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Best Smart Glasses in 2026: Wait for Google

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There’s one big question looming over anyone who considers smart glasses tech right now: Do you want to wear something with tech on your face? And, for how long? And is that something you’re even comfortable with, conceptually? The decision when it comes to display-enabled tethered glasses and wireless glasses is pretty different.

Display glasses vs. camera and audio glasses

Tethered glasses are really more like eye headphones that you’re perching on your face over your eyes. Although they have somewhat see-through lenses, they’re not made for all-day wear. You’ll put them on for movies, playing games or doing work, and then take them off. The commitment level might be a couple of hours a day at most.

Meanwhile, wireless smart glasses aim to be true everyday glasses. They’ll likely replace your existing glasses, become an additional pair or maybe act as smart sunglasses. But if you’re doing that, keep in mind you’ll need to outfit them with your prescription… or, get used to the limited battery life of wireless glasses. Meta Ray-Bans last several hours on a charge, depending on how they’re used. After that, they need to be recharged in their case, so you’ll need to wear another pair of glasses or just accept wearing a pair with a dead battery.

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Meanwhile, there are other smart glasses that have longer battery life, like the Even Realities G2, but lack cameras and built-in speakers.

Meta Ray-Bans on a red table next to a phone showing a Live AI transcript

Live AI, Meta’s newest Ray-Bans feature, can keep a constant camera feed on the world. I tested it out.

Scott Stein/CNET

AI and its limits…and privacy

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You’ll also want to consider what you’ll use the glasses for, and what devices or AI services you use. Wireless audio and video glasses like Ray-Bans need a phone app to pair and use with, but they can also act as basic Bluetooth headphones with any audio source. However, Meta Ray-Bans are limited to Meta AI as the functioning onboard AI service, with a few hook-ins to apps like Apple Music, Spotify, Calm and Facebook’s core platforms. You’re living in Meta’s world, and that’s a big problem when it comes to trusting the glasses to have a responsible data policy. You can choose to not use the AI features on Meta glasses, something I do because a lot of the AI functions aren’t that useful for me anyway.

Meta is opening up its smart glasses to app developers, although to what degree is still unknown. Meta’s newest Ray-Ban Display glasses, meanwhile, add more apps but mainly for Facebook app-connected functions. Meta’s also beginning to support connected fitness devices, but only with Garmin and its upcoming Oakley Vanguard sports visor for now.

Google’s next wave of glasses expected later this year should be more flexible, tapping into Gemini AI and more Google apps and services. But we still don’t know the entire limits of those glasses, either.

Apple is also expected to have its own AI-enabled glasses within the next year. In other words: things will be changing fast in this space.

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AI-enabled glasses can often use AI and the onboard camera for a number of assistive purposes like live translation or describing an environment in detail. For those with vision loss or assistive needs, AI glasses are starting to become an exciting and helpful type of device, but they’re more limited than what you can do on phones and computers right now. Meta’s AI functions on glasses aren’t as flexible — you can’t necessarily add documents and personal information into it in the same way you can with other services. At least, not yet.

Tethered display glasses have limits, too

Display-enabled tethered glasses use USB-C to connect to gadgets that can output video via USB-C, like phones, laptops, tablets and even handheld game consoles. But they don’t all work the same. Phones can sometimes have app incompatibilities, preventing copyrighted videos from playing in rare instances (like Disney+ on iPhones). Steam Decks and Windows game handhelds work with tethered display glasses, but the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 don’t, and need proprietary and bulky battery pack “mini docks” sold separately to send a signal through. Some glasses-makers like Xreal are building more custom chipsets in-glasses to pin displays in space or customize display size, while others lean on extra software only available on laptops or certain devices to perform extra tricks. But the space here is also changing. Project Aura, coming this year, will pair Xreal display glasses to an Android mini-computer to run lots of apps in 3D and with hand tracking, like a tiny mixed reality headset. More devices like this could emerge, adding true 3D augmented reality and more.

