GADGET GIFTS FOR UNDER £100
You don’t have to break the bank on these must-have tech treats
THE latest technology is never cheap – you usually pay a premium for being an early adopter. But there are a few items on my must-have list that won’t quite break the bank.
Here are some tech gift ideas that all cost less than £100 – some a lot less.
1 ROKU EXPRESS STREAMING BOX £29.99, roku.com/en-gb/ products/roku-express
ROKU’S latest streaming devices offer an inexpensive, but not cheap, way to turn your TV into a smart TV.
And, because it’s not tied to one particular streaming provider, it offers the widest choice of channels – so it’ll do Now TV, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, as well as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and Five.
Along with many others. It’s the most complete offer out there for streamers, and it’s only £29.99.
2 AMAZON ECHO DOT £34.99, amazon.co.uk
AMAZON is still ahead in the marathon race to rule the smart home artificial intelligence space, even if Google is now breathing down its neck.
Alexa is plugged into the most devices and services and is just the best smart home hub for voice control you can get.
Better yet, the entry-level Alexaenabled device, the diminutive Echo Dot, has returned to its Black Friday pricing (at £15 off the usual price of £49.99) just in time for Christmas.
3 MOPHIE WIRELESS CHARGING BASE £54.95, uk.mophie.com/wireless-base
IF YOU know anyone who has one of the latest iPhones – that’s the 8, the 8 Plus, or the X – you know someone who needs a wireless charging pad.
The Mophie is one of the best... and fastest. Just lay your phone down on the pad, and it starts charging.
Well-built, thoughtfully designed, and a whole lot easier than faffing about with wires.
It’s the future and it’s here now.
4 GOOGLE DAYDREAM VIEW HEADSET £99, store.google.com
VR IS a pricey business to get into – unless you have a phone that is compatible with Google’s Daydream platform (that’s just about any modern Android phone).
The Daydream headset is built for you to slip one of those phones into it, turning it into a useful entry into the world of VR.
It’s lightweight and it comes with a motion controller, too.
5 GOOGLE PIXEL 3 FABRIC CASE £35, store.google.com/ product/ pixel_2_case_ fabric
GOOGLE is very quickly looking like a company that can give Apple a run for its money when it comes to industrial design.
The handsome Home smart speaker and the Pixel 2 phones have shown that, and the attention to detail extends to the Google-branded cases made just for Pixel 2.
They’re fabric cases that look just as good as the phones they hold.
6 BB8 APP CONTROLLED DROID BY SPERO £69.99, sphero.com/starwars/ bb8 (available at Amazon)
IT’S going to be a Star Wars Christmas again, and Poe Dameron’s driod companion can share it with you. This tough, and faithful, reproduction of the Resistance pilot’s metal friend is more than just a pretty toy. You can control him with a smartphone app, leave him to wander on patrol around the house, and even watch the Star Wars films with him while he interacts with the action.
7 GOOGLE CHROMECAST ULTRA £69, store.google.com/ product/ chromecast_ ultra
GOOGLE’S TV connected dongle takes a slightly different approach to other plug-in streaming devices.
It doesn’t host apps, but allows you to stream video from apps running on your phone (it works with iPhone as well as Android devices).
This makes things a bit simpler, in that you’re only ever dealing with stuff that lives on your phone, which is then ‘cast’ to your TV. This latest Chromecast does 4K video with apps (like Netflix) that support it.
That’s why they call it the Ultra.
8 iPHONE X FOLIO CASE £99, apple.com/uk
APPLE’S iPhone cases tend to be a touch on the minimal side, and have not offered screen protection... until now. The folio case, for the iPhone X only, is a beautiful leather case which features a flap that will cover the phone’s front face when you’re not using it.
This means you won’t scratch the screen of your £1,000 phone when you drop it in your bag, or slip it absentmindedly into the pocket in which you keep your keys.
The inside of the flap also has a slot for cards and cash, so it could even double as a wallet.
Which makes it a bargain as well as a desirable object in my book.
9 NOKIA GO £39.99, health.nokia.com /uk
FORMER mobile king Nokia is reinventing itself as the maker of health tech hardware and the Go fitness tracker is an easy entry into their world. It is a simple fitness and sleep tracker, and its USP is its e-ink screen.
It means you can always see what’s going on, even in the brightest of sunlight. It also results in an eightmonth battery life.
All you have to do is wear it, sync it with the smartphone app Nokia Health, and you’ll have as complete a picture of your activity and sleep patterns as you’ll ever need.
10 APPLE PENCIL £99, apple.com/uk
IF SOMEONE you know has an iPad Pro and they don’t have an Apple Pencil, your festive gift-giving dilemma is solved. Just buy them an Apple Pencil. Of course, it’s a shame it doesn’t work with any old iPad (or the iPhone for that matter), but the additional functionality it brings to iPad Pro expands the whole system into much more than the sum of its parts.