the contenders

Under Armour Healthbox

This contains all you need to improve your fitness and wellbeing. You get the UA Band, which measures sleep, steps and workout intensity; the UA Scale, enabling you to track your body weight and fat percentage; and the UA Heart Rate, a chest strap that gives you accurate monitoring no matter how intense your workout.

Libratone One Style

This stylish Bluetooth speaker represents incredible value at under £140. 360-degree sound, weather resistance up to IPX4 and 12 hours of battery life on one charge are just some of its great features. The ability to pair up two speakers for multi-room, and change the colour of the frame, are two extra bonuses.

Netatmo Presence

Netatmo is a major player in connected security, and its latest outdoor security cam has some truly innovative features. These include people, car and animal detection – meaning you won’t get a pesky alert when a familiar being is wandering up your driveway, or if your wife is pulling into the garage. It also includes an outdoor light – set to switch on when it detects a person, car or animal.

Wiley Fox Storm

In a year when we’ve seen some absolute smartphone belters, the Wiley Fox Storm has managed to hold its own – and that’s remarkable considering it only costs £199! A Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 8939 CPU is at the heart of the phone, powering a huge 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display. It comes with 32GB of storage and 3GB RAM . For under £200, it’s simply one of the best handsets out there – and it looks the part, too.

As tell &Kern AK70

High-res audio has truly arrived, and one of its pioneers – Astell&Kern – produces some of the best portable players out there. Coming in at under £500, the AK70 represents fantastic value and performance. A beautiful design and build, support for all major high-res audio formats, and Bluetooth streaming – plus the fact that it can double as a USB headphone amp for your Mac or PC – make this a real winner.

KEF Mu o

KEF is one of the big players in highend audio, so it’s no surprise that its Muo Bluetooth speaker is a masterpiece in both design and sound. Designed by Ross Lovegrove, the Muo packs a real sonic punch – and you can connect two of them for CD-quality sound. Also, when you’re not streaming via Bluetooth, you can use the 3.5mm jack to connect an audio device. A stunning sub-£300 speaker.