There is nothing like getting the Xmas shopping done early. We added a Phillips HD9742/93 to our short list. To be sure, we gave it a road test last night.
On unboxing, the good news is the absence of polystyrene packing. One small step, thanks Philips.
And to be fair to Choice theIr review does a good job. There is one exception that we would emphasis for future reviews.
If the following seems slightly comic, laugh away.
If you have never used an air frier before or had experience around one the provided user instructions are a big fail. We are halfway there.
The packaging contained a single multilingual sheet with miniature pictograms and fine print we both struggled with, glasses engaged. We gave up trying to decipher it. I find the pictograms on Japanese appliances in Tokyo easier to follow. The difficult observation in this example is absolutely everyone who knows air friers may not see any of this as a problem.
Sample from user instructions.
And,
A quad lingual short recipe guide. The guide directs you to download an app, but there are two in the store. The other cook initially refused to download the recipe labelled NutriU/Airfryer App. It was nothing to do with user instructions. Downloading the other App says it has been superseded and suggests you go to the NutriU app. What a ‘sh.t’ slogan! Raw carrots vs baked or fried. Only one is genuinely nutritious. But the others taste so good. 
Observations.
First product criticism, there is no contents or packing list. Philips confound this by showing additional items mixed into the illustration of the boxed content. On looking at other sources these appear to be accessories for purchase. Our frier included a Crome baking rack but no silicon muffin moulds (bonus or missing something). There is a diagram showing a silicon heat resistant mat, no part number, not in package? The for sale box was fully sealed with heat shrink plastic, which also carried the product stock labelling. And there is no diagram on the box to clarify either. We did play with the display model enough to see what was included, but that can be incorrect. Still one step more informed than buying online untouched.
The second surprise was the instructions. With our model all digital, it is a cryptic guess as to what each button does, there are some useful details towards the back of the short recipe book. They indicate some features, but lack explanation. I guess the enabled 25 year olds find this amusing. We come from a generation beaten if in touching the wrong button or getting the control wrong things broke. It was always someone’s fault. At least the booklet shows that the knob in the handle actually does have a purpose. Perhaps if the knob was backlit with arrows the intent would be more obvious.
We managed to bake some potatoes. Average result. They sat in the top of the drawer on the Crome tray. I now believe that was not necessary. It is for baking, but not needed for veges etc. Removal doubled the capacity too. The one page guide and other guides provide simple time and temperature settings. Not much else.
Two mystery buttons on the control panel were unidentifiable. The clue is with the included or optional baking and grilling accessories page near the back of the short recipe book. Similar pictograms next to each accessory suggest one is for baking cakes and things, and the other is for grilling!
Still to tempt the product self destruction code and get it to display the cooking preset options. Logic says frying is neither baking or grilling, hence there may be another secret control somewhere for those presets? 
Of the two apps in the App Store, the older one includes a good starters guide including the controls, but not correct or that useful for our model. The newer app presents purely as a recipe book. There is no ‘dummies’ guide for each current model in the newer App. There is only a section further down the menu on user tips. Oh, for a ten minute video Philips. Yes, there is also YouTube.
I don’t know if Choice could step up a little. It seems setting up a race between 5 contestants who have no experience of such culinary excellence might prove great TV. Start with a packet of frozen chips, a boxed and sealed air frier, and stand back. Penalties for burnt or under cooked product. Add a 30 minute time limit. Might even push two other cooking shows into the late night slots. 
Where to find 5 contestants who are tolerant of public exposure of their lack of modern connected aptitude? It could be a long wait!
P.S.
The baked (half potatoes) were ok, and took 40 minutes. About the same overall as nuke plus finishing in the oven, but longer than finishing shallow fried in a pan. Zero oven heat, but enough steam venting to suggest the frier needs to sit under the exhaust hood. So we can use the air frier or the stovetop, but not both at once?
Now for chips, although the local stores only have red potatoes, white potatoes and occasionally the rarer dutch cream varieties. I take it the big stores want you to go to the freezer section for your chips. Off to find one of the three Phillips recommended varieties I’ve never heard of.
Heston Blumenthal apparently narrowed it down to only two out of 100 varieties for the best chips. Jamie Oliver never fails with baked potatoes, so guess it does not matter for them.
Have removed Crome rack from frier and hidden as a reminder it is not required to fry.
The GoodGuys took $50 of the rrp and there is currently a $50 cash back from Philips. It pays to ask. $100 off is also demonstrating just how cheap on the boat the imported products must be, before our wholesale and retailers get to make their profits.
Is the product really not a frier at all and just a mini forced air radiant heat high temperature oven?
Other wisdom.
and
The latter feeds 6-8 easily.
