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The 8 Best Tech Gadgets of October 2026

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Physical media is quietly winning again, phones are starting to treat light as a material instead of an afterthought, and the humble power bank just got embarrassingly thin. This month’s list pulls from every corner of consumer tech: a CD player built for a generation that never owned one, a camera disguised as a roll of film, and a keyboard that looks more like furniture than gaming gear.

What ties these eight together isn’t a single trend so much as a shared instinct: solve one problem well instead of chasing a longer spec sheet. Some of these are shipping this month. A couple are concepts worth watching closely. All of them earned their spot through genuine design thinking rather than a press release checklist.

1. Syitren R400 CD Player

Collecting CDs only matters if you have something to play them on, and that’s been the real gap for anyone under thirty who’s started buying physical music again. The R400, designed by ORGDOT for Syitren, solves that with a detachable modular shell that lowers cost without making the player feel cheap. For you, it means an entry point into physical media that doesn’t ask you to hunt down a decade-old Discman on eBay.

What makes it worth owning day to day is the small stuff. A sunken charging compartment keeps your cable from fraying, Bluetooth 5.3 handles wireless streaming, and anti-vibration engineering means no skipping on your commute. At four hours of battery per charge and a price well below premium audio gear, it fills the exact space Sony abandoned when it quietly discontinued its CD boomboxes in the US.

What we like:

  • The detachable shell lets you personalize or wall-mount it instead of leaving it stuck as a desk object
  • Anti-vibration engineering actually solves the one real complaint people have with portable CD playback

What we dislike:

  • Four hours of battery life means you’re recharging more often than a typical wireless earbuds case
  • The dual material build is sturdy, but it still can’t match the heft of Syitren’s premium R300

2. Analog Capsule Camera

Pick this up without knowing what it is, and you’d swear it was an unopened roll of 35mm film, right down to the box it ships in. It’s actually a fully digital camera, and that disguise is the entire point. For you, it turns picture-taking back into something tactile, a small object you display on a shelf rather than another app icon buried on your phone.

The 1 megapixel CMOS sensor leans into grain and softness instead of correcting for it, so every shot looks like a well-worn photograph rather than a clinical digital capture. At 25 grams with USB-C and microSD support, it travels light and clips onto a bag strap without you noticing the weight. At $55, it’s priced like a fun accessory rather than a serious camera, which is exactly what it’s going for.

Click Here to Buy Now: $55.00

What we like:

  • The disguise is genuinely convincing, making it as much a desk object as a working camera
  • A 25-gram body with an included strap means it adds almost nothing to what you already carry

What we dislike:

  • A 1-megapixel sensor keeps image quality intentionally lo-fi, not for anyone wanting crisp detail
  • Stock is listed at just a few units, so it may sell out before most readers can order one

3. TECNO POVA 8 Pro Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition

TECNO POVA 8 Pro 5G Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition

The last Lamborghini-branded phone cost $6,000 and ran on two-year-old silicon because a logo was stamped onto gold plating. The badge on this one actually does something on this one: 177 individually controlled mini-LEDs draw the Lamborghini “L” in light, while a red Pulse Line shifts and rises across the back panel using internal mirror structures rather than a printed graphic. For you, it’s proof that a co-brand can be more than a sticker job.

TECNO spent close to four months reworking the software to match, down to icon shapes nudged toward hexagon and shield silhouettes. The manufacturing challenge wasn’t making one unit look right; it was making thousands of units look consistent, which TECNO calls one of the most complex rear cover processes it has run. The specs mirror the standard POVA 8 Pro, so you’re paying for the surface, not new hardware underneath.

What we like:

  • The Pulse Line effect uses real physical depth rather than a flat printed decal, which actually shows in person
  • At under $500, it’s the cheapest phone the Lamborghini name has ever been attached to

What we dislike:

  • There’s no US release and no FCC certification, so American buyers are stuck with gray market imports only
  • The hardware is spec-identical to the standard POVA 8 Pro, meaning you’re paying entirely for the finish

4. Teenage Engineering Inspired MAD-5 Music Player

Florent Porta noticed something nobody else did: Sony’s MZ-RH1 MiniDisc recorder mounted its display on the front edge instead of the top, readable at an angle no other player offered. The MAD-5 concept takes that detail and builds an entire player around it, a square aluminum body with a thin blue ticker running along the clipped edge. For you, it solves what clip-on players have ignored for two decades, showing information without needing a screen on the face.

The clip itself borrows from the fourth-generation iPod Shuffle, while a jog disc on the front nods to Teenage Engineering’s TP-7 without the motorized reel underneath. There’s no Bluetooth, no balanced output, and nothing marked for expandable storage, all treated as current audiophile DAP standards elsewhere. The real idea might be its USB DAC mode, letting it double as an audio interface the moment you plug it into a laptop.

What we like:

  • The edge-mounted ticker screen solves a real design problem that two decades of clip-on players walked past
  • USB DAC mode turns it into a dongle replacement for anyone already carrying a laptop

What we dislike:

  • No Bluetooth or expandable storage puts it behind basically every current audiophile DAP on the market

5. Keychron K8 HE All-Wood Special Edition

Most gaming keyboards announce themselves before you even press a key, all glowing lights and cases that belong beside a spaceship. This one goes the other direction entirely, a walnut frame and bottom case giving a genuinely fast magnetic switch keyboard the look of desk furniture instead of gaming gear. For you, it means one keyboard that works all day instead of one you hide before a video call.

Underneath that calm exterior sit Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Nebula switches with actuation adjustable from 0.2 to 3.8mm and Rapid Trigger for instant key reset. The tenkeyless layout drops the number pad so your mouse hand has room to move, and switching between Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, or a cable means it follows you from laptop to gaming PC without a second purchase. Browser-based customization skips installing an app entirely.