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A man wearing Android XR glasses

Lexy Savvides

Lots on the horizon

If this all sounds like a bit of a Wild West landscape, that’s because it is. Glasses right now remind me of the wrist wearable scene before the Apple Watch and Android watches arrived: It was experimental, inconsistent, sometimes brilliant and sometimes frustrating. Expect glasses to evolve quickly over the next year or so, meaning your choice to buy in now is not guaranteed to be a perfect solution down the road.

While Meta is currently leading the way on face wearables, it’s likely that glasses coming soon will be even more evolved. Once Google and Apple enter the picture, expect more app and service compatibility on smart glasses, too.

And, keep an eye on your wrist. Meta’s neural band for its display glasses is a sign of where others will follow, and Google and Apple will likely fold watch interactions with its glasses for easier gestures and shortcut controls.

More companies are entering this space, including longtime glasses-maker (and social app company) Snap. Snap’s everyday AR glasses are coming later this year, too, but we don’t know that much about them yet, although I’ve tried their bulky developer prototypes several times.

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TSMC $231m share sale marks full exit from UK chip designer Arm

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Arm’s shares fell by more than 7pc as TSMC sold off its final tranche of shares in the UK chip design company.

The world’s largest chipmaker, Taiwan’s TSMC, has sold off its final stake in Arm, the UK chip design company, according to a filing today. The filing says the shares sold over the past few days came to a total of around $231m.

TSMC invested some $100m in Arm at around $51/share during the latter’s IPO in 2023, gradually reduced the position through 2024, and has now fully exited at around $207 a share. According to Reuters, Arm shares fell some 7pc yesterday on the news.

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Arm’s recent move into in-house chip making rather than just chip design has attracted much attention in recent times and the announcement of a major deal with Meta in March saw its shares soar, so the dip not likely to cause any major concern for shareholders.

Last month, Meta announced it was partnering with Arm, which is majority owned by Japan’s Softbank, “to develop a new class of CPUs to support growing AI workloads and general purpose computing”.

Here in Ireland, Arm opened a new “state-of-the-art” facility in Galway supported by IDA Ireland, the State’s investment promotion agency, last year.

Since establishing its Irish presence in the county back in 2014, Arm has expanded its staff to 90 locally, while employing more than 4,800 across Europe. The UK company’s presence in Ireland is limited to Galway. The facility at Crown Square in Galway is set to become home to innovative advancements in semiconductor tech, the company said at the time.

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Google Translate now uses Gemini to improve your pronunciation

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Google is adding another AI-powered trick to Translate — this time focused on how you sound, not just what you say.

A new Pronunciation feature, powered by Gemini, is rolling out to help users practise speaking foreign languages more naturally. In addition, you’ll also receive real-time feedback on delivery.

The update slots neatly into Translate’s existing Practice mode, which launched in late 2025 with tools like Listen and Roleplay. Now, when you translate a phrase and tap Practice, you will see a new “Pronounce” button alongside those options. Tap it, and the app will show a phonetic version of the phrase. Then it will activate your microphone, and ask you to read it aloud.

From there, Gemini steps in. The app evaluates your attempt and offers quick feedback. It will flag unclear sounds or suggesting another try, essentially turning Translate into a lightweight pronunciation coach. It’s not overly detailed, but it’s enough to help you tweak your accent and clarity without needing a full language app.

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The feature lands as Google Translate marks its 20th anniversary and suggests the app is evolving into a broader language-learning tool. While services like Duolingo have long focused on speaking practice, Google’s approach leans more casual and, usefully, it’s built into a tool millions already use daily.

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There are a few limitations for now. Pronunciation is currently Android-only, and it’s rolling out in the US and India, supporting English, Spanish and Hindi at launch. There’s no word yet on when it’ll expand to iOS or more languages. However, given Google’s track record, a wider rollout seems likely.

Translate has always been great at helping you understand other languages. Now it’s taking a step toward helping you actually speak them better too.

