The Sony WH-1000XM4 have been our pick for the best headphones you can buy since they launched in 2020 - and now, it looks like a new upgraded model is on the cards.
A patent, spotted by The Walkman Blog , describes an engineering prototype for a pair of over-ear headphones with the model number YY2954 - and if these are the successors to Sony's flagship headphones, you can almost be certain that's a code for the Sony WH-1000XM5.
If this patent is for the Sony WH-1000XM5, we may have been given our first glimpse of the rumored wireless headphones . It contains a rather basic illustration of a pair of over-ear headphones with oval-shaped earcups, a thin headband, and an FCC nameplate on a tag underneath the left ear cushion.
As The Walkman Blog speculates, this could mean the WH-1000XM5 will feature a different headband style to their predecessors. The WH-1000XM4 have a nameplate on the underneath of the headband, but the fact that this has been moved to underneath the ear cushion suggests the new headband might be too thin to house a nameplate, or perhaps made of a material that can't be easily stamped - like metal.
Of course, it's entirely possible that Sony has opted to move the nameplate to somewhere less conspicuous for the sake of a cleaner look, but the idea of a pair of Sony headphones with a slick metal headband like the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 is pretty enticing.
Like the Sony WH-1000XM4, it looks like the next Sony headphones will initially come in black or silver. The Walkman Blog shared an import listing for a Sony headset from Hong Kong to India, which it believes relates to the headphones described in the patent - and this listing contained two colors, silver and black.
The patent also shows that the internal battery rating of these headphones is 3.8V, as opposed to the 3.7V rating we got with the WH-1000XM4. This means the Sony WH-1000XM5 could improve upon their predecessors' 38-hour battery life. That figure was already impressive, so an even longer music playback time would be a big selling point for Sony's next headphones.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 could also come with fast charging support, with the patent describing a 5V / 9V USB rating for charging.
Will the Sony WH-1000XM5 be released in 2022?
It's important to remember that a patent listing is never a firm guarantee that a product will ever see the light of day - but we'd be very surprised if Sony wasn't working on a follow-up to its hugely successful WH-1000XM4 headphones.
If the headphones in this patent really are the Sony WH-1000XM5, they could be launched in August 2022 - that's because the confidentiality agreement on the document ends on August 8.
An August release date for the Sony WH-1000XM5 definitely makes sense. After all, the Sony WH-1000XM4 were released on August 6 2020, while their predecessors, the Sony WH-1000XM3 launched on August 30, 2018.
There's a clear release schedule there - every two years in August, we've had another model in the WH-1000X line up since 2018. In any case, we'll be keeping a close eye on all things Sony for the next few months, especially as a 2022 release date could put the WH-1000XM5 in direct competition with other rumored headphones like the Apple AirPods Max 2 and the first Sonos headphones .
Games like Wordle – the best spinoffs and alternatives
If you’re looking for the best games that are like Wordle but offer something a bit different, you’ve come to the right place.
Wordle has steadily taken over the internet thanks to its simple yet challenging gameplay, but that’s not to say the game is faultless.
Among its main issues is that you can only tackle one puzzle a day - and we're here to help if you want today's Wordle answer , by the way – if you’re looking to try another puzzle you’ll have to wait for the clock to tick over to tomorrow. Additionally, the game can get a bit repetitive; if you’ve worked out the best starting words then you can pretty much guarantee a win within four tries.
However, Wordle’s popularity spawned several clones that offer a similar style of gameplay with unique twists to keep you entertained. To save you the time of sifting through the trash, we’ve gathered the best Wordle-like games so you can give them a go.
If you’re after a more challenging version of Wordle, Dordle is going to be the game for you.
It’s exactly the same as Wordle – using the same hint system and offering a new puzzle for you to attempt each day - except you are guessing two five-letter words at once.
Every time you make a guess it's simultaneously entered into two boards, and each will return clues that link your word to their respective hidden solution. You'll have to carefully consider your words to maximize the hints you get across two Wordles at once.
To help you out just a little bit, Dordle gives you an extra attempt, increasing your total guess to seven rather than six.
Plus, if you want to play more after attempting the daily puzzle, there is the option to keep going with the 'free Dordle' mode.
It’s time to leave the letters behind and try out this all-numbers version of Wordle, Primel .
Rather than trying to guess a five-letter word, you have to six attempts to work out a secret five-digit prime number. In case you've forgotten a prime number is one that can only be divided by one and itself, i 11, 13, and 2,351.
Much like Wordle, you're given the same hint system – a grey box means that digit isn't in the number at all, yellow means you have the right digit in the wrong position, and green means you got the right digit in the right place.
On top of that, just like Wordle again you can attempt a new Primel puzzle every day.