What we like:

  • Real wood construction reads as desk decor during the day and serious gaming hardware at night
  • Adjustable magnetic actuation down to 0.2mm gives genuinely competitive response times when it matters

What we dislike:

  • The tenkeyless layout drops the number pad, a real tradeoff if spreadsheets are part of your daily routine
  • At $199.99, you’re paying a real premium for walnut on top of the magnetic switch hardware itself

6. OrigamiSwift Folding Mouse

A mouse that folds flat enough to disappear into a laptop sleeve solves a problem anyone who’s worked from a café already knows: that full-sized comfort and genuine portability rarely come in the same device. Designed by Horace Lam, OrigamiSwift borrows its triangular structure from origami folding and springs into shape in under half a second. For you, that means leaving the bulky travel mouse at home without giving up ergonomic comfort.

At just 40 grams, it barely registers in a bag until you need it, and the USB-C rechargeable battery lasts up to three months on a single charge. The HD infrared sensor tracks at up to 4000 CPI with a 4000 frames-per-second imaging rate, numbers that hold up against mice twice its size. Soft click buttons keep it quiet enough for shared workspaces or quiet flights.

Click Here to Buy Now: $85.00

What we like:

  • Folding flat in under half a second makes it genuinely practical rather than a gimmick you stop using
  • Three months of battery life on a single USB-C charge beats most travel mice by a wide margin

What we dislike:

  • At $85, it costs noticeably more than most portable mice with comparable specs

7. Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 15W

Power banks have been stuck in the same bulky shape for years, so a 6mm thick, 98 gram unit that’s thinner than most smartphones sounds like a typo until you actually hold one. Xiaomi pulled it off using a silicon-carbon battery with 16 percent silicon content, packing 5,000mAh into something closer to a metal business card. For you, it means a backup battery you forget is in your pocket until the moment you need it.

It snaps onto your phone magnetically for up to 15W wireless charging, though iPhones are capped at 7.5W due to Apple’s MagSafe restrictions, and a USB-C port handles up to 22.5W wired. Ten layers of protection cover overvoltage, overheating, and short circuits, with dual temperature sensors and a graphite sheet managing heat in real time. At roughly $60 to $65 depending on region, the price tracks with the engineering involved.

What we like:

  • A 6mm profile genuinely disappears against your phone, solving the bulk problem every other power bank ignores
  • Ten layers of safety protection feel reassuring rather than excessive for something built this thin

What we dislike:

  • The 7.5W cap for iPhones feels limiting as Apple’s own MagSafe ecosystem pushes toward faster speeds
  • Early reviews suggest slightly less usable charge than competitors rated at the same 5,000mAh capacity

8. Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds

Wired earbuds are having a real moment again, mostly because nobody wants to worry about a charging case dying or buds getting lost in transit. Bose answered that comeback with active noise cancellation built into a tethered pair, something only a handful of trusted brands currently offer. For you, it means the reliability of a cable paired with the quiet you’d normally expect from a much pricier wireless set.

USB-C connectivity keeps things current, while two microphones per bud handle adaptive noise cancelling across Quiet, Aware, and Off modes. The proprietary Sound Design processing outputs a fixed 24-bit, 48kHz signal for lossless listening, and low-latency performance makes gaming or fast-paced video noticeably smoother than typical wireless buds. An IPX4 rating covers sweat and splashes, with a zippered case for carrying.

What we like:

  • Active noise cancellation on a wired pair is still rare, and Bose executes it convincingly at this price
  • Low latency performance makes it a genuinely better pick for gaming than most wireless alternatives

What we dislike:

  • There’s no dedicated app for control, leaving everything to the inline remote’s three physical buttons
  • IPX4 covers splashes and sweat but won’t survive a real submersion the way some wireless buds can

Design That Knows When to Stop

Eight very different problems, solved with eight very different budgets. The cheapest entry here costs $55, and the most expensive sits just under $200, yet the thinking behind each one matters more than where it lands on a price chart. A CD player built for people too young to remember CDs, a phone that turns a logo into light, a mouse that folds flat enough to vanish- these are the kind of details that separate genuine design work from a spec sheet with a release date attached.

If one thread runs through this month’s picks, it’s restraint. Nobody here tried to cram in every feature available. The R400 leaned into a modular shell instead of extra buttons. The MAD-5 skipped Bluetooth to focus on one screen placement nobody else thought to try. That kind of focus is rarer than it should be, and it’s exactly why these eight earned a spot this October.

The post The 8 Best Tech Gadgets of October 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Waterdrop Filter’s Prime Big Deal Days Gets Your Water Ready Before Guests Do This Fall

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Fall has a way of turning the kitchen into the busiest room in the house, whether it’s earlier coffee brews, soups lingering on the stove, or “free-flowing” tea for guests. Water is almost always a crucial element in all of those routines, yet it rarely gets the same attention as the ingredients or appliances. A well-designed water filter matters all year round, but even more so before holiday guests arrive at your door.

Waterdrop Filter approaches that everyday problem from different angles. Some households need an under-sink reverse osmosis system that can keep up with family dinners. Others would rather plug in a countertop dispenser, while a refrigerator filter might be all another kitchen needs. Its Prime Big Deal Days lineup covers each without pretending one design fits everyone.

Waterdrop X12 Alkaline Mineral Reverse Osmosis System

Some households are just too busy to always keep in mind how much clean water they’ll need during the day. The Waterdrop X12 Alkaline Mineral Reverse Osmosis System is built for that kind of traffic, with 11-stage filtration that reduces the water’s original dissolved mineral load before adding calcium and magnesium back for a measured finish. For a family that drinks water throughout the day and cooks most nights, that controlled approach makes sense.

There’s a design story under the sink, too. Its tankless layout frees up space that a storage tank would otherwise claim, while a smart faucet puts a useful part of the system at the point of pouring, rather than leaving it under the sink. Rated at up to 1,200 gallons per day, the system is intended for busy households, while its stated 3:1 pure-to-drain ratio addresses another concern that can come with reverse osmosis: wastewater.

Click Here to Buy Now: $899 $1299 (31% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Waterdrop G3P800 Reverse Osmosis System

Not every family needs the X12’s higher capacity. The Waterdrop G3P800 Reverse Osmosis System suits a kitchen where four or five people cycle through breakfast, packed lunches, and dinner without wanting another large object under the sink. Waterdrop cites certification to NSF/ANSI 42, 53, 58, and 372 for this 10-stage system, while UV sterilization adds an extra layer of protection, giving households something more concrete to examine than vague promises of cleaner water, especially with kids at home.