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A federal agent said WhatsApp's encryption is a lie. Then the investigation was shut down

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The case, led by a special agent in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, focused on claims that some Meta employees and contractors could access WhatsApp messages despite the app’s use of end-to-end encryption.
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Medical device cyberattacks on the rise

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A key driver for the rise in medical device cyberattacks, according to RunSafe, is the prominence of legacy tech in healthcare environments.

Cyberattacks on medical devices are becoming more frequent and more disruptive, according to a report released by US cybersecurity company RunSafe Security today (29 April).

The 2026 Medical Device Cybersecurity Index, based on a March 2026 survey of 551 healthcare professionals throughout the US, UK and Germany involved in device purchasing decisions, found that 24pc of surveyed healthcare organisations experienced a cyberattack on a medical device – a rise of 2pc compared to last year.

Of those that experienced an attack, 80pc reported moderate or significant patient care impact as a result, with a quarter of the cohort reporting significant impact.

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According to the report, the most commonly affected systems included electronic health record systems (cited by 35pc of affected organisations), patient monitoring devices (23pc), laboratory and diagnostic equipment (18pc), networked surgical equipment (10pc) and imaging systems (8pc).

The most dominant cyberattack methods seen in these incidents were malware infections requiring device quarantine – which were responsible for nearly half of the incidents (48pc) – and network intrusion requiring device isolation (41pc), with both of these incident types maintaining their dominant popularity from 2025.

However, one incident type that RunSafe noted as emerging particularly in 2026 was remote access exploitation, which was seen in 38pc of incidents. RunSafe stated this signalled that attackers are “adapting to the growing remote access footprint of connected devices”.

“Organisations that have not implemented network segmentation, access controls and runtime protections are exposed,” said the company.

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For those organisations that experienced a cyberattack on a medical device, recovery was not so simple.

Nearly half (49pc) of reported incidents caused “extended stays or required manual workarounds”, according to the report, with the most common recovery scenario – experienced by 39pc of impacted organisations – involving five to 12 hours of downtime. Meanwhile, 5pc of affected organisations experienced downtime of more than three days.

Legacy issues

A key driver of the growing medical device cyberthreat, according to RunSafe, is the prominence of legacy devices that cannot be patched or easily replaced.

The report found that three in 10 responding organisations operate medical devices that are past the manufacturer’s end-of-support date. A significant proportion of those devices carry known, unpatched vulnerabilities, according to RunSafe.

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The reported reasons as to why these healthcare organisations continue to operate at-risk legacy devices spanned clinical, financial and structural constraints.

38pc of respondents said there was no “acceptable” replacement available yet for the legacy device in question, while 36pc said they cannot afford a replacement.

34pc cited regulatory or approval constraints as a barrier, 33pc said replacing the device or system would cause too much disruption and interestingly, 17pc stated that the risk presented by this legacy tech has been formally accepted by leadership.

“The inability to patch, combined with continued clinical reliance on vulnerable devices, creates a structural security gap that cannot be closed solely through procurement alone,” said RunSafe in an analysis of the topic of legacy devices.

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“This gap is almost certainly a key driver behind the rise in runtime protection adoption seen in 2026. Runtime protection technologies – which defend devices without requiring a patch – act as a compensating control for a problem that buying new devices cannot solve.”

As recognised by the report, runtime protection technologies are emerging as a critical “compensating control”, with 82pc of respondents stating that they have widely deployed or are piloting runtime exploit protection.

A vulnerable sector

The rise of medical device cyberattacks highlighted by this report comes as the healthcare industry continues to experience breaches and attacks ranging in severity, as noted by RunSafe founder and CEO Joseph M Saunders.

“The findings land against a backdrop of large-scale healthcare cyber incidents that have disrupted care delivery and revenue flows, underscoring how quickly attacks on device-adjacent systems can translate into patient harm,” he said.

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“Medical device cybersecurity is increasing in importance to healthcare buyers as they see it as a patient safety and regulatory imperative.”

