Best tech of 2018 – Part 2

Samsung Q8C OLED TV

The Q8C maintained its superiority all through the year. Bezel-less design, stunning colour and an aggressive price kept the rest of the competition at bay. Of course if you’ve got the money then the 88-inch version of this, the Q9F at ₹24,99,900, is the absolute best you can buy now.

Nokia 8.1

This is the year and this is the phone that made the real Nokia stand up and be counted. Elegant and understated, stunning, true android experience, always first to get updates, great camera and a very aggressive price point. Nokia ensured customers’ experience was more important than gimmicks.

Google Home Hub

The Hub is Google adding a 7-inch display to its Home devices that lets users not just hear a response, but also see it. The screen personalises itself to every home member, shows YouTube videos, Google map info, and can control any smart home device and IoT product. The only thing missing is a camera for video calls.

Garmin Fenix 5X Plus

In a world of fitness bands and smartwatches, this is the ultimate beast. Made of titanium, this is an auto sensing multi-sport GPS watch with heart rate technology, run maps on display, a pulse blood oxygen saturation levels sensor, sapphire lens glass and 18-day battery life in smartwatch mode.

Devialet - Phantom Reactor 900

This company changed how people thought of a bluetooth speaker with its Phantom series. Now a huge step further, the Reactor is super small and yet insanely powerful. It can belt out a true 900 watts of undistorted sound including full sub woofer output and do it on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, optical or analog.

Samsung Galaxy A9

They all called it gimmicky. Why would you need four cameras at the back of a phone? Samsung answered with a big bang. Each camera at the back has a specific function and the phone is intelligent enough to know what to use and when. Eventually the Samsung A9 is the best optics phone under 40K.

XIAOMI MI TV 4 PRO 55 INCH

This was the most exciting TV launched in the country and if it’s Xiaomi, they have to do it different and also make all other TVs look strangely over-priced. A 55-inch display, world’s thinnest LED at 4.9 mm, near bezel less, HDR 10, integrated Mi Sound Bar with 10 speakers and a price under 40K.

Vivo Nex

Vivo may well be the most innovative phone company this year. They came out with the world’s first in-display finger print scanner. They came up with a pop out camera that ensured that the display has no notch. Now everyone wants to do the same. The Nex was the first to do both together.

Oppo R17 Pro

Round up every big innovation of the year like an in-display fingerprint scanner, water drop notch, three cameras at the back, add a stunning design, then add super fast charging with dual batteries. What you get is a phone that makes your eyes and jaw open wide.

Corning Gorilla Glass 6

This is Corning taking things to its logical conclusion where your phone screen can withstand falls and doesn’t scratch. Nothing more heartbreaking than when your phone screen breaks, and Corning with its 6th generation tech is ensuring in the future, it won’t.

Panasonic OLED TV

With the TH-65FZ1000D they have an absolute winner. Excellent colour reproduction, thin frame, multi HDR support and an array of 12 speakers in its blade audio set up, this TV is the real 4K deal!

Mediatek Helio P 70

This is the year that Mediatek threw down the gauntlet and decided that people should buy a phone by asking for the processor inside by name. With some serious horse power, stunning artificial intelligence, better battery optimisation and amazing optical tricks, the P 70 will be the chip of choice on most mid-priced phones from here on.

For every one product I’ve highlighted here, I had to leave out at least five great ones. That summarises how good tech was in 2018. Watch out for 2019 though, as you haven’t seen anything yet...

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

Techilicious appears every fortnight

From HT Brunch, January 6, 2018

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