The G3P800 doesn’t cut corners with an 800-gallon-per-day rating, which still speaks to family demands rather than an occasional glass. It also uses a tankless layout and smart faucet, so there isn’t a reservoir competing with cleaning supplies. A stated 3:1 pure-to-drain ratio rounds out the practical side. The point isn’t to fuss over the numbers every morning; it’s to have water ready when the kitchen gets crowded.

Click Here to Buy Now: $699 $999 (30% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Waterdrop M6CG Mineral Hot & Cold Reverse Osmosis System

An under-sink system doesn’t help much if messing with the cabinetry isn’t an option at all. As the 2026 Premium New Arrival, the Waterdrop M6CG Mineral Hot & Cold Reverse Osmosis System brings reverse osmosis to the countertop without permanent installation, something renters can appreciate. Its 8-stage RO filtration helps reduce TDS, PFAS, fluoride, lead and other specified substances, while remineralization adds minerals back for a more balanced taste. The system is certified to NSF/ANSI 58 and 372. Then it dispenses water from 59°F to 203°F, making it easy to enjoy everything from chilled water to tea, cocoa, or a quick bowl of noodles without waiting.

The more interesting decisions are in how it handles the rush between drinks. Five volume settings and a customizable Favorite Mode reduce repeated button pressing, while a detachable 40-ounce glass pitcher makes it easier to serve several people at once. Separate tanks keep clean water and wastewater apart, and the stated 3:1 pure-to-drain ratio limits what goes to waste. Even the water left behind can be used for cleaning.

Click Here to Buy Now: $409 $539 (24% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Waterdrop CT01 Instant Hot & Cold Water Filter Dispenser

The Waterdrop CT01 Instant Hot & Cold Water Filter Dispenser has a different kind of appeal, favoring quick drinks and a simpler setup for apartments, study spaces, and offices. Its 6-stage filter targets chlorine, rust, and sediment while retaining naturally occurring minerals. With water dispensed from 59°F to 203°F, a chilly refill and a cup of tea can come from the same spot.

That distinction matters if you want hot and cold water without adding plumbing work. The CT01’s 1.32-gallon capacity cuts down on refills, while its filtration produces no wastewater to manage. You can fill a bottle on your way out, come back for hot water, and leave the kettle untouched. It’s a less elaborate answer than countertop RO, but for a small or single-member household, the simpler routine might be exactly the attraction.

Click Here to Buy Now: $199.49 $289.99 (31% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Refrigerator Water Filters

Then there’s the filter many people already own and forget about. A refrigerator dispenser gets used between meals, and its ice tends to end up in a guest’s glass. Waterdrop’s replacement filters offer an easy way to refresh that everyday water supply. The WD-F45 is designed for compatible Samsung refrigerator models, the WD-F46 for selected LG models, the WD-F07 for compatible Whirlpool and Maytag models, and the WD-F48C for selected GE models. Their activated-carbon filtration addresses chlorine taste and odor, though certifications and claims about other contaminants differ by model. Better water doesn’t always require another appliance.

Choosing the right replacement filter is important, since similar-looking filters are not always interchangeable. Checking your refrigerator model before purchasing ensures the right fit. Once fitted, replacement doesn’t change how anyone uses the fridge. Many filters can last up to six months, depending on water quality and use, which makes upkeep easier to remember before the holidays.

Click Here to Buy Now: up to 34% off. Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

By the time holiday cooking and hosting pick up, it helps to have one less thing to think about each time you turn on the tap or open the fridge. The right change might be a full under-sink system, a countertop machine, or simply a fresh cartridge. Waterdrop Filter’s Prime Big Deal Days brings discounts into that decision, but the better reason to pay attention is how often you’ll use the upgrade.

The post Waterdrop Filter’s Prime Big Deal Days Gets Your Water Ready Before Guests Do This Fall first appeared on Yanko Design.

Every K-Cup You’ve Brewed Is Still in a Landfill, and Keurig Has a Fix

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Single-serve coffee machines solved one morning problem and created another: a pile of plastic pods beside the sink. Keurig’s Alta tries to keep the convenience without leaving a plastic cup behind after every drink. Instead of a K-Cup, it brews with a compact puck of pressed coffee called an AltaRound. It also makes espresso and frothy milk drinks in one countertop machine.

Most pod brewers wouldn’t pass for proper espresso machines. The Alta takes a different route, with a rounded body, a projecting brew head, and a separate milk station built into the same base. The touchscreen sits on top rather than across the front, leaving the machine’s face relatively uncluttered. Sandstone, graphite, and sandstone with satin stainless offer three different moods for the counter.

Designer: Keurig

The smaller object changes the routine as much as the larger one. AltaRounds are ground coffee pressed into discs and held together by a plant-based coating derived partly from seaweed. There’s no rigid plastic shell or aluminum lid on the round itself. Once the coffee is spent, the puck can go into compost instead of joining the pile of used pods.

Drop one into the machine and a printed code tells the Alta which drink you’re making. It adjusts the temperature and pressure rather than asking you to remember settings before your cup. For espresso, water passes through holes made by spikes, and the brewer can deliver up to 10 bars of pressure. A shot no longer needs a separate machine or a practiced hand.

If that shot needs milk, the integrated frother can handle hot or cold foam. The touchscreen guides you through the steps, so a latte in the morning doesn’t require a second appliance or a row of unfamiliar buttons. There’s room for a cup of coffee too, and the available AltaRounds cover espresso as well as light, medium, dark, and caramel-flavored brews.

Of course, doing away with the plastic pod doesn’t mean doing away with plastic. Each AltaRound currently comes in a plastic wrapper to keep the coffee fresh, so there’s something to throw away before brewing. Keurig plans to replace those wrappers with paper, but that hasn’t happened yet. The spent puck may be compostable; the packaging you remove on the way there isn’t.

The other compromise sits on the price tag. The Alta’s $499.99 early-access bundle includes glassware and six boxes of coffee rounds, making it a considerable investment for a morning cup. It can also brew regular K-Cups, though those bring back the plastic waste its new system is trying to avoid. Even the most thoughtful brewer can’t decide which kind of pod you put inside.

