Dreaming of a bright Christmas
Who says tech has to come in dull, grey boxes? And as these gifts are all under £100, they’ll cheer you up too
THE final part of our tech gift guide for this Christmas is full of great ideas for under £100.
LOGITECH POP KEYS
Whoever said accessories should be boring dull grey boxes? Certainly not Logitech, who could brighten up anyone’s desk with their loud and proud Pop Keys. What we have here is a fullsize mechanical keyboard that makes a delightful clicky sound with every keystroke. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac computers as well as iphones, Android phones and ipads. You can pair it with up to three devices at once and switch between them at the touch of a key, and there are even some customisable emoji keys for when words aren’t enough to express how you feel.
■ £99.99 at logitech.com
KINDLE
Amazon’s Kindle e-reader has been updated this year and it’s better than ever – smaller yet with a better battery life, and more storage – the 2022 Kindle is all the books anyone could ever read.
It now has a 6in 300 PPI high-resolution display and offers access to millions of titles either to buy on the Amazon Kindle bookstore or with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. It’s a library in a tiny box that you can take anywhere.
■ £84.99 at amazon.co.uk
BACKBONE
While the Nintendo Switch showed how to do mobile gaming on the go, now we all have a powerful computer in our pockets, a much cheaper accessory can deliver much the same results. The Backbone is an additional accessory for mobile phones that brings console style controls to the world of mobile phone gaming. There’s even an iphone Playstation edition which replicates the look and feel of a Playstation controller – when teamed with the PS Remote Play app, you’ll be able to play your Playstation games anywhere. The standard version is available for both iphone and Android.
■ £99.99 from backbone.com
MAGSAFE BATTERY PACK
The latest and greatest iphones offer the best battery life the device ever has, lasting at least a full day for most users. But if they use their phone a lot, particularly for photography and video, and sharing on social networks, they’ll find themselves using up juice very quickly. That’s why one of these battery packs is a must in their pocket.
You’ll get around 40% more charge if you’re using any variety of Pro Max iphone and about 60% more with a standard iphone 12, 13, or 14 and it’s compatible with all iphones that support Magsafe magnetic accessories.
■ £99.99 from apple.com/uk
NOTHING EAR (STICK)
New UK based start-up Nothing has begun to flesh out its range of products with the addition of a second set of headphones. Nothing Ear (stick) is a step down from the first headphones Nothing made, the Nothing Ear (1) which include noise cancellation. The Ear (stick) are a little bit more basic but also a lot cheaper. And, most importantly, the sound they produce is exceptional. If you are not using the Nothing phone, all of the features of the Ear (stick) are still available via an app you can download on Android and iphone. The quality is fantastic at this price, and they also look really cool.
■ £99.99 from nothing.tech