AMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE
THE Paperwhite was already the best value for money e-reader you could buy – it has an unrivalled library of books available to read on a beautifully crisp and sensitively lit screen.
The Oasis is a better device, but is also much more expensive – its killer feature, though, is that it’s waterproof, which gave it the edge over the Paperwhite… until now.
Amazon has just released an update which gives the cheaper Kindle a waterproof housing, too. Now we can go back to reading in the bath and by the pool.
Happy days are here again.
DJI OSMO POCKET £329, from store.dji.com
SO new it didn’t make the deadline for last week’s Sound and Vision gift guide, Osmo’s new camera is so good we just had to squeeze it in this week.
It’s a hand-held video camera. I know, you think smartphones did for those years ago. And so they did, but the Osmo Pocket is different – it features an absolutely sensational three-axis gimbal stabilisation, which ensures super smooth footage no matter how rough the ride.
Anki Vector; V-SOS; V-Pet; Tangram Factory Smart Rope; Amazon Kindle Paperwhite That’s how you beat the smartphone cameras – do something they can’t do.
TANGRAM FACTORY SMART ROPE £79.99, from amazon.co.uk
SKIPPING seems like a fun way to keep fit, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t know, of course, but I might be tempted to try if someone bought me one of these smart skipping ropes.
It obviously measures all kinds of stats via a linked smartphone app, but it also features an in-built array of LED lights in the rope, which can be used to display info in mid-air as you work out, like the number of skips you’ve managed. If that doesn’t get you going, nothing will.
V-SOS
THE latest Apple Watch was rightly praised for its health-focused feature, like fall detection… but there were some who thought it might be a bit complicated for those that perhaps need it most. Which is why the V-SOS wristband is such a great idea, and could give someone you care about the best gift of all – peace of mind. It offers fall detection but also a simple alert button if assistance is required.
A traffic light system offers reassurance to the wearer that help is on the way. That’s it – no complex set up or extra features, and long battery life completes the picture.
OCULUS GO
VIRTUAL Reality is slowly but surely coming of age, and while most people will have to travel to a shopping centre or dedicated games centre to try it out, Facebook-owned Oculus is working hard to bring a viable system to the masses.
A fully-featured standalone headset for £199 would have seemed like science fiction not long ago, but now it’s here.
GOOGLE HOME HUB
£139, from store.google.com)
OF all the smart-home hubs out there Google’s, astoundingly, seems to hit the sweet spot.
It sits there displaying useful info waiting for your command, and comes to life when you ask it for help.
Almost the best thing about it is that is has no camera, allaying many security fears, and there’s a hardware button you can test and trust to turn off the mic, too. Google’s AI Assistant isn’t quite up to Alexa’s standards yet, but it’s getting there and good enough right now. If you’re in Google’s eco-system, this is a great way to get Assistant help in the home hands-free...
SOUNDASLEEP BLUETOOTH PILLOW £50, from soundasleeppillow.co.uk
I WOULD have loved one of these back in the days when the only way to follow a winter Test Match Down Under was to clutch a transistor radio to your ear in bed, trying not to wake the whole house up. Of course, you can watch the cricket on TV now, which is a lot less fun. Anyway, luckily for Soundasleed, there’s a lot more to this device than that – it’s a pillow with a built-in speaker and Bluetooth connectivity, so there are no wires to get tangled up.
Of course you can listen the radio on it, but it’ll also play you mediation sounds to help you get off to sleep, and it’ll monitor the quality and quantity of your sleep, too.
Howzat?