A morning coffee routine is made of little gestures: opening a packet, loading the brewer, finding a mug, and clearing up afterward. The Alta changes several of them without asking you to learn the finer points of espresso. It still leaves a wrapper in your hand, unfortunately, but the spent puck can go into compost instead of leaving another plastic cup behind.

The post Every K-Cup You’ve Brewed Is Still in a Landfill, and Keurig Has a Fix first appeared on Yanko Design.

5 Gadgets Gen Z Actually Wants to Own Right Now

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Something shifted. The generation that grew up with every song, show, and photo living inside a glass rectangle is now buying CD players, handheld consoles, and standalone cameras that do exactly one thing. It is not purely nostalgia driving this. It is the particular relief of owning something that does not send notifications, update itself overnight, or ask for your location. These are objects that simply work.

What connects these five is not a shared aesthetic or price point but a shared resistance. Each gives your hands something real to do, something that clicks, spins, or frames a shot without a screen mediating the exchange. Gen Z did not fall out of love with technology. They fell out of love with technology that treats their attention as the product. These five objects treat it as something worth protecting.

1. Syitren R400 Bluetooth CD Player

Portable CD players never disappeared, but they did stop trying. For years, the category was defined by bulky Sony boomboxes built around FM radio and cassette tapes as much as CDs. The R400, designed by ORGDOT for Syitren, is the first player in a long time that feels built for how people actually listen today. It is compact, Bluetooth 5.3-first, and designed to look as good on a desk or shelf as it does in your hand on a commute.

Under the shell, a custom Syitren pure CD core delivers a 70dB signal-to-noise ratio for clean, high-fidelity sound. Anti-vibration engineering keeps things skip-free while commuting or walking around. The shell is detachable and customizable, and a sunken charging compartment with a built-in wire groove keeps the cable from bending or fraying over time. Bluetooth or wired, car stereo or headphones, four-plus hours of continuous playback per charge, at a price that doesn’t make you choose between good design and good sound.

What we like

  • The detachable, customizable shell makes it something you can call your own, not just another piece of consumer electronics sitting on a desk.
  • Anti-vibration engineering means it is genuinely designed to be carried around, not just displayed.

What we dislike

  • Four hours of battery covers a workday comfortably but cuts short anything longer without access to a charge.
  • Sony has been quietly pulling back from portable CD players, meaning the R400 steps into a space with almost no competition to pressure it on price or performance.

2. Game Bub

The Game Boy Advance’s design patents expired years ago, and most of what followed has been cheap emulation boxes wearing a familiar shape. Game Bub from Crowd Supply is different. It uses FPGA technology rather than software emulation, recreating the original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance hardware at a circuit level with accuracy that emulators cannot match. The transparent shell, available in Purple and White, makes the whole thing look exactly as it should.

The horizontal GBA form factor is a deliberate choice in a market that keeps going vertical. Button placement feels natural; the shoulder buttons are where your fingers expect them, and dual one-watt stereo speakers handle classic soundtracks properly. USB-C charging, a headphone jack, a microSD slot for firmware updates, display output for big-screen play, Bluetooth Low Energy, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, and a 3000mAh battery round out a device that earns the word ambitious.

What we like

  • FPGA accuracy means your cartridge collection plays exactly as it was designed to, not approximately as software emulation allows.
  • The horizontal form factor respects what made the GBA comfortable for long sessions, which most of the competition has quietly abandoned.

What we dislike

  • Hardware-level FPGA accuracy comes at a price point that locks out buyers who would otherwise be genuinely interested.
  • Open-source FPGA handhelds tend to have longer firmware update timelines, which requires patience from anyone buying early.

3. Clip&Go Radio

A radio that clips to your backpack and plays FM stations does not sound like a gadget Gen Z would want. The Clip&Go reframes the premise. It is compact enough to attach directly to your gear without thinking about it, built around the idea that the best emergency tool is one already useful before anything goes wrong. A built-in flashlight, hand crank, and solar panel mean it carries more utility than the dial on top suggests.

The physical radio format fits the same logic as the CD player and the handheld. It is a single-purpose device with no algorithm, no autoplay, and no recommendations. You tune a station, clip it on, and go. In a landscape where every device competes for your attention, a radio that does not know you exist feels quietly radical. At $60, it is also the most immediately ownable thing on this list.

Click Here to Buy Now: $60.00

What we like

  • The built-in hand crank and solar panel mean it works when other devices cannot, giving it a utility case that goes well beyond aesthetics.
  • The clip attachment means it genuinely travels with you rather than waiting in a bag pocket to be pulled out.

What we dislike

  • FM signal quality is location-dependent, making the listening experience inconsistent wherever coverage is thin.
  • At $60, it competes with Bluetooth speakers that do more on paper. The case for owning it rests on the single-purpose philosophy, not the spec sheet.

4. Camera (1)

The impulse to pick up a standalone camera again is not about megapixels. It is about separating the act of taking a photograph from the act of being on your phone. Camera (1) is a concept by designer Rishikesh Puthukudy that imagines what a modern compact could feel like if built around physical controls rather than touchscreen menus. Metal body, softly rounded corners, every main control reachable without shifting your grip or glancing away from the scene you are trying to capture.

All the main controls live on one edge: a shutter, a circular mode dial with a dot-matrix glyph display showing simple icons for stills and video, and a D-pad your thumb can reach without looking down. A light strip around the lens pulses for the self-timer, confirms focus, and signals when recording is live, replacing multi-layer software navigation with immediate, readable feedback. The design language pulls from Nothing’s transparent, hardware-forward aesthetic and pushes it into something you would actually want to carry.

What we like

  • Every main control sits within reach of one thumb and index finger, keeping your eyes on the subject rather than hunting through a menu.
  • The light strip communicates camera state through peripheral vision, a smarter solution than burying status information inside a touchscreen.

What we dislike

  • Camera (1) is a concept with no confirmed manufacturer, production timeline, or pricing, which is a real limitation for anyone wanting to own one today.
  • The visual language is closely referential to Nothing’s established aesthetic, which may read as derivative to anyone already familiar with that design direction.

