What Are Your Hottest Gadgets Of The Year?
I was reading through the latest issue of my old flame T3 magazine last night – it ’s their Hot 100 Issue – and found that I profoundly disagreed with some of the products they had in their top 10. So rather than bottle it up, I thought I’d vent here on Giz, and try and see whether you agreed with me or not.
During my time editing T3 I put together quite a few of these Hot 100 lists, so I know that you can never placate everybody. But I still found some of the choices odd enough to comment.
For example, number 10 is the Sony Vaio P-series. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a nice looking piece of kit. But since it launched earlier this year, we’ve seen some stunning netbook designs, like the Seashell from Asus. Or there’s the new trend of ultrathin laptops. Whichever way you look, there are better computers on the market than the Vaio P.
Then there’s number 9 – the Canon IXUS 980 IS. Don’t get me wrong, I love Canon’s IXUS range. But in terms of cameras, surely a video-recording DSLR is where the money’s at right now? Canon’s 5D MkII would be my choice, but Nikon’s offering is just as good. Or even the Olympus E-P1 Pen would be super retro cool enough to crack my top 10. But not just another upgrade to the IXUS lineup…
Number 8 – the Toshiba TG01 Winmo smartphone is pretty hot based on the snapdragon processor, but give me some Android love over Winmo any day – The HTC Hero outranks this handset by a mile in my books.
At number 3 is the N97 from Nokia, which seems to be universally underwhelming reviewers around the world.
Of course, it’s not all bad – I do like the fact that Samsung’s Series 8 LED TV made the top 10, as did the Sony X Series Walkman. In fact, that there isn’t a single Apple product in the top 10 is – frankly – a huge shock. But I do agree with their choice at number one: Even though the Palm Pre hasn’t been getting the best reviews, it has been such a strong comeback for Palm that they deserve top spot. If only they’d release it in Australia.
If you happen to be flicking through the top 10, you’ll see that local editor Nic Healey did actually ask me to offer up my top 5 gadgets for the issue. But what I want to know is what your hottest gadgets of the year are. What gadgets set your pulse racing when you think about moment the sales clerk swipes your credit card and you take the thing home?
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Comments
iPhone,
Apple 13″ MacBook
Alan
hmm… i actually haven’t bought any this year i can remember…
if you could call intel i7 a “gadget” then i’d vote for that (but then again, it came out last year) but thats probably the closest thing to an awesome gadget i’ve got this year (maybe im in the wrong place…).
Assuming the iPhone 3gs gets its peripherals on (specially gaming ones) before the end of the year, then i’d have to say hands down its the best gadget of 2009.
The only thing that would beat it (and something i’ll actually buy if it comes out) is a theoretical iTouch 3Gs with a camera at the same price as the current ones. more advanced technically than the psp, as good an interface as the ds(with theoretical peripherals), proper media player AND correct form factor for a media player, limitless apps/games and utilities, That you can easily program yourself if you want,
internet* and basic camera, all for the price of a dsi. Obviously you can add proper internet and phone to that list for the iPhone, but paying twice as much (over the Touch) just for the privilege of being ripped off by the telcos kinda sours the deal for me.
Another awesome gadget would be any good ion powered netbook, tho i don’t know if any are out in Aus yet? assuming that the nvidia 9400 (in the ion) is indeed more powerful than the 8400 in my laptop, that would mean playing battlefield 2 on a netbook, and that sounds pretty awesome!
oh, and for worst gadget of the year i’d have to say the DSi, 5 year old tech (that was already struggling 5 years ago!) for the same price as an iTouch? or an xbox? no thanks… not to mention its just a shamelessly half arsed up sell.
What a ridiculous article! This genius has countered the magazine’s list with a bunch of gadgets that aren’t even close to release to being released in Australia… of course they do not belong in an Australian magazine’s top 100!
And don’t even get me started on the totally moronic “nokia is doomed” articles. I thought that idiocy limited to the dumb arse American writers.
I wish Engadget had an Australian version
Ummm – the list is a hottest 100, not an “only available in Australia” hottest 100. If any Australian tech publication restricted itself to just products available in Australia, they’d be signing their own death warrant because we always end up waiting for months (if not years) for gadgets down here.
As far as the “nokia is doomed” articles go – sure, they’re hyperbolic. But the simple fact is that ultimately, compared to phones like the iPhone, the Palm Pre, the BlackBerry Bold and the HTC Magic – and even some winmo phones – the N97 is going to struggle. You can say what you want about the iPhone, but you can’t deny that it really shook up the smartphone market when it launched, and Nokia are still trying to catch up. It’s going to take something special for them to compete at this level, and the N97 just doesn’t have what it takes…
I find I profoundly disagree with a lot in that mag. (My wife brings it home from work, I wouldn’t ever go near buying it.)
It’s shallow to the Nth degree.
Oh goodness me, you are most certainly correct. Terribly shallow, this pulpy trash about electronics and gadgets. Where are the articles on third world politics? The treatise on environmental protection? Such dross.
Well at least every issue has a cover which reminds us of the humanity deep within us all, no matter how much technology threatens us.
Ugh…T3 used to be an OK magazine.
Now, most of the review is very subjective, and biased toward their advertiser. Not that I blame them for making a living.
Every review you ever read is subjective, even when it claims to be objective. That’s the very nature of a review.
Ditto 13″ Macbook. Even the most virulent anti-Apple person would have to admit some of their products are hot (in the sense of having mindshare). Now I know why I stopped reading T3.
How can you compare a canon Ixus with a canon DSLR.
Cost of camera is obviously a major factor.
Why not go for a 1Ds instead of a 5D Mk2
Stupid article
Because the subject was a “Hottest 100″ list, not a list that you should buy. And the 5D MkII was my suggestion because of its HD Video capabilities, which the 1D doesn’t have. Which is mentioned in the article…
But seriously, my Top Ten Gadgets: (current, not date related!)(and in no specific order really)
Samsung Series 8 55″ LED
WDTV
iPhone 3GS
Nikon D90
Panasonic DSC-TS1 rugged compact
Panasonic BW850 Blu-Ray burning HD Recorder
Dell Adamo
Any type of large capacity/small footprint portable storage…
Telstra NextG
Xbox 360 (still)