Last month, medical equipment manufacturing giant Stryker was hit by a cyberattack that caused a global network disruption. Reports at the time suggested that the company’s Cork plant, which employs more than 4,000, was affected by the attack – which pro-Iranian cyber group Handala claimed responsibility for.

Meanwhile, just a few weeks ago, Dublin recruitment platform Healthdaq – which is used by Northern Ireland’s health trusts – reportedly suffered a cyberattack from the relatively new hacker group XP95, which claimed to have accessed hundreds of thousands of files.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

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The Galaxy S27 could finally get a new look

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Samsung might finally be ready to shake up the look of its flagship phones, but don’t get too excited just yet.

A new leak suggests the Galaxy S27 could bring a redesigned rear camera setup. However, the details are still early and far from locked in.

According to the report, Samsung is supposedly reviewing a potential overhaul of the phone’s camera module, along with broader design changes. This could include tweaks to layout, hardware and overall aesthetics. In fact, these are the areas where the Galaxy S series has felt a little too familiar in recent years.

That said, this isn’t a done deal. The same source notes that progress on the redesign is moving slowly internally. Cost pressures are reportedly playing a role in delaying decisions. In other words, even if Samsung is exploring a new look, it may not make the final cut in time for the S27.

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If anything, this sounds more like early-stage planning than a confirmed direction. Samsung has offered users the option of subtle refinements over major visual changes in recent generations. This is particularly true around the camera design. Therefore, a bigger shift would mark a notable change in approach.

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Samsung Galaxy S26 rearSamsung Galaxy S26 rear
Samsung Galaxy S26. Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

There’s also a small but interesting hint buried in the leak. The tipster claims that another upcoming Samsung device has already adopted a redesigned camera layout similar to what’s being considered for the S27. While that’s vague, it could mean Samsung is testing the waters elsewhere. In other words, Samsung might want to do this before committing to its flagship line.

Still, it’s worth keeping expectations in check. The leak comes from a single source with a mixed track record, and even they admit the information isn’t final. Plans like this can evolve quickly or be scrapped entirely, especially when cost and production timelines come into play.

For now, the idea of a fresh Galaxy S design is more of a “wait and see” than anything concrete. But if Samsung does follow through, the S27 could finally break away from the safe, iterative look the series has stuck with for years.

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RSD 2026 Review: Joe Henderson’s 3LP Resonance Records Release ‘Consonance’ Recorded In 1978 at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase

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The Record Store Day (RSD) release of a 3LP set of 1978 archival live recordings by tenor saxophone legend Joe Henderson titled Consonance is yet another excellent discovery from the good folks at Resonance Records (championed by producer Zev Feldman).

As with others in Resonance’s recent Jazz Showcase series which we have reviewed here at eCoustics, the original master tapes seem to have been recorded in mono. However, the sound quality is quite good, capturing a well balanced performance with all the instruments are in enjoyable listening proportion: saxophone and piano appear a little more up front with the bass tucked in neatly below them, locking in with the clear but not overwhelming drums. 

joe-henderson-rsd-back-cover

A recording certainly worthy of its pressing on 180 gram black vinyl — something I can’t always say for many archival releases — the vinyl pressing lacquers for this release were cut by Matthew Lutheran’s at The Mastering Lab and the final discs were manufactured at Quebec’s Le Vinylist. 

Consonance finds Mr. Henderson backed by Johanne Brackeen on piano, Danny Spencer on drums and a young future bass legend in his own right, Steve Rodby. The latter was part of the Chicago jazz scene at the time and effectively was one of the regular house musicians at that club before he joined Pat Metheny’s group in the early 1980s.

In fact, the album features compelling liner notes including recollections from Rodby who offers nuance into why it was special to play with Henderson — as well as from Brackeen and Spencer, co-producer John Koenig plus Wayne Segal (son of Jazz Showcase founder/owner, Joe Segal). 