5. elrow miniphone

Full smartphones feel like overkill for a generation quietly walking back from maximalism. The Apple Watch on your wrist handles glances but stays awkward for anything more deliberate, and wearing both a smartwatch and an analog watch on the same arm is its own kind of compromise. The elrow miniphone is a 3D-printed case that turns an Apple Watch into a narrow, palm-sized device worn on a lanyard. The Standard fits the 46mm Series 10 and 11. The Ultra fits Apple Watch Ultra 1, 2, and 3.

Both stand around 95mm tall with textured translucent bodies and visible screws that do not attempt to hide how they were built. The back stays open so you can charge without disassembling the case. What elrow industries built is less a gadget and more a posture, a way to carry connectivity without wearing it on your wrist, freeing that space for the mechanical or analog watch you actually want to wear while keeping notifications, Apple Pay, and quick replies within reach.

What we like

  • The open back lets you charge without disassembly, removing the most frustrating everyday friction of any case.
  • Wearing connectivity on a lanyard rather than your wrist opens the door to the analog watch you have been quietly sidelining.

What we dislike

  • As a 3D-printed case, it depends entirely on which Apple Watch model you already own and is not a standalone device.
  • A lanyard-worn device requires real behavioral change to make useful day-to-day rather than just conceptually interesting.

Ownership Is the Point

What this list describes is not a generation running from technology. It is a generation learning to be selective about which technology gets to run on them. A CD player that skips the algorithm. A handheld that plays cartridges at hardware level. A camera built around a shutter click. A lanyard device that frees your wrist. A radio that does not know your name. Five objects. Five things that simply work.

The broader shift is less about any individual product and more about what owning something actually means. Streaming everything is convenient right up until nothing feels like yours. A CD on a shelf, a cartridge in a slot, a photo taken with a camera you held in your hand: these are forms of possession the subscription model quietly erased. Gen Z is taking them back, one physical object at a time.

The post 5 Gadgets Gen Z Actually Wants to Own Right Now first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Selfie Camera on Your Phone Has Always Been in the Wrong Place

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Most budget phones have one screen you stare at and a back you think about. The Honor X5d s makes that back worth a second look by placing a 2.01-inch touchscreen next to its rear camera. It shows the time and alerts, handles music, and helps you take selfies with the better camera. That’s a useful design trick for an inexpensive phone.

The camera island looks like it was built around that display, rather than having a screen tacked on afterward. Two dark circles sit beside it, although Honor lists only one rear camera. Forest Green makes the island pop against a pale back, while Midnight Black keeps things subdued. Either way, the phone’s most interesting feature is visible before you even wake it.

Designer: Honor

That rear screen makes sense when you’re trying to get everyone into a photo. Instead of extending your arm, guessing at the framing, and discovering that someone’s head is missing, you can see the shot while using the 50-megapixel rear camera. A tap on the back takes the picture. There’s also a 5-megapixel front camera, but this arrangement gives selfies another option.

Of course, a phone can’t spend all day posing for pictures. Leave the X5d s face down on a desk, and its little window can still show the time or a call alert. Music controls live there too, so skipping a song doesn’t require turning the whole device over. It’s a small convenience, but those are often the ones you keep using.

On the other side, there’s a 6.78-inch LCD for more than a glance. Its size makes room for videos, messages, and the photos you took, although the 1,576×720 resolution isn’t particularly sharp for such a large panel. The rear display doesn’t fix that limitation. It simply gives quick tasks their own place instead of asking the bigger screen to do everything.

There’s a 6,000mAh battery to keep both screens running, though the phone’s 15W wired charging might test your patience when it finally needs a refill. Honor also provides 64GB of storage and a three-card slot, letting you add a microSD card without sacrificing either SIM. That’s handy if you keep your photos and music on the phone rather than in the cloud.

Inside, the Unisoc T610 processor and 4GB of RAM tell a more familiar budget-phone story. The side-mounted fingerprint reader is convenient, but there’s nothing particularly exotic about the rest of the hardware. In South Africa, the 4GB/64GB version costs R2,499 (about $150), which puts the extra screen in reach of people who aren’t shopping for a flagship just to get a conversation-starting feature.

That display won’t replace your phone’s main screen, nor will it make the X5d s a better choice for demanding games. But it changes the small interactions that fill a day: a glance at a call, a tap to skip a song, a preview before taking a selfie. At this price, giving the back something useful to do feels refreshing.

The post The Selfie Camera on Your Phone Has Always Been in the Wrong Place first appeared on Yanko Design.

4 Times a Day the StillFrame Headphones Switch Jobs For You

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A lot of people spend the entire eight hours of a working day just sitting in front of their screens. You probably have your speakers on or put on your headphones to listen to some background music or for online meetings. But for those of us who don’t want to spend one-third of the day like this, we go through different “phases,” which means that the audio that accompanies us throughout the day also changes. From commuting to work to sitting down at your workstation to going on a dinner date and finally relaxing at home, you don’t want the same setting all day.

That’s the more interesting way to look at the StillFrame Headphones. Rather than asking them to create one uninterrupted listening session, imagine taking them through a day full of stops and starts. They offer Noise Cancelling and Transparency modes, Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, a USB-C wired option, and dual microphones with noise control. Each feature has a place in that routine, even if no two days follow quite the same route.

Click Here to Buy Now: $245

The first part of the day for most of those who go to a regular office is the morning commute. You might be on a noisy train with a lot of people talking or walking along a busy street with a lot of city noise. StillFrame’s Noise Cancelling mode will help you focus on what you’re listening to and drown out some of the chaotic noise around you. It is always there as an option for times when you want to immerse yourself in your playlist or the next chapter of the book you’re listening to.

When you do need to let the world back in, you don’t have to turn off your podcast episode at a crucial moment. The headphones have a Transparency Mode option that’s there with a tap for moments when you need to order a coffee or you’re walking somewhere that requires your full attention. Just tap between the two modes for what you need at the moment without having to pause or stop what you’re listening to. It’s also a good reminder that the world isn’t always a distraction.

When you finally reach your office, you might have a scheduled meeting sometime during the day. StillFrame is useful even for work things, as it has dual microphones with noise control so you can shift from consuming audio to communicating with others using the headphones. That doesn’t mean every conversation will sound perfect in every environment. It does mean you can move from a podcast or playlist to a meeting without reaching for a separate pair of headphones just because your role in the audio has changed.