If you want to give it a try but are struggling to find a five-digit prime number, remember that they’ll only ever end in either one, three, seven, or nine.
Worldle puts your geography skills to the test by showing you the outline of a country and asking you to guess which one it is.
If you guess incorrectly you’re told how far away the answer is from the country you just typed, and which direction you’ll have to travel from your location in order to get to your destination.
Take note, however, as the distance you are shown is based on the distance between the country’s centers, not between their borders. For example, the distance between the United States and Canada (which share a border) is given as 2,260km.
Like Wordle, you only have six guesses and a new puzzle is available for you to play each day.
The battle royale trend may have lost some steam, but it has managed to claim Wordle with this competitive twist on the puzzle game.
In Squabble , players are competing against each other to be the last person standing as they work to solve Wordle-style puzzles – with the same hint structure and ability to only attempt each word six times before being given a new one.
You start off with 100 hit points and steadily lose it by guessing incorrectly or when other players get the correct answer. You also lose a hit point every second, so you can’t dawdle. Thankfully, life can be regained by finding the right word.
It’s the perfect option for those looking to flex their Wordle skills in matches of up to 99 players; you can even set up a room to play against your friends to find out who really is the best at Wordle.
If your first guess in Wordle is always something rude then this version of the game is perfect for you.
Much like traditional Wordle, Lewdle asks you to guess a different five-letter word in just six attempts each day, but you can only input words that are in some way vulgar, profane, or obscene.
If you manage to stumble onto the answer but don't know what it means, the game will helpfully link you to the relevant Urban Dictionary entry so that you can learn more about this new term that’s been added to your vocabulary.
Plus, if your catalog of lewd words is fairly short you can optionally play on Sheltered Mode. This will let you guess any word whether it's rude or not so that you can narrow down the letters, but the answer will still be something dirty.
Let's flex those 'who’s that Pokémon?' skills you spent your childhood developing with Squirdle .
Each day you have eight guesses to work out who the secret Pokémon is. When you make a guess you’re told how close you are not based on the spelling of the critter’s name, but on how your guess compares to the answer’s type, weight, height, and the generation it was introduced.
Type clues are presented using the traditional Wordle method; red is wrong, green is completely correct, and yellow means you have the correct type in the wrong place. Each Pokémon has two types, though monotype creatures have their second type listed as ‘none.’
Generation, height, and weight are given as either a green box if your guess is the same as the answer in this category, or as up/down arrows to tell you if you need to think of larger Pokémon in later games, or smaller and from earlier on in the franchise.
You can also play a non-daily version of the game if you want to play a few more rounds, plus you can optionally set this version to only include the original 151 if you're an old-school fan.
Do you hate having to spend time thinking of and typing out five-letter guesses?
Letterle will save you time, and brainpower, by asking you to correctly guess just one letter. There aren’t any clues, just random typing of your keyboard until you happen to stumble onto the right answer.
You can play Letterle as many times as you like in one day, with each attempt having a new randomly selected letter for you to try and guess.
Have you ever felt like Wordle was playing against you, changing the answer as you guess to keep you from finding it? Well, if you’re playing Absurdle you know the game is doing just that.
When you start playing Absurdle there is no answer. As you make guesses, Absurdle provides you with clues such that the pool of possible answers is kept as large as it can be.
As you continue to make guesses, you’ll eventually narrow down this list until you finally exhaust all remaining options and stumble into the ‘answer.’
If you’re unsure how to kick things off, you can hit the 'Random Guess' button to input a random clue to start with.
Plus, you can play Absurdle as many times as you want in a single day.
An air fryer is the secret to crisp, crunchy skin when cooking pork belly every time
Whether you’re looking for an indulgent Saturday night treat, or the perfect Sunday roast, pork belly is up there as one of the tastiest meats to cook. The combination of the succulent juicy flesh, and the crisp rind (that offers a satisfying crunch when bitten into), is quite frankly, delicious.
However, getting that gorgeous crisp crackling is no mean feat. It requires high temperatures, as well as all of the moisture to be removed from the rind before cooking.
The problem is I find cooking pork belly in the oven is just so unpredictable - some days I’ll get the perfect crunchy skin, but others I’ll be left with a soggy, claggy rind that’s just not appetizing. It’s a long process too, taking hours when using traditional cooking methods.
This led me to wonder if using an air fryer might have a better result, turning out succulent juicy meat with crisp, crunchy skin, far quicker than an oven. Air fryers have a much smaller cooking cavity than a traditional oven, which means the hot air can circulate around food more rapidly - this is what creates a crisp finish on a variety of foods, so could it work here?
I’ve been so impressed with this handy appliance that I’ll never go back to cooking fries in the oven again . I even found cooking French Toast in an air fryer was far easier than on the stove , so could this kitchen gadget do the same for pork belly?
