's Vivomove fitness watch stand out from the crowd of OLED and LCD imposters. There's no digital display, no touch-sensitive buttons - just a familiar analogue watch face that'll keep ticking all day.

Look a bit closer, though, and you'll spot the subtle activity dials that give away how much tech this simple-looking timepiece is packing.

ALL ABOUT STYLE

The Vivomove isn't going to show your exact step count at the flick of a wrist - but it is going to look sharp when you're leading that boardroom presentation or meeting a client. There's no chunky band or oversized watch face that screams "I mainly consist on protein powders". Instead, you get a stylish and inconspicuous design.

The basic version might make do with a rubberised plastic strap and a metal-effect bezel rather than the real thing, but it still looks pretty sharp. The rubber won't sweat it if you go for a swim, either; the whole thing is water-resistant down to 50m.

It's available in black and white colours, but we definitely prefer the black. Black goes with everything, right? You can also get more expensive models that swap plastic for real leather, and upgrade the bezel to stainless steel. That earns it even more style points from us.

Whichever model you go for, it's lighter than your average smartwatch, and fits snugly on your wrist. The bezel is a little on the large side, especially if you've got dainty wrists, but sits flush enough to slip under a shirt cuff. The crown is a nice touch too, continuing the classic look.

STRAP ME DOWN

You don't have to stick with the default look, either. Garmin's fitted quick-release mechanisms to the straps, and the watch will take any 20mm band. That's a lot better than the proprietary lugs on Samsung's Gear S2, let alone the non-replaceable bands from TomTom and FitBit.

All of which means that while Garmin's selling extra straps of its own (naturally), there's nothing stopping you further upping the style quotient by putting on a metal band rather than plastic or leather.

If you do stick with the standard strap, you'll be pleased to hear that it has a traditional clasp, so you can get it on and off in seconds. That instantly gives it a leg up over fussy fitness bands, and even more expensive smartwatches such as the Apple Watch Sport.

You won't need to take it off very often, though, anyway: the watch cell battery inside is good for up to a year of power. So that's one less thing you'll need to remember to charge every night

WATCH YOUR STEP

Garmin's more serious fitness trackers and exercise watches are definitely a case of function before form, but the opposite is true here. The Vivomove is a great-looking watch that doesn't try to squeeze in extra features that most us simply won't use.

So you won't find a heart-rate sensor on the underside. And it won't buzz every time you get a Facebook like. It's all refreshingly simple; just an accelerometer inside for counting steps and sleep, plus two dials behind the watch hands that give a rough idea of how far you've walked each day and how long since you last moved about.

The bar on the left ticks up in increrments as your step count increases. The one on the right slowly fills up with red based on how long you've been in one place. Couch potato? Prepare to see a lot of red. Walking to and from the fridge isn't going to cut it, either; you'll need to walk about 100-200m to completely empty the bar.

Out of the box, Garmin's step-counting algorithm gave a higher number than the competition, sometimes by as much as 300 steps. Fortunately, setting a custom stride length in the companion app brought things down to a more realistic number. Maybe I just have really long strides.

APP TO IT

Useful though the dials are for a quick glance at how you're doing, you'll have to head into Garmin's Connect app to see exactly how many steps you've walked, and roughly how many calories they've burned off.

The good news is that the app is pretty comprehensive, building a profile based on your body metrics and tying in with other big-name apps such as Strava and MyFitnessPal. Everything syncs between services automatically, which saves a lot of hassle, and you can upload to Facebook or Twitter if you want to be smug about how far you've walked that week.

There's no gamification, which some people love, but we're not too fussed about missing out on virtual badges for hitting our step goals.

It's also here where you can see your sleep breakdown, but like a lot of sleep-tracking bands and apps, it doesn't exactly give you any insight into how to get a better night's sleep - just the reassurance that no, you didn't sleep very well last night.

Dig deeper into the app, though, and you'll soon see where the Vivomove is missing more fitness-focused features. It doesn't detect exercise automatically, so you'll have to tap in runs manually. There's no heart-rate tracking and no GPS, either. The idea is that fitness fantatics will wear the Vivomove during the day, but switch over to a Forerunner or Fenix for serious workouts.

That would be fine, but you have to manually switch between devices in the app for it to properly pick up your movements. Forget and it's like you did all those burpees for nothing.

GARMIN VIVOMOVE VERDICT

The Vivomove has one big rival in the stylish fitness watch stakes: Withings' Activité Pop. The Withings has a few extra features, such as a silent vibration alarm, automatic sport detection for running and cycling, and automatic time sync with your phone over Bluetooth. 

You might have to set the time manually on the Garmin, but it has the inactivity bar, a longer battery life, and we think it's got the edge in terms of looks. The Activite is just a bit too plain for us, but the Vivomove manages to stand out without becoming too fitness-focused. If you want to get some serious exercise, Garmin also has the wider range of gear (and a more in-depth app), so we think it has the edge.

Whether it's right for you at all depends on whether you spend more time at the gym than at home, or if you're just after a small nudge to get a bit more active.

Serious athlete? This is your daytime watch, one you swap out for a serious tracker when it's time to hit the track. Commuter with style - and a sturdy pair of walking boots? Free up a space on your wrist: this is everything you need from a fitness watch.

TECH SPECS 

Weight

51g

Dimensions

42mm diameter x 12mm thick (20mm watch bands)

Battery

1x CR2025

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