When you finally get home to your cozy bed, you sometimes still want to continue listening to that audiobook, start a new podcast episode, or let some soothing music lull you to sleep. You can choose to continue using your StillFrame headphones over Bluetooth 5.4 or use the USB-C wired option if you’d rather plug in. Either way, the wired option is an alternative to wireless listening and not a reason to assume the headphones will work after their battery runs out.

A few other details help round out the picture. StillFrame weighs 103 grams and has a stainless-steel headband, a minimalist frame, and 40mm drivers. Its ear cushions attach magnetically, making them easy to swap; the white model comes with extra pairs in light gray and turquoise. Battery life is rated at up to 24 hours per charge, though actual use may vary. Those details aren’t the main story here, but they help explain what you’re carrying from one part of the day to the next.

No pair of headphones can make a commute quiet, a meeting short, or a busy day slow down. What StillFrame Headphones offer is a set of ways to respond as those moments change. You can focus, let the world in, take a call, or settle into an evening listen. The best setting isn’t one you choose in the morning and keep all day. It’s the one that fits where you are now.

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A Pocket Concept Built to Catch Design Ideas Before They Get Away

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Good ideas don’t always wait until you’ve found the right pen and an empty page. For industrial designers, a quick sketch can turn into a note, then vanish while they’re looking for something to write on. Ideo is a pocket-sized concept that puts a sticky-note pad, a crank-set timer, and a random-word prompt in one place, giving those fleeting thoughts somewhere to land.

The trick isn’t to replace a sketchbook or ask a computer to finish your thinking. It’s to keep the small tools for getting started within reach. A pen clips to one side of the rounded body, while a stack of sticky notes takes up much of the front. You can jot down a shape, a measurement, or a question before it slips away.

Designer: Aditya Rajiv

Then there’s the timer, which makes the device a little stranger than an ordinary stationery holder. Turn the crank on the side until the orange bar reaches your chosen duration, and a bright ball moves along the track as time passes. When its cycle finishes, the concept calls for a sound. That gives a short sketching session a visible beginning and end.

A blank note can be surprisingly intimidating when someone asks you for three different directions before lunch. Ideo responds with an e-ink display that presents a random word, such as “tiger” or “apple,” to nudge your thoughts somewhere unexpected. If the word doesn’t help, a physical button skips to another. This isn’t some AI that tries to take over your thinking process but, rather, a nudge to keep your pen moving.

During a workshop, you might have a few minutes to sketch a handle before the group moves on to another idea. The timer keeps that deadline obvious, while the note stays attached to the device until you’re ready to place it beside other sketches. Having the prompt nearby could help when your first drawing feels too much like the one you made yesterday.

There’s a playful contrast between the quiet white housing and its red controls, with the yellow notes taking up nearly half the front. The broad knob and two large buttons look approachable rather than like the controls on a complicated drawing tablet. It almost looks like a child’s toy, which is the perfect idiom for playful and unhindered ideation.

The concept understands a small but familiar delay: the moment between having an idea and finding a place for it. A notepad and pen handle that first step, while the timer and word generator give you a reason to start drawing instead of staring at a blank sheet. Ideo is still a concept, of course, but the scramble for a pen makes its arrangement seem practical.

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ANREALAGE’s E Ink Dresses Give One Outfit Several Different Looks

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Changing your outfit usually means heading back to your closet, but ANREALAGE’s Spring/Summer 2027 “SKIN” collection suggests a different solution. Six dresses at Paris Fashion Week use E Ink to switch colors and patterns while they stay on the body. You could call them wearable screens, though their scale-like surfaces make them feel closer to something that grows and changes with the wearer.

Fashion has always played with the idea of a second skin, from tight-fitting clothes to prints that mimic textures found in nature. ANREALAGE takes that idea rather literally, treating the outside of a dress as something that doesn’t have to stay the same all day. The silhouette remains recognizable, but the colors moving across it can make a familiar piece feel new.

Designer: Kunihiko Morinaga (ANREALAGE), E Ink

The changing surface uses E Ink Prism 3, which applies electronic paper technology beyond the e-reader screen. Each dress carries about 1,000 to 2,000 individual pieces arranged like scales, so the color shift happens across many smaller surfaces rather than one rigid-looking panel. That construction lets the dress keep its shape while its appearance follows a different script.

E Ink changes the effect of the technology, too. Unlike LEDs, these pieces aren’t glowing their way across the runway; their colors are visible in the surrounding light. That gives the dresses a quieter kind of drama, even when their patterns shift. It’s an important distinction for clothing, where a gadget stuck on top can pull attention away from the garment underneath.

That doesn’t mean the electronics disappear into the fabric. The scales give each dress a distinct texture, turning the thing that makes the color change possible into part of the design. ANREALAGE explores other shifting surfaces in the collection, including 3D-printed elements that look different as the viewing angle changes. Not every transformation needs electronic paper to make its point.

On a runway, those changes give a garment several appearances without anyone slipping backstage for another outfit. The same idea could be appealing in performance costumes, where a change in color can mark a change in mood or scene. For now, though, the point is what the design makes possible, not a promise that everyone will dress this way.

Of course, there are a few reasons why your next summer dress probably won’t come covered in electronic scales. Thousands of connected pieces raise questions about comfort, cleaning, repairs, and what happens when one stops working. E Ink suggests that changing the look of one garment might reduce the need for several, but that’s not the same as proving these dresses are easier on the environment.

That leaves “SKIN” somewhere between fashion experiment and material design. The dresses aren’t practical replacements for the clothes in your closet, but they do make the usual idea of a fixed pattern feel oddly limiting. A wearer can keep the same silhouette while the surface takes another direction, and you don’t need to understand E Ink to enjoy watching that happen.

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More Freedom Without the Scroll: A Phone Kids Actually Want Outside

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A kid wants to bike to a friend’s house. A parent wants to know they can call if plans change. Neither of them particularly wants the trip to end with an hour of scrolling in someone’s driveway. That small negotiation is the problem Freckle is trying to solve. Its phone offers children a way to stay connected and find their bearings without handing them the full, distracting experience of a conventional smartphone.