Best air fryer deals
Read on to discover what happened when we cooked pork belly in an air fryer - or, if you’ve already decided you want to invest in this handy kitchen appliance, check out the best prices right now:
It’s all in the preparation
Before even switching on an air fryer, there’s some preparation that needs to be done to ensure the pork belly has a crunchy, crisp skin. First, start by scoring the rind in a criss-cross pattern. This ensures the heat from the air fryer can cause the fat to render (where it melts are purifies so it can be consumed), which partly creates the crisp finish.
You also need to sprinkle the skin with salt and leave it uncovered in a fridge for a couple of hours, to draw out as much moisture as possible - the other aspect to creating the crunchy skin. Before cooking, blot the skin dry with a paper towel to remove the moisture the salt has drawn out.
Brush it with oil, again, which offers additional help in rendering the fat, and sprinkle with salt flakes for flavour and again to remove any moisture left in the joint.
I’ve regularly cooked pork belly in my oven, so I know that the joint needs a high temperature at the start of cooking, which should then be reduced to a lower temperature to ensure the meat doesn’t dry out.
However, as an air fryer can cook food quicker than a standard oven - something my previous experience cooking with the appliance has shown when I made fried chicken to rival KFC in an air fryer -I didn’t think lowering the temperature part way through cooking would be necessary.
I also did some research on air fryer pork belly recipes, and settled on a cooking temperature of 401 F / 205 C degrees. The piece of pork belly weighed 0.77lb / 350g, and using a meat calculator , I worked out that it would take 40 minutes if cooked by traditional methods.
However, as air fryers speed up cooking durations, I opted for 20 minutes initially, as I could always cook for longer if it wasn’t at the required temperature for pork, rather than risk overcooking the meat. The USDA states this is 145 F, but in the UK, the FSA recommends pork should reach 70 C for two minutes when checked with a food thermometer. The only thing left to do now was start cooking.
Crisp and crunchy on the edges
I dialled in the temperature and cooking duration on the Instant Vortex Plus air fryer (currently our top-rated air fryer ), which saw the appliance preheat for three minutes before alerting me it had reached the required temperature. I then placed the pork belly on the crisper plate in the air fryer basket and cooking commenced.
Part way through cooking the air fryer alerted me that it’s time to turn the contents of the basket, so the hot air can reach every inch of the food to ensure a crisp finish. However, in this instance I chose to ignore the alert, as turning the pork would have resulted in moisture getting on the skin and making it soggy rather than crisp.
When cooking ended, I was disappointed. It was quicker, but nor crisper than using an oven.
The crisper plate and frying basket were also swimming with fat - really I should have learnt my lesson from when I made cinnamon rolls in an air fryer - it was clear the pork belly needs to be placed on a suitable sized metal tray, on foil or on baking paper to ensure I don’t have a sticky mess to clean up, too.
Feeling slightly deflated, I turned to the internet to research what else I could do to ensure the skin was crisp and crunchy.
Several sites, including these articles from the Guardian and Seven Point Pork , recommend pouring boiling water on the rind after it has been scored to shrink the skin. This ensures that the oil, salt and heat can penetrate the rind better, removing even more moisture leaving the skin crisp.
So I decided to give this a go on another piece of pork belly. As soon as I scored the rind, I placed the pork belly on a metal rack, so the water could drain away rather than cooking the flesh of the pork belly, and slowly tipped two litres of boiling water over the rind.
I then patted it dry and rubbed with salt, leaving it uncovered in the fridge for two hours, before brushing with oil and sprinkling with salt flakes right before air frying. Although this time, I wrapped the base and side of the pork belly in aluminium foil to create a disposable container to collect the excess fat and ensure the crisper plate didn’t end up a sticky mess.
Verdict
As the pork belly weighed the same as before, I used the same temperature and cooking duration, and again chose not to turn the joint part way through cooking. After cooking this time, the pork belly had a much crisper skin than the previous version, although the middle was still a little soggy.
The internal temperature was 68 C, so slightly below UK regulations, which meant it needed a few additional minutes cooking. I added five minutes to the duration, although this time while the internal temperature was safe for consumption, the middle was still not quite crisp enough for my taste so I cooked it for a further five minutes.
The result was tender flesh with crisp skin that was satisfyingly crunchy when I bit into it. Even my partner was impressed and agreed the air fryer was far more effective than an oven at crisping the skin. Even better, the foil ensured I didn’t have to scrub the air fryer basket clean either.
I’d cracked it.
I’ll certainly be using an air fryer from now on when I want pork belly with deliciously crunchy skin, as it's far more consistent than when using an oven - it’s also quicker too, meaning I won’t be slaving over a hot stove for hours either.