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Mr. Henderson was no doubt a very special force on the jazz scene — just check some of your favorite classics by Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Miroslav Vitouš, Freddie Hubbard, Alice Coltrane and others and you’ll find him on many legendary sessions. However, original pressings of his solo works are elusive and very collectible these days. Fortunately, many of his early albums are being reissued and along with that demand, archival live recordings like Consonance help round out the portrait of this artist’s life work. 

That said, Consonance opens with a side-long version of John Coltrane’s “Mr. P.C.” Henderson also pays homage to the legendary Charlie Parker with an expansive reading of “Relaxin’ at Camarillo.” And a 16-minute journey explores Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.” You’ll also hear some of Mr. Henderson’s originals such as “Inner Urge” — which takes up another full album side — and the show closer “Isotope.”

joe-henderson-rsd-2026

Even though Record Store Day is over, I suspect you will be able to find copies of this excellent set online as well as in your favorite stores. In fact, you can get it at Amazon for $75.99 and if you can’t find the LP or simply want a less pricey option, the CD version is available for $23.56.

Where to buy: $75.99 at Amazon (3LP) or $23.56 at Amazon (CD)


Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc.  You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.

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Should Schools Get Rid of Homework?

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Tony Isaac shares a report from NPR: Federal survey data shows that the amount of math homework assigned to fourth and eighth grade students, in particular, has been steadily declining for the past decade. Some educators and parents say this is a good thing — students shouldn’t spend six or more hours a day at school and still have additional schoolwork to complete at home. But the research on homework is complicated. Some studies show that students who spend more time on homework perform better than their peers. For example, a longitudinal study released in 2021 of more than 6,000 students in Germany, Uruguay and the Netherlands found that lower-performing students who increased the amount of time they spent on math homework performed better in math, even one year later.

Other studies, however, suggest homework has minimal outcomes on academic performance: A 1998 study of more than 700 U.S. students led by a researcher at Duke University found that more homework assigned in elementary grades had no significant effect on standardized test scores. The researchers did find small positive gains on class grades when they looked at both test scores and the proportion of homework students completed. More homework was also associated with negative attitudes about school for younger children in the study. “The best educators figured out a long time ago that we can control what we can control,” and that’s what happens during the school day, Superintendent Garrett said, not homework. “There has been a shift away from it naturally anyway, and I felt like this made it equitable across our entire school system.” “The best argument for homework is that mathematical procedures require practice, and you don’t want to waste classroom time on practice, so you send that home,” said Tom Loveless, a researcher and former teacher who has studied homework.

Ariel Taylor Smith, senior director of the Center for Policy and Action at the National Parents Union, said: “The thing they point to is that it’s an equity issue, and not all parents have the same availability and ability to support their students. I would make the argument that if a kid is really far behind in school, that’s an equity issue. They need the additional time to practice.” Kids, she said, “need more practice … Sometimes, you do have to practice the boring stuff, like math.”

“The interesting issue for folks to consider is not should there be more homework, but should there be better homework,” said Joyce Epstein, who has studied homework and is the co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. “Better homework in math might be knowing the fact that kids don’t have to be practicing for hours, 10 to 20 examples,” when they could establish mastery in less time.

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Motorola just dropped 5 new products, including the Samsung Galaxy-rivaling Razr Ultra 2026 series and Razr Fold

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  • Motorola just announced three new clamshell foldables, and confirmed the US availability of the Razr Fold and Moto Buds 2 Plus
  • All of these phones are coming to the US on May 21, with the Moto Buds 2 Plus landing on April 30
  • The Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 is arguably the highlight of these announcements, with a 7-inch foldable screen and three 50MP cameras

Motorola is having a busy day, as the company has just launched five devices, including phones and earbuds.

Leading the charge is the Motorola Razr 2026 family, which includes the base Motorola Razr 2026, the Motorola Razr Plus 2026, and the Motorola Razr Ultra 2026, as well as the previously announced Motorola Razr Fold (you can check out our first impressions of the Ultra in our hands-on Motorola Razr Ultra review).

