John Higgins
editor
John Higgins writes product reviews, buying advice, and editorial analysis for Truthful Reviews.
Latest Reviews
Recent published work from John Higgins.
HP OmniBook 5 NGAI 16 Review: Huge Battery Life, Modest Pace
The HP OmniBook 5 NGAI 16 gets the fundamentals mostly right for buyers who care more about battery life, portability and a strong OLED panel than outright speed. It is slim, quiet and efficient, but the compromises are obvious: limited raw performance, sparse ports and upgradeability that barely exists.
Tenways CGO Compact Review: Small Cargo E-Bike, Big Urban Appeal
The Tenways CGO Compact is one of the smartest compact cargo e-bikes available around the GBP/EUR2,000 mark. It combines a tidy frame, excellent urban agility, belt-drive simplicity and genuinely useful carrying potential, while still staying small enough for flats, lifts and narrow corridors. The weak point is comfort: on broken roads, the rigid front end and firm saddle make it much less forgiving than its polished design suggests.
BlackSheep AG18 Review: Cheap Smart Glasses With Surprisingly Capable Translation
The BlackSheep AG18 takes an aggressively low-cost approach to smart glasses and still manages to offer more than a gimmick. Its audio quality, battery life and charging setup are all compromised, but the AI-led translation tools, competent companion app and unexpectedly useful visual-recognition features make it far more interesting than the price suggests. It is not a Ray-Ban Meta rival in overall polish, yet it is a strikingly capable budget alternative for buyers who care more about translation and casual utility than premium sound or camera output.
Moustache Mardi 27.6 FS Review: Urban Comfort Taken to an Extreme
The Moustache Mardi 27.6 FS is the kind of premium urban e-bike that makes ordinary commuter bikes feel crude. Its fully suspended one-piece frame, Bosch Performance Line CX motor and belt-driven Enviolo setup deliver an unusually calm, plush ride with very little everyday fuss. The catch is obvious: nearly 30kg of mass and a GBP/EUR premium-bike price tag mean this is a luxury take on city transport, not a sensible value choice.
Harman Kardon SoundSticks 5 Wi-Fi Review: A Design Icon That Finally Streams Properly
The SoundSticks 5 Wi-Fi takes one of audio design's most recognisable silhouettes and turns it into a genuinely modern streaming system. The look still matters, but the bigger story is the sound: a refined three-way presentation, strong low-end authority and broad support for AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon Ready. The lack of an integrated voice assistant, wired satellite connections and the omission of HDMI ARC on this variant keep it from being the easiest all-rounder, but it absolutely earns its premium position.
Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro Review: A Real Windows Answer to the MacBook Pro
The Galaxy Book6 Pro is one of the clearest signs yet that premium Windows laptops no longer have to choose between speed and stamina. Intel Panther Lake, a superb Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and much better ergonomics give Samsung a genuinely high-end notebook. Sparse ports, lingering bloat and some thermal limits under extreme 3D work stop it short of perfection, but it is a serious MacBook Pro-class alternative for Windows users.
Realme 16 Pro+ Review: Huge Battery, Middling Pace
The Realme 16 Pro+ tries to stand out in the upper mid-range with a 200MP main camera, a 7000mAh silicon-carbon battery and unusually tough IP68/IP69/IP69K protection. It gets a lot right, especially for display quality, stamina and day-time photography. But the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is too cautious for the asking price, and the advertised 80W charging is far less impressive in practice.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Review: Compact, Polished, and Too Familiar
Samsung keeps the compact flagship formula intact with the Galaxy S26: the screen is excellent, One UI 8.5 is refined, and seven years of updates still matter. The problem is value. A higher launch price, flat 25W charging and weaker endurance than the Galaxy S25 make this feel more like a careful refresh than an essential upgrade.
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro Review: Character, Cameras and a Few Mid-Range Limits
Nothing has made a mid-range phone that looks memorable and feels more premium than most rivals at the price. The Phone (4a) Pro combines a strong display, useful zoom camera and genuinely distinctive software ideas, but it is held back by merely decent performance and a software-update promise that still looks short.
Xiaomi 17 Ultra Review: A Camera-First Flagship That Pushes Samsung Hard
The Xiaomi 17 Ultra behaves like a camera built around a phone rather than the other way round. Its Leica-tuned imaging system, class-leading brightness, big battery and genuinely useful photography accessories make it one of the most distinctive premium Android handsets of the year, even if HyperOS still carries a bit too much clutter.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: Privacy Display, Power and One Familiar Omission
Samsung's latest Ultra is powerful, more comfortable to hold and far quicker to charge than before. The new privacy display is a genuinely fresh idea, but the missing Qi2 magnets and only moderate photographic progress stop this feeling like a complete reinvention.
Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 Review: Serious Running Tools Without Garmin Pricing
Huawei has built a genuinely capable running watch here. The Watch GT Runner 2 pairs excellent GPS accuracy, rich training data and standout battery life with a lightweight titanium body, though the software ecosystem remains more closed than Garmin or Wear OS alternatives.