Techilicious by Rajiv Makhni: Best gadgets of 2020 (so far)

I should have written this column in the beginning of July. But some small, little bumps like a lockdown and Covid-19 virus slowed the pace of tech being announced. I do two ‘Best Tech’ columns a year, in which I try and cover all the cool stuff that has come out. This time I’m changing the methodology a bit as there are far too many things to cover, and I also get a lot of flak for writing about things not available in India. Thus, my new criteria are that it should be fairly recent, in terms of release, and should be readily available in India (not in the grey market).

Here it is now: the best the world of tech has had to offer in 2020 (till now)

Asus ROG phone 3

It’s a remarkable phone that doesn’t get the accolades it should. Asus started the whole category of gaming phones and with the 3, it has taken it to a whole new level. The fastest phone in the world, a screen that has refresh and touch rates that are off the charts, design that can turn on even non-gamers and accessories that can beat even a full-fledged console. The Asus ROG Phone 3 is an incredible phone for gamers and non-gamers.

HP Neverstop printer

Most printers are here to make your life hell. Run out of ink or toner, don’t connect, have paper jams, are difficult to set up, don’t work on Wi-Fi. I think HP took all the pain points and solved them in one shot. The HP Neverstop Laser 1200w looks fantastic and works seamlessly. Set-up is a breeze and you can fill the toner yourself in seconds with a nifty injector cartridge. Never thought a printer would ever make it on this list.

Dyson V11 Absolute Pro

This is the Rolls Royce of vacuum cleaners. The value of a device like this has truly been realised in lockdown and pandemic times. The 11 Pro has a display that tells you exactly what it’s doing, it has six-stage filtration, automatically adjusts power, has a 125,000 RPM digital motor, can tackle any surface, battery lasts really long and it looks stunning. Using the word ‘lust’ for a vacuum cleaner is inappropriate, but honest.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2

If there is one category on fire, it has to be the TWS earbuds. It seems as though a new one is launched every day. Thus, choosing a good one is getting tougher. But once you try the Momentum 2, your search immediately stops. These defy physics and give incredible bass, mids and highs. Battery life is excellent and they look like a million bucks.

Sony α6600 camera

We have all become so used to our camera phones that we don’t look beyond. But once you try a mirrorless camera, you realise just how poorly off our phones are. The α6600 is small, compact, has massive battery life, interchangeable lenses, a massive sensor, shoots video in 4K, can autofocus humans or pets with an accuracy that will have your jaw on the floor, is weather sealed, has optical image stabilisation built in, and the level of adjustments you can do with it is astounding. It will take 10 years for our camera phones to come anywhere close to this.

Samsung’s the Wall

One day all of us will own one of these and they will cover an entire wall in each home. Till then, we can dream. Made up of small, little modules that come together to make this giant display, Samsung’s The Wall is by far the most coveted technology for anyone wanting a truly big-screen experience. The problem is that this big screen costs big bucks. You need to sell your house to have one of these in your house.

Titan Connected X

In a world of generic, mundane and boring smartwatches (each looks exactly the same), the Connected X does two things no one else does. It has real analog hands in front of the display and it has a dual battery system. You get about three days of full smartwatch features and then once that runs out, the analog hands continue to show time and the watch still tracks all your daily activities in the background for a full 30 days. Charge it again and it will sync with your phone and record it all there. True innovation at its best.

There are many, many more. The Oppo Smartwatch with its dual processors and curved screen, the new Honor MagicBook 15 laptop with a pop-up camera, Shure MV88+ Video Kit that is built for vloggers and can do some serious magic, Vivo’s gimbal built into a phone, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 with blood pressure and ECG tracking, Oppo’s 125-watt charging technology – the list is huge and I would need a triple spread to cover it all. The good part? It’s just August, and the list is long and full of innovation. Can’t wait for what the rest of 2020 will throw up.

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, August 16, 2020

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