We’ve been grilling gadgets all year for you, and now, as we head into the silly season, it’s time to look at some of the better gadgets that perhaps you might want to give your gadget-loving family members, or maybe even get for yourself.
For less than $30, the iPhone using driver in your family might like to have the MetroView GPS application. This is a very usable turn by turn GPS that’s inexpensive, and it turns your iPhone into a fully fledged GPS.
For those who like to listen to their music, you can’t go past the a-Jays, t-Jays, q-Jaus and D-jays in-ear earphones. These are not simply excellent value, with models in every pricepoint, but they’re also great sounding earphones, offering great comfort while listening to your favourite music on pretty well whatever music player you desire.
In the phone realm, you could do a lot worse than looking at one of the Android powered phones from HTC, Samsung, or Motorola. These are all very versatile and usable devices.
Or for something a little different, check out Telsta’s T-Tab tablet. While it’s no match for the iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, it offers full tablet and phone functionality for just $300. And that means that it’s also a music and video player, plus a very portable web device. Look on it as a cheap, larger Android phone, and you won’t go too far wrong.
At the gaming end of the spectrum, we have two devices that are new, but a whole ton of fun. Microsoft’s Kinect is just what the X-Box user in your household will be wanting.
And the newest hot toy on the block is the Parrot AR Drone, which I’ve been playing with for the last few days. I’d make sure to get a spare battery with it, to extend the pleasure time.
In music players, there’s probably not too much that’ll touch the iPods, and again, there’s an iPod in pretty much every price range.