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5 TV Myths It’s Time To Stop Believing Once And For All

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The television industry is worth a few hundred billion dollars, and it’s expected to smash past $500 billion by 2030. That sounds all very impressive, but a chunk of that comes not from selling pwople their dream TV, but from selling them things they don’t need. It’s not an accident, either; it’s a business model.

Buying a TV should be simple. You can confidently shop for a one online, or you can walk into a store, check out one that looks good, get the hard sell, and then take it home. But with the salesperson’s technical jargon and overinflated claims, you might get a feeling that you’ve bought more than you needed once you settle down on the couch to watch that first show  — or maybe you didn’t get the features you actually need. The problem is, many of us do not have the time or the technical knowledge to push back. Therefore, we trust the spec sheet and believe the salesperson, which can result in overspending. Manufacturers and retailers may very well count on exactly that to boost their sales figures.

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To arm yourself before you go to the store, we’ve listed five of the most persistent myths in the world of TV buying. They’ve been repeated over and over to the point that they now feel like common sense. But are they? After debunking these myths, we hope you can save a little bit of money, whether you’re on the way to the store or contemplating your next purchase. Here are five TV myths it’s time to stop believing once and for all.

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Myth: you need 4K on a small TV

Walk into any electronics store with the intention of buying a TV and salespeople will tell you that 4K is the essential viewing experience. They’re not wrong. However, if it’s a small TV you need (we’re talking 44 inches or under), you can save yourself a bit of cash by opting for a 1080p display instead, like that on the Roku Select Series FHD TV. That’s because researchers at the University of Cambridge and Meta Reality Labs say your eyes may not get any of that 4K benefit from a small screen. The explanation for this lies in how the human eye works. “Our brain doesn’t actually have the capacity to sense details in colour very well,” says Professor Rafał Mantiuk, co-author of the study. Our peepers can only process detail up to a certain point. Feed them more resolution than they can handle, and the signals sent to your brain won’t be that different from a lower resolution. 

The researchers measured pixels per degree (PPD), which isn’t how many pixels a screen has, but how a screen looks from your viewing position. For an average-sized living room with 2.5 meters between couch and screen, a 44-inch 4K TV offers little to no noticeable benefit over a lower-resolution QHD set of the same size. Knowing the point when you can tell the difference between 4K and 1080p could save you money — and the research team was so keen to assist people with this that they made an online calculator to help. Just enter the necessary details, and it will tell you exactly what resolution is actually beneficial to your eyes.

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Myth: you need premium HDMI cables

Cable manufacturers will try to convince you that expensive 4K cables are a necessity, but the fact is they’re not. If your current cheap cables do fall short, the solution is simply another cheap cable from a different brand. HDMI is just a digital signal; it either carries the data or it doesn’t. Whatever you’ve read, a pricier cable will not enhance your picture because the signal has no way of carrying any alleged extra quality. Even if you dug out a dusty old cable from the back of a drawer, it would almost certainly deliver the same picture quality as a $50 cable you just pulled off the shelf at Best Buy.

It’s also worth noting that HDMI cable “versions” don’t actually exist. Whether it’s HDMI 2.0 or 2.1, these numbers describe your device’s ports. What actually counts when choosing the right HDMI cable is the speed category. If that dusty old cable is a standard cable, it won’t be able to handle 4K. But the good news is, even the cheapest cables on today’s market are almost always high-speed or premium high-speed, the latter of which can handle just about any 4K content.

Gold-plated connectors and signal fidelity are unnecessary, too. In fact, buying high-priced cables means you’re just buying a brand name, gimmicky features, and possibly a fancy box. The one exception is next-gen gaming. If you have the hardware capable of pushing 4K at 120fps, treat yourself to an ultra-high-speed cable — but even then, these are often reasonably priced; you don’t need to fork over a fortune.

