Holiday Gift Guide 2014: 25 Gadgets That Make Great Gifts
Gadgets Make Great Gifts
With the holidays fast approaching, it's time to figure out the perfect gift to get for friends, colleagues and, of course, members of the family. Tech devices always make great gifts, as there are always new gizmos and gadgets out there that can suit someone you're buying for.
This year, there were many new mobile devices released with great accessories to go with them, in addition to some unique, competitively priced items that would make great gifts and great stocking stuffers.
These days, people love tech, and we got a list of 25 great gadgets and accessories to help you find the best ones to give as gifts for the holidays.
Nodus Case For iPad Air 2
The iPad Air 2 hit the market in October and has received great reviews from tech analysts. This means that if someone recently got one, then they're pretty happy with it and would love some accessories to go with it.
The Nodus Access Case for the iPad Air 2 is specifically designed for Apple's newest and thinnest iPad yet. The case is made with an unbranded, smooth, durable leather casing that wraps around the iPad. The interior is made with a soft microfiber lining that leaves the tablet safe and unscathed.
The Access Case uses Micro-Suction technology that allows the tablet to stick to the casing, allowing it to be attached or removed easily without using any plastic clips or fasteners like many other cases.
Price: $159.99
Ventev Via Snap For iPhone 6
This iPhone 6 Case is protective, thin, light and great for people who want to protect their new phone but don't want to cover it up.
The Via Snap by Ventev is unique as it's clear, so people can still see all the detailing on the iPhone 6, but it's also durable, so the phone is still protected. While it's a durable casing, it is still lightweight and thin, so it doesn't give your iPhone 6 a bulky feel.
What's great about the Via Snap is that even when the case is used for a long period of time, it is tight enough to the phone that grime and dirt don't get caught behind the casing, preserving its clean look.
Price: $19.99
ZyXEL Wireless Range Extender
Does it have the shiny screen of a new tablet or smartphone? No. Does it have the aesthetics of a new case? No. But this item is quite useful and the gift recipient will love it.
The Wireless Range Extender by ZyXEL does exactly what it sounds like it does. It takes an existing Wi-Fi signal, and expands it across a large area. It even delivers advanced performance with its dual-band technology with "speed/range boost." All one has to do is take it out of the box, plug it into the wall in an area that has a strong wireless signal and press the button on the device to activate it. It provides a stronger signal throughout a much wider area.
Price: $80
Lenovo Yoga Tablet Pro 2
Here's an interesting product.
The Lenovo Yoga Tablet Pro 2 is a high-end tablet with its quad-core Intel Atom processor, and 13.3-inch Wide-View quad-HD display (2,560-x-1,440). With its unique hinge, it can be used as a standard tablet, it can be propped up to enjoy movies and videos, or it can be set up at an angle.
What is also different about this device is that it comes with a built-in projector, making it a mobile home theater with its 8W sound system.
The newest Lenovo tablet comes with at least 32 GB of storage, an 8-MP rear-facing camera and runs on Android KitKat.
Price: $499.99
Epson WorkForce WF-100 Mobile Printer
Epson markets its new printer as the world's lightest and smallest mobile printer.
Despite the small size, users can still print full-page items, including most important documents or 4-inch-by-6-inch photos.
The WorkForce WF-100 is wireless, and features Wi-Fi connectivity and a built-in battery that is charged with an included USB or AC adapter. Users can print via their tablet, smartphone or laptop, including iPads and iPhones.
The printer is easy to set up and prints quality images and sharp-looking documents.
Price: $349.99
Dell Venue 8 Pro
This Windows 8.1 tablet would be a good gift for anyone, including students, professionals or even consumers with its Office Home platform and Student 2013 software.
It features an 8-inch HD display and quad-core Intel Atom processor with dual cameras.
The competitively priced tablet comes with 32 GB or 64 GB of built-in storage and 2 GB of RAM. It also has a MicroSD card slot for upgradable storage.
The Venue 8 Pro features 9.9 hours of battery life and comes in black or red.
Price: $249.99
Kensington Key Fob Bluetooth Tracker
Know someone who is good at losing their keys or phone? Of course you do. Here's a device that will take care of both.
The Proximo Key Fob Bluetooth Tracker by Kensington is a small device that will attach to a keychain for users to track their keys with the Proximo app from their phone.
When keys go missing, just grab the phone, open the app, and locate it by sounding the alarm on it. Don't want to sound the alarm? The app will give an estimated distance the user is from the missing keys. What if the phone, rather than the keys, is lost? Press the button on the Key Fob and the alarm on the phone will be activated for the user to find it.
