SIMPLY THE BEST OF 2020
FROM PHONES TO CAMERAS, SMART SPEAKERS TO E-READERS, WE ROUND UP THE GREATEST GADGETS OF THE YEAR
IT’S been an unusual year, that’s for sure… but one thing never changes – the tech that is part of our everyday lives just keeps on getting better and better. 2020 saw advancements in leaps and bounds across the entire tech spectrum, some driven by the pandemic, others not.
Here is our pick of the best on offer this year across seven popular categories.
BEST PHONE
■ WINNER: iPhone 12 EVERY few years Apple stops iterating on previous iPhone designs and completely overhauls the whole device. This year was one of those years.
The iPhone 12 brought a new design and an upgraded camera system that puts many dedicated cameras to shame for ease of use and quality images. A new super fast chip and unrivalled software made the iPhone 12 the clear winner out of this year’s crop of smartphones. ■ PRICE: From £799
■ RUNNER UP: Punkt MP02 PUNKT’S latest device is almost an anti-smartphone. In trying to come to the aid of those who feel smartphone use is taking them evermore away from the real world and focused on their screens, Punkt has produced a phone that offers less, not more.
The MP02 is the second generation Punkt phone – and it’s more or less just a phone. There’s no touchscreen, just a small monochrome screen with physical buttons. And all it really does is call, text, and some basic utility features like alarms and calendar. The real secret sauce is in its sharable 4G mobile connection – that allows you to hook a tablet or laptop up to the internet, making the World Wide Web something you dip into rather than being tethered to 24/7.
■ PRICE: £295
BEST SMART SPEAKER
■ WINNER: Amazon Echo Dot THE only question I have about the Echo Dot – reshaped this year with a new globe design and superior audio – is this: How do they do it? It costs only £49.99… most of the time. Amazon holds regular sales where you can get it for a penny shy of £30 (there’s one on as I write).
At that price you can get one for every room. Alexa and the Amazon smart-home eco-system retains a lead over all the other systems, including those from Apple and Google. And if they keep improving their hardware every year like this, the others will never catch up.
■ PRICE: £49.99
■ RUNNER UP: HomePod Mini
THE only Apple smart home speaker available until this year was the original HomePod that costs £279 – somewhat more than most people would want to spend.
The £99 HomePod Mini, released late in the year, made the high-end audio Apple is capable of more affordable and more accessible.
It’s a beautiful bit of kit, and more attractive to users of Apple’s other devices due to their tight integration across a number of different services – you can pair a couple of these together to provide an audio boost for the Apple TV set-top box, for example.
PRICE: £99
BEST CAMERA
■ WINNER: Fujifilm X100V
IF THERE’S one thing you can say about Fujifilm’s X range of cameras it’s that they are beautiful to look at.
The
X100V is the latest in a series of very fine fixed-lens compact cameras that sport retro styling concealing the cutting edge technology inside.
What really sets Fujifilm’s camera apart from the contenders, though, is its excellent film emulation.
There are 17 in total here, including PROVIA, Velvia, Astia, ACROS and Eterna – all much-loved film styles from Fujifilm’s analogue past.
■ PRICE: £1,299
■ RUNNER UP: Sony SV1
THE SV1 is a clever camera that is aimed at vloggers, but brings a lot of creative freedom to anyone interested in capturing still or moving images.
It captures 4K HDR and 20MP images, and packs a host of features to make life easier for the narcissists among us – fast focus and facial recognition mean you’ll never be out of focus and a tilting screen allows you to see what you’re shooting from in front of the camera.
There’s even a clip-on windshield for the mic that makes it easy to get great audio outside in windy conditions.
It’s a good all-rounder and perfect for the age of selfies and vlogging.
■ PRICE: £700
BEST TABLET
WINNER: Apple iPad Air THERE’S not a lot of competition at the high-end for Apple’s tablets – everyone else has probably just given up. The iPad Air is a superb device, packing in pro level features at every turn.
It is powered by a super-fast chip (the same one you’ll find in the iPhone 12), and the addition of TouchID fingerprint recognition to the topmounted home button allows for the glorious all-screen front. It feels like a premium pro device, and it acts like one, too.
Fast, fluid, go-anywhere, and powerful enough for most of the tasks you’re likely to want a computer to perform.
■ PRICE: From £579
■ RUNNER UP: Amazon Fire HD 10
AMAZON doesn’t hit the high end of the market with its tablets, as the price would suggest. But nevertheless the Fire HD 10 packs in an awful lot of features for the money.
It’s plastic instead of metal, and the cameras are not great – it’s not really a device for creating stuff, more consuming stuff. So if all you are after is something to watch, read, listen and play games on… for £149 you literally cannot do better. And it’ll even double as an Echo Show...
■ PRICE: £149
BEST TV STREAMING DEVICE
WINNER: Roku Streambar
YOU can’t get better than a video streaming device with a built-in soundbar, can you? And that’s exactly what Roku’s latest brings to the game.
Of course, there are all the usual suspects available, Netflix, Prime, AppleTV+ Disney+, and Now TV.
The Streambar basically upgrades your TV, adding smart features and cinematic sound. Cheaper than buying a new set.
■ PRICE: £129
■ RUNNER UP: Fire TV Stick Light AT THE price there’s nothing to rival the Fire TV stick – it brings all the services you need in a compact and affordable package. There’s voice control via the Alexa-powered remote, all the streaming services you’ll ever need, and a low, low price.
That price often goes even lower (it costs just £17.99 as I write), so don’t forget to look out for those sales.
■ PRICE: £29.99
BEST SMARTWATCH
WINNER: Apple Watch SE APPLE’S Apple Watch is the one wearable that seems to have captured the public’s imagination since its first iteration five years ago.
It’s a much better and more useful device than it was then, and the SE packs in most of the features of the more-expensive, latest and greatest, Series 6 variant of the device for a much lower price. It’s the smartwatch to beat for the rivals.
■ PRICE: From £269
■ RUNNER UP: Withings ScanWatch WITHINGS takes a slightly different approach to Apple with its smartwatches – they are more or less just fitness trackers and timepieces – although the tiny screen on this, their latest, does offer some notification options.
This tracks both heart and respiratory health constantly, as well as general activity. And the battery lasts for a month.
■ PRICE: From £249.95