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Myth: you need an extended warranty

The moment you buy a new TV, just wait for the extended warranty hard sell. But did you know that extended warranties are often far more profitable for retailers than the hardware itself? In many cases, they pocket more than half of what you pay for the plan. With the global extended warranty market projected to reach an incredible $286.4 billion by 2032 according to Allied Market Research, this is not an industry built on goodwill — it’s a serious business. But the reality of a modern flat-screen TV is that they fail at a very low rate; we’re talking single-digit percentage numbers here. And when something does go wrong, the repair cost is usually just marginally higher than what you would have paid for the extended warranty. Consumer Reports put it bluntly when they said, “You shouldn’t have to pay extra to get manufacturers or retailers to stand behind their products.”

The pricing is not arbitrary, either. Companies work out how many TVs in a given model are likely to fail and set their prices accordingly, which ensures they always come out on top. The reality is, you’re not buying protection for your TV; you’re subsidizing their profits. Even if you do make a claim on your extended warranty, the experience is seldom straightforward. Repairs drag on, and a lot of the time they need more than one attempt to fix it. Most major credit cards quietly offer the cardholder a warranty extension as a free perk anyway, as long as you use that card to purchase the TV. The smart move is to keep your money or stash it in a repair fund. On a TV that is statistically very unlikely to need fixing, the odds are firmly in your favor.

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Myth: TV contrast ratio specs are accurate

Contrast ratio measures how deep a TV’s blacks are against how bright its whites can get — and it is one of the most important factors in picture quality. However, if you’ve ever compared the contrast ratios of two TVs, you’ve probably been misled. That’s because the numbers are not directly comparable across brands. Manufacturers are not required to follow any single testing procedure when measuring it, so every brand does it differently — and most measure it in whatever way produces the biggest number.

At the heart of this is the difference between native and dynamic contrast ratio. Every TV has a native contrast ratio — what the screen can physically produce. Many also have dynamic contrast, a feature that adjusts brightness in dark and light scenes to deepen blacks and brighten whites. Because the dynamic figure is often much larger than the native figure, manufacturers sometimes highlight it on packaging — and it cannot be trusted as a reliable guide to what you will actually see. The number on the box is not a standardized measurement; it’s a marketing decision. With no standard benchmark, these numbers are essentially meaningless.

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Myth: OLED burn-in is still a serious concern

Burn-in — the ghostly remnant of a static image permanently etched on an OLED screen. It has long haunted the OLED and spooked many buyers over the years. It’s probably the main reason many people have opted for LCD TVs instead. But should you be worried about burn-in on OLED TVs? Evidence suggests that fear is largely misplaced. Most people who think their screen has some burn-in symptoms are actually experiencing image retention. This is temporary and clears up on its own. True burn-in is permanent and was a legitimate concern with older OLEDs. But nowadays, it requires extreme conditions to happen. When it occurs, it occurs when the same static element, like a news channel logo, is left on the screen at high brightness for days on end.

RTINGS decided to put this one to bed when they conducted one of the most comprehensive TV longevity studies ever conducted. It was a 3-year accelerated test on over 100 TVs, accumulating more than 10,000 hours of usage. In the end, every single OLED did eventually show burn-in, but the tech experts made it clear that this was the result of deliberately extreme conditions, and they do not represent normal use. In an earlier test, RTINGS ran six OLED TVs for over 9,000 hours, showing a mix of general TV — the same way people actually watch TV. Not one of them developed significant burn-in. Myth debunked.

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Methodology

We searched for the most widely discussed myths regarding TVs on the internet. The five we listed are easily the most talked about. We looked into it even deeper and found expert sources that have firmly debunked each of these myths. Our author also leaned on personal experience, having been a long-time nonbeliever in some of these; personal use showed that a small 1080p TV never posed a problem mounted on a bedroom wall for years, and affordable HDMI cables have never given any trouble. Additionally, the writer is too frugal to buy extended warranties, which have never resulted in any issue. However, all this debunking is also backed by reputable sources rather than relying on the author’s intuition alone.



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How to watch Giro d’Italia 2026 free from anywhere with this VPN deal

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How to watch Giro d’Italia 2026 for free from anywhere with a VPN. Jonas Vingegaard, Giulio Pellizzari and Adam Yates are amongst the maglia rosa favourites.

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