Proximo's battery lasts for up to 6 months and is compatible with both iOS and Android.
Price: $39.99
Apple iPhone 6
You saw this one coming.
The Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the hottest selling smartphones on the market.
The iPhone 6 features a larger 4.7-inch display with sharper images (1,334-x-750), upgraded internal specs with its faster A8 processor, between 16 GB and 128 GB of built-in internal storage and the new iOS 8 operating system.
The new iPhone also features an upgraded camera with optical stabilization, preventing motion blur in shots and better results in poorly lit settings.
Despite packing in upgrades to its internal specs in its thinner 6.9mm frame, the iPhone 6 features a longer lasting battery life of up to 14 hours.
Price: Starting at $199 with contract
SonicSport In-Ear Headphones
The new Sonic Sport In-ear headphones are built specifically for active users and integrate well with smartphones.
With a built-in microphone, users can take and make calls on their phones from their headphones. Users can also easily control music and adjust volume right from their headphones.
The around-the-ear grip of the headphones is comfortable but also secure as it won't fall out of an ear like bud-style headphones. It also delivers high-quality sound with clear, detailed and dynamic audio.
The headphones are available in black, blue, red and yellow.
Price: $44.95
Motorola Droid Turbo
The newest smartphone by Motorola is one of the best on the market.
Motorola said the 5.2-inch Quad HD (2,560-x-1440) AMOLED display on the Droid Turbo is the best of any smartphone, and with its 565 PPI leading the league, that's hard to argue.
The Droid Turbo features a 21MP camera that takes great shots in even poorly lit settings with its f2.0 aperture and duel LED flash.
Its coolest feature may be its battery, which gets up to 48 hours on a single charge. When the charge is finally depleted after two days, users can reach 8 hours of battery life on just 15 minutes of charging.
Motorola's flagship phone runs on Android KitKat, and a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor.
Price: Starting at $199 with contract
Google Nexus 6
Google's new smartphone manufactured by Motorola is not only one of the top high-end smartphones out right now, but it's also the biggest.
The Nexus 6 has a 5.96-inch quad-HD (2,560-x-1,440) AMOLED display, and is bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the iPhone 6 Plus.
The device features a 13MP camera with optical image stabilization technology, and can capture 4K video at 30 frames per second. The device runs on a 2.7GHz quad-core Qaulcomm Snapdragon processor. It also comes with 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage.
Google's flagship smartphone is one of the lone devices that comes packed with the new Google Android Lollipop operating system.
Price: Starting at $199 with contract
iPad Air 2
You saw the case for it earlier, now how about the device itself.
The iPad is the top-selling tablet in the world, and the Air 2 is the newest iPad to hit the market.
Released in October, the iPad Air 2 is thinner than ever before at 6.1mm, but packs Apple's powerful A8X chip and between 16 GB and 128 GB of storage. With the upgrade in specs, Apple still improved the device's battery power with 10 hours of battery life.
The Air 2 also features Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner, allowing users to sign in with just the touch of their finger, and allows them to use Apple Pay for online purchases.
Price: Starting at $499
Kindle Fire HDX 7" Tablet
Amazon's latest Kindle tablet packs a 7-inch HDX (1,920-x-1,200) display, between 16 GB and 64 GB of storage and comes with the option of 4G LTE wireless service. It runs on a 2.2GHz quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM.
The Kindle Fire HDX features its Mayday button, allowing users to connect with an Amazon expert instantly for any troubleshooting issues, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Running on the Fire OS, users have access to the Amazon Appstore, granting access to more than 100,000 apps, including one paid app for free every day.
Price: $179.00
Ventev PowerCell 3015 Portable Battery Charger
The PowerCell 3015 Portable Battery Charger by Ventev is perfect for people who could use a boost in power.
This portable battery charger is light, durable and smaller than a deck of cards, making it easier for users to carry it in their purse, pocket or bag.
It provides up to 12.5 hours of additional talk time and charges USB-powered mobile devices. It comes in two different color combinations of gray and orange, or white and light gray.
The rechargeable PowerCell 3015 has LED lights to indicate its own battery life, and includes a USB cable to charge your favorite devices.
Price: $34.99
iStabilizer Flex
The iStabilizer Flex makes for a great stand for smartphones and digital cameras, allowing users to avoid taking pictures without the shaking that commonly occurs with handheld photography.
