This Week at Mark Ellis Reviews

👋 Another week has passed us by and it’s been an unusually sunny one here in the UK! Somehow I found the time to rant about AI, amongst revisiting the Samsung S25 Ultra after three months, and belatedly reviewing the Apple Watch Ultra 2. We also posted our definitive best smartwatch list to the website!

Oh, and one more thing… scroll toward the end to see how to enter my latest giveaway (newsletter subscribers only!)

FIRST THINGS FIRST

An apology (on behalf of AI)

A couple of weeks ago, I published a video on my Tech Diary channel about the recently announced AirPods Max firmware update (the one that has been temporarily pulled back due to a bug in iOS 18.4). A lot of people watched that video, which was lovely, but I was massively let down by something which is apparently going to change the world forever. That something was AI.

I have nothing against AI. I’m not afraid of it. I’m slightly bored with it in terms of smartphone features, but I have a great deal of respect for what it can do for businesses like mine in terms of saving time and increasing productivity. Until it doesn’t work properly. Which is quite a regular occurrence.

The aforementioned YouTube video was an off-the-cuff affair and needed to be shot quickly. The AirPods Max firmware update news had just broken, and I thought it would be fun to shoot a quick reaction video. To facilitate this, I didn’t read the press release. Instead, I fed it into ChatGPT with the simple instruction to condense it into three or four bullet points to which I could refer during the filming process.

It made a total hash of this. The press release consisted of four relatively short paragraphs. From those paragraphs, ChatGPT deduced that the update would arrive in May and that it would also be compatible with Vision Pro. I’ve just double-checked, and the words ‘May’ and ‘Vision Pro’ don’t feature anywhere on that page. Literally nowhere at all. You’d have to hunt around the rest of the Apple website to find them.

I understand that AI can hallucinate, which is fair enough. We’re all human, eh? But when it just completely makes stuff up, I immediately lose interest and, more importantly, rapidly lose trust in it as a serious business tool.

Sorry if you were confused by that video. I blame The Terminator.

BUYING GUIDE

The M4 Mac mini and desktop Macs - We Need To Talk!

My second-channel video this week (untainted by AI this time around) covers some updated Mac buying guidance if you’re looking exclusively for a desktop machine. The arrival of the M3 Ultra/M4 Max Mac Studio has caused understandable confusion. But I’ve got some clear advice to help decide the right machine for you!

BYTE-SIZED NEWS

This Week’s Top Tech Headlines

🗻 Leaked iPhone 17 Pro Cases Hint at Massive Camera Bump
More leaks and rumours seem to back up recent speculation that the iPhone 17 series will see a major redesign of the rear camera systems.

📂 Apple Might Be Manufacturing Larger Foldable Device in 2026
More rumours are firming up the idea that Apple is going to release at least one foldable device in 2026.

7 Best Smartwatches You Should Buy Today

There are a ton of smartwatches to choose from these days, and pretty much all of them are great. That means deciding which one to buy has become quite difficult, especially if you are willing to buy an Android device (which you definitely should be).

In the guide, we cover the best smartwatches for a variety of budgets, use cases and needs. Take a look and let me know if you agree with our choices!

Apple Watch Ultra 2 Review – One Big Problem

I appreciate that I’m massively late to the party with the Apple Watch Ultra 2, but the kind folks at Back Market (purveyors of high-quality refurbished tech) hooked me up with a unit after I realised I really should have checked it out by now. The conclusion of my review isn’t particularly surprising, but it does sum up where Apple has to go next to keep up with Android competitors.

NEED TO KNOW

Tip Of The Week

👉 iOS tip: Autofill your email in a tap – Set up a shortcut in Text Replacement (Settings > General > Keyboard) so that typing @@ (or any shortcut you choose) instantly fills in your email address. You’re welcome.

TOP FINDS

What Had Me Glued to YouTube…

🧼 Day in the Life of a Luxury Car Cleaner in the UK (Tino Car Care) - I have no idea why I can’t stop watching these videos.

🕹️ The very WORST Nintendo Switch 2 review (CaseyNeistat) - Casey’s back! And he’s ‘reviewing’ the Switch 2. What more do you need from six minutes and 30 seconds of YouTube content?

🛸 The Genius Design of Apple Park (neo) - what a great little find this channel is! This video is a great starting point if you have any interest in Apple’s ‘spaceship’ campus. For instance, I had no idea that the underground car park traffic light system mirrors the layout of macOS window controls 🤯

ICYMI

Samsung S25 Ultra 3 months later: Still The Best?

It’s been three months with the Samsung S25 Ultra in my pocket. That also means it’s been three months since I crowned it the best flagship smartphone on the market. But is that still true? Find out my thoughts in the updated review video!

GIVEAWAY

Win a Samsung T9 Portable SSD!

In my iPad accessories video this week, I launched our latest giveaway, accessible only to you, my loyal newsletter readers!

To enter 👉 just click one of the options below to share what you thought of this newsletter (please be completely honest here). And on the next page, leave a quick note with a little feedback. Your input helps me make this newsletter even better.

Do both of these things, and you’re in the running to win a Samsung T9 1TB portable SSD (worth $129/£119)!

This giveaway ends midnight of 24 April 2025 (GMT+1), and is open to anyone living in the US, UK or EU. The winner will be picked at random and alerted via email. This contest is in no way associated with Samsung.

‘GRAM OF THE WEEK

Google Pixel 9a zoom test

1x vs 2x vs 5x vs 8x

Remember - this phone only has two optical focal lengths - 0.5x and 1x - everything else is digital. How much zoom is too much zoom these days? And yes, this does mean I have a Pixel 9a review incoming, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. Make sure to enter the giveaway by filling out the survey above!

~ Mark