This Week at Mark Ellis Reviews

👋 Hello! I’ve spent far too much time on aeroplanes this week to check out various upcoming devices, but it hasn’t stopped me from greeting you this Friday in your inbox. It’s been a good week for Huawei after their new smartwatch line was released and Honor joined the party with, yes, another mid-range phone. All of which are covered below, plus my unexpectedly sad relationship with the iPad mini 7.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Desperately trying to use the iPad mini

‘This is the newsletter I didn’t want to write’. That’s how I feel I should start this segment. Because it is going to be a bunch of words that I wish I didn’t feel compelled to cobble together while waiting for a flight at Heathrow Terminal 5.

I do, though - and they relate to the iPad mini, which is currently sitting inside my rucksack. I had to remind myself to place it in there yesterday when packing my things for a press trip to Rome and Abu Dhabi. And that’s the problem - reminding myself to pack the iPad mini isn’t something I’ve had to do in the past; it was just always there, come rain or shine and no matter my destination.

Something has changed, though. The iPad mini is no longer an essential piece of kit for me. As I noted earlier this year in an updated review of Apple’s tiny tablet, the iPad mini has been reduced to a studio reference device (it usually sits out of shot below the camera to keep me on track during filming). I don’t consume stuff on it anymore. I don’t take notes with it anymore. I don’t do… whatever else I was doing with it before. The iPad mini just doesn’t feel as amazing as it once did.

I can attribute some of my troublesome relationship with the iPad mini to my job. As a tech reviewer, I’m spoiled by an abundance of new tech. I get to review most new smartphones, tablets, and a whole lot more. This is both a blessing and, conversely, quite overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that I suffer from tech fatigue; I often just want a quiet, analogue life away from the camera.

The more I think about it, the more I suspect that this is why I’ve hit a bit of a rough patch with the iPad mini. More importantly, I don’t think it’s the iPad mini’s fault. And to dig more into this theory, I decided to make it the topic of this week’s Tech Diary video.

BYTE-SIZED NEWS

This Week’s Top Tech Headlines

👓 Google Unveils Android XR Smart Glasses
Google Glass died so Android XR could live…with a large helping hand from Xreal

🕶️ Apple Glasses Set for 2026 Launch as Camera-Equipped Watch Plans Shelved
Would you look at that? The day after Google drops Android XR, we get rumours of the long-awaited Apple Glasses.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Something a bit different this week, as I’d love to hear from you guys about whether the content in this newsletter is exactly what you’re after. Please do vote above so I can tailor the newsletter to your tastes!

As for last week, I asked you how much you’d spend on a pair of headphones. Here are the results:

Unsurprisingly, most of you fell into the middle category, but a surprisingly high number wouldn’t mind spending upwards of $400 on good quality headphones. Which probably makes sense, I imagine a lot of market research went into the pricing of the Sony XM6.

ICYMI

Huawei Watch 5 & Fit 4 Pro review - Best Apple Watch Alternatives?

I can’t stress to people enough these days that buying an Apple Watch is completely unnecessary unless you really want the Apple brand. Huawei make some truly excellent smartwatches, and these two are no exception. You can even use them with iPhones now. Which is my favourite of the two? You’ll have to watch (or read!) to find out!

HONOR 400 Pro review: I Need Your Help!

This video is as much about the Honor 400 Pro as it is about the state of smartphone reviewing in general. There’s nothing drastically wrong with this phone; in fact, it is very good, like most mid-range devices these days. But the more phones like this that come out, the harder it is to keep reviews interesting. Have a watch and let me know what you actually want from us tech reviewers.

NEED TO KNOW

Tip Of The Week

👉 iOS tip: Turn your phone into a white noise generator: head to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds and pick from Ocean, Rain, Stream or more!

TOP FINDS

What Had Me Glued to YouTube…

🎵 Fatboy Slim reveals music industry secrets & production tips! (Fish56Octagon) - I’ve only just started watching this. Because it’s Fatboy Slim. Who just happens to be one of my heroes. Oh, and I’m a big fan of Fish, too.

🚘 James May Reviews a Car He'd Actually Buy (James May’s Planet Gin) - This might be one of my favourite ever car reviews on YouTube… and Mr May did everything himself. Which bodes well for some news we have on the way…

💵 Sam & Jony introduce io (OpenAI) - There are already, predictably, lots of opinions about OpenAI’s acquisition of Jony Ive’s AI startup firm. Mine is that this is pretty seismic news. Or, at least, it has the potential to be.

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. I have an exciting announcement coming up soon, which you may know a little bit about already if you follow my Instagram. All I’ll say for now is that I’ve been driving a lot of cars recently!

~ Mark