The idea appeals to me because childhood independence is often built from ordinary errands, not grand adventures. Walking to the park, buying a snack, figuring out which way leads home: these are modest freedoms, but they matter. Freckle, designed for kids ages 7 to 13, treats a phone as something that might help those moments happen rather than replace them.

Designer: Freckle

Developed by Freckle with design studio Body Shop, the device runs a simplified operating system called ClayOS. There’s no open web, app store, social media, or streaming-video app waiting to turn a quick check of the time into a long detour. That restraint is the design story. Freckle isn’t trying to make a smaller version of the phone adults already carry. It asks which features a child actually needs when they leave the house.

The physical design follows the same thinking. A 3.1-inch screen shows basic information without making the display the center of attention. Colorful hardware and tactile buttons give the phone a playful feel, while an available case with a lanyard makes sense for a device meant to go along on walks and outings. It looks like something a kid could claim as their own, not a stripped-down piece of parental equipment.

Freckle’s most interesting features point away from the screen. Its Discovery Camera lets kids photograph something they find and learn about it. Quests can send them looking for bugs, flowers, or other discoveries, with missions created by parents or provided by Freckle. I like the shift in attention here: the phone supplies a prompt, but the neighborhood supplies the activity.

Of course, a camera that identifies plants and insects won’t turn every walk into a nature documentary. Kids may use it for five minutes and then run off to do something else. That would be a perfectly good result. The appeal is that Freckle doesn’t need to hold a child’s attention indefinitely to justify its place in their pocket.

It also handles the less whimsical parts of going out alone. Kids can call and text contacts approved by their parents, use a mini-map to navigate, and talk to friends with nearby Freckle phones through a walkie-talkie feature. Basic tap-to-pay functionality could help with a snack or a transit fare. Each feature answers a practical question that might otherwise keep a parent from saying yes to an outing.

Parents can track the phone’s location or set safe zones that trigger an alert when a child leaves them. That offers reassurance, though it raises a worthwhile question about how much monitoring is helpful. I’d be more interested in using those tools as a backup than following every turn on a map. Freckle’s stronger promise is not constant supervision. It’s making a little more trust feel possible.

That distinction matters because no device can teach a child how to cross a busy street, handle an unexpected change of plans, or decide when to ask for help. Those lessons still need conversation and practice. Freckle could make them easier to put into practice by giving a child a way to call home while leaving room to work things out for themselves.

There are practical considerations, too. Fast Company reported a $199 price and a $25 monthly wireless plan, with shipping planned for December 2026. That is a meaningful expense for a first phone, and families will need to decide whether its focused features are worth paying for. Parents should also look closely at how location information and the AI-powered camera work before treating either as a reason to buy.

Still, I appreciate the design premise. Freckle doesn’t suggest that kids must choose between being connected and being present. It gives them a camera for noticing things, a map for finding their way, and a means of reaching people who care about them. If it works as intended, the best moment might be when a child checks the phone, puts it away, and keeps going.

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Huawei MatePad Pro 12” Review: Stunning Hardware, One Familiar Caveat

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PROS:


  • Gorgeous PaperMatte display

  • Very thin and light formfactor

  • Big battery

  • Good speaker

CONS:


  • No built-in Google Play Store

  • Long-term software support remains unclear

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The MatePad Pro 12" is stylish, light, and lovely to use, with a PaperMatte display that does a lot of the heavy lifting.

Huawei’s tablet lineup is not doing itself many favors right now. The names suggest one thing, the products suggest another, and if you are just a normal person trying to work out which model is which, the whole range can feel oddly muddled. The MatePad Air sounds like it should be the lighter, breezier option, yet the MatePad Pro 12″ is actually the one that feels lighter and more effortless in the hand.

The MatePad Pro Max, by contrast, is much easier to understand. It is the big brother in the family, and it looks the part too, with a very similar design language to the MatePad Pro 12″. That makes this tablet feel like the middle child in Huawei’s lineup, not in a bad way, but in the sense that it sits between the easy-to-place Max and the more confusingly named Air.

Designer: Huawei

The good news is that the product itself is much easier to understand than the naming. The MatePad Pro 12″ is a slim, striking tablet that clearly wants to be useful as well as beautiful. It aims to cover work, entertainment, note-taking, and creative play in one polished package, and for the most part, it succeeds by being pleasant to use rather than merely impressive on paper.

Aesthetics

The MatePad Pro 12″ looks a lot like a smaller MatePad Pro Max, which is no bad thing. The two share the same slim, polished design language, and that gives the Pro 12″ an immediately premium feel. If anything, this size makes the look more approachable. It still has that high-end flagship polish, just in a form that feels a little less dramatic and easier to live with.

Both tablets come in Blue and Space Gray, and the Blue version I received is especially attractive. It has a soft shimmer finish that catches the light nicely without tipping into anything too flashy or fussy. There is also a nice contrast between the shimmer back panel and the glossy side frame, while the slightly rounded edges keep the tablet from feeling too sharp or severe. Together with the circular camera bump, these details give the design a bit more warmth and character without taking away from its clean, premium feel.

Ergonomics

For a 12-inch tablet, the MatePad Pro 12″ is impressively easy to handle. It measures about 10.4 x 6.8 inches (264.2 x 172.9 mm) and is just 0.19 inches thick (4.7 mm), but at 454g, or about 1 pound, it feels lighter in the hand than its size suggests. That makes a real difference in daily use. It is easy enough to hold one-handed for short stretches, and it never feels as cumbersome as some larger tablets do.

Just as importantly, it does not feel flimsy. Despite how thin and light it is, the MatePad Pro 12″ still feels solid and premium in the hand. That balance matters, because a tablet this slim could easily have tipped into feeling delicate. Instead, it feels refined without feeling fragile.

I also received the optional Huawei Glide Keyboard, which weighs 399g, or about 14.1 ounces, and turns the tablet into something much closer to a compact laptop. The typing experience is good, and one detail I especially appreciated is the way the keyboard neatly nests the stylus. It gives the pen a proper place to sit, which means there is less chance of it going missing while you are carrying the tablet around. Small touches like that make the whole setup feel more thought through.

That said, the keyboard is not perfect. The touchpad is a little too easy to trigger, and I often found myself accidentally brushing it while typing, so I ended up turning off Tap to Click. There is also only one viewing angle, which limits flexibility a bit, and the keyboard is not backlit. None of these issues are deal-breakers on their own, but together they make the accessory feel a little less polished than the tablet itself.

Performance

The display of the MatePad Pro 12″ is the obvious star. Huawei’s PaperMatte screens remain one of the company’s best ideas, and that is true here as well. The 12-inch OLED panel looks sharp, bright, and vibrant, while the slim 3.5mm bezels help give it a more immersive feel. Huawei has also embedded the front camera neatly into that thin border, which keeps the front looking clean and uninterrupted rather than broken up by a notch or thicker framing.

What really makes the screen stand out, though, is the PaperMatte finish. Huawei’s PaperMatte displays have impressed me before, and this one is no exception. The matte treatment cuts down on glare without making the panel look flat or dull, which is not always easy to pull off. Huawei says anti-reflection performance is 30 percent better than the previous generation, and that feels believable in everyday use. Even in bright environments, the screen comes remarkably close to reflection-free, and with up to 1600 nits of peak brightness, it stays comfortable for reading, browsing, and longer work sessions without constantly fighting the light.

The speakers are another pleasant surprise. The MatePad Pro 12″ uses a four-speaker setup, and for something this thin and light, it gets plenty loud and has more bass presence than you might expect, which gives music, dialogue, and video a bit more body than a device this slim really ought to manage. It never quite feels like the sound is coming from such a small and thin tablet. The audio can get a little sharp at times, especially at higher volume, but for casual listening and streaming, it still does a very good job.

Battery life has been solid in my use. The MatePad Pro 12″ packs a 10,400mAh battery, and in a fairly normal day of writing, emails, keeping up with my team on Slack, web browsing, and YouTube, it got through to the end of the day without me worrying too much about battery. Huawei rates it for up to 14.7 hours of local video playback, and there is also 40W reverse charging if you need to top up another device.

Software is where the MatePad Pro 12″ becomes a more conditional recommendation. The tablet runs Harmony OS 4.3 out of the box, and there is no built-in support for the Google Play Store or Google Mobile Services here, and while there are workarounds, there is no guarantee every app you rely on will work exactly as expected. That is the main thing potential buyers need to understand going in. The hardware is easy to appreciate straight away. The software side asks for a bit more patience and flexibility.

Huawei’s AppGallery does offer options like GBox, which can help you access apps that depend on Google services, but the experience is not always seamless. In my testing, GBox did not support split-screen, which felt limiting on a tablet that is otherwise clearly built for multitasking. I had better luck with apps downloaded through Aurora, which did work in split-screen, but that still leaves you deciding how comfortable you are relying on third-party app sources. For some people, that will be a manageable compromise. For others, it will be reason enough to hesitate.

On the plus side, Huawei’s own built-in apps for productivity and creativity are genuinely quite capable. GoPaint, in particular, feels feature-rich, with a wide variety of brushes and granular control over how they behave. There are also more ambitious tools like animation, which appears to build movement from your layers, and a timelapse feature that lets you replay a drawing from start to finish. Even if not everyone will use those tools seriously, they help the app feel more than just a token extra.

The Notes app is also packed with features, including AI handwriting-to-text. In my case, the results were not always perfectly accurate, but that may say as much about my handwriting as it does about the software. Either way, it is another example of Huawei putting real effort into its own app ecosystem. So while the lack of built-in Google support remains the bigger issue, the tablet’s first-party software is stronger than you might expect.

Sustainability

Sustainability is not the strongest part of Huawei’s pitch here, at least not from the information currently available. There is plenty of talk about thinness, portability, and productivity, but much less about things like recycled materials, repairability, or broader environmental commitments. More notably, Huawei has not made any official statement about how long the MatePad Pro 12″ will receive software support, which makes it harder to judge the tablet’s long-term value from a sustainability point of view.

What Huawei does emphasize is durability. The company says the MatePad Pro 12″ offers 50 percent better bend resistance than the previous generation, which is a meaningful improvement for a device this thin. A tablet that is less likely to flex or fail in everyday use is at least more likely to stay in service longer. That is not the same thing as a full sustainability strategy, but it still counts for something.

Value

Value is where the MatePad Pro 12″ becomes more complicated. Pricing starts at €1,199, or about $1,330, for the 12GB and 256GB model with a folio cover, rises to €1,299, or roughly $1,440, with the Glide Keyboard, and reaches €1,449, or around $1,610, for the 12GB and 512GB version with the keyboard. For context, Apple’s 11-inch iPad Pro with 256GB of storage starts at $1,199 in the U.S., so Huawei is clearly pricing this in direct flagship territory.

Judged purely on hardware, the MatePad Pro 12″ feels convincingly premium. It is slim, light, beautifully made, and fitted with an excellent display. The problem is that the software caveats do not disappear just because the hardware is this polished. The lack of built-in support for the Google Play Store or Google Mobile Services still makes this a more selective recommendation than the price might suggest. If you are already comfortable with Huawei’s ecosystem, the value makes more sense. If not, the asking price may feel harder to justify.

Verdict

The Huawei MatePad Pro 12″ makes its strongest case through hardware. It is slim, light, beautifully made, and fitted with a PaperMatte display that remains one of Huawei’s real strengths. The speakers are better than you might expect from something this thin, battery life has been solid in my use, and the overall experience feels properly premium. It is the kind of tablet that makes a strong first impression and, for the most part, keeps earning it.

What stops it from being an easy recommendation is software. There is no built-in support for the Google Play Store or Google Mobile Services, and while workarounds exist, they are still workarounds. For buyers already comfortable with Huawei’s ecosystem, that may be manageable. For everyone else, it adds friction to a tablet that is otherwise polished and appealing. The MatePad Pro 12″ is a very good piece of hardware, but it is not the most straightforward premium tablet to buy.

The post Huawei MatePad Pro 12” Review: Stunning Hardware, One Familiar Caveat first appeared on Yanko Design.