The smartphone and camera stand are small enough to take along anywhere, and its flexible legs can adjust to almost any surface.
The stand works with a plethora of different digital cameras and smartphones, including all iPhones, even when they have the most bulky cases on the market on them.
Price: $29.95
SensoGlove
Need a gift for a golfer? Well, we got tech gifts for them too.
The SensoGlove is a golf glove with built-in sensors that work to constantly read the pressure of a golfer's grip. When users practice their swing with the SensoGlove on, it teaches them the correct grip pressure for a consistent swing that delivers better scores.
Audio feedback from the glove lets users know the moment their grip is off, and allows them to adjust accordingly. A small display on the back of the glove illustrates the needed adjustments.
Price: $89.00
Nike+ FuelBand SE
One of the most popular fitness bands on the market, the Nike+ FuelBand, is light, small and comfortable, perfect for running or any workout.
The band's built-in 3 axis accelerometer measures motion all day long and connects to the Nike+ app on iOS or Android devices via Bluetooth 4.0.
The water-resistant band gives users motivation as they earn Nike Fuel points for the more activity they do. By seeing the amount of Fuel they earn with each exercise, it's an easy way to know which workouts are most productive.
Price: $99
Motorola Moto360 Smart Watch
Wearables, specifically smartwatches, are the next big thing in consumer tech.
The Motorola smartwatch, running on Android Wear, is one of the most popular smartwatches currently on the market as it looks like a regular, casual watch, but it does much more.
Use favorite Android Wear apps, check the weather, financial ticker, news and social media notifications and get push notifications on alerts, calls and much more. Android Wear offers its digital voice assistant Google Now feature, allowing users to easily make voice commands with the smartwatch.
The Moto360 Smart Watch is customizable, coming with many different band options and syncs with Android devices.
Price: $249.99
Nest Learning Thermostat
Home automation is another growing aspect of the tech industry, and many experts believe that, like wearables, home automation is about to blow.
What your gift recipient will like about the Nest Thermostat is that it will actually save them money. The device replaces the old thermostat and learns things like when a person is leaving or arriving home, and can adjust the temperature accordingly. Forgot to turn down the heat before leaving the house? That is no longer a problem.
It creates a personalized schedule of what temperature a person likes at each time of day and adjusts it to that preference after about a week of use. It also syncs with a smartphone so it can be controlled remotely.
Price: $249.99
Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker
The SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker by Bose is a wireless, high-quality speaker that connects mobile devices via Bluetooth.
It is small, light and portable so users can take the speaker anywhere and stream their favorite playlists right on it via Bluetooth.
The speaker's Bluetooth connection has a range of about 30 feet, and it remembers the last six devices used to connect the speaker with, so syncing devices is even easier.
The rechargeable battery lasts up to 7 hours.
Price: $199.95
GoPro Hero4 Black 4K Action
The latest from the popular GoPro camera line, the GoPro Hero4 camera captures 4K footage of a person's most adventurous activities.
This camera is great for mounting somewhere, or even on oneself, while going white water rafting, riding a dirt bike or even surfing. This camera has a standard waterproof housing that can record in up to 131 feet of water.
The GoPro Hero4 Black 4K Action camera is also great for low-light settings and features burst mode, letting users capture 12MP photos at 30 frames per second.
The camera offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, so users can connect it to their favorite devices with the GoPro app.
Price: $499.99
Beats By Dre Studio Headphones
The new Beats By Dre Studio Headphones are lighter, more durable, more comfortable and have even better sound quality than before.
Featuring Noise Canceling technology, users can listen to only what they want to hear through the high-quality sound of the headphone's speakers. These headphones offer a 20-hour rechargeable battery and RemoteTalk, allowing a user to carry on phone conversations from the headphones.
The new Beats headphones come in 10 different color combination options with a USB adapter, 3.5mm audio cable and a durable carrying case.
Price: $269.95
MacBook Air
The new MacBook Air is one of the thinnest and lightest laptops around and comes in two different models, an 11-inch display size and a 13-inch.
The 11-inch model gets up to 9 hours of battery life while the 13-inch gets up to 12 hours, while both have an LED-backlit glossy wide-screen display.
Users can get between 128 GB and 512 GB of flash storage on both models to go with the powerful 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. The MacBook Air runs on Apple's new OS X Yosemite operating system, featuring the Handoff and Connectivity features to pair with your iOS devices.
Price: Starting at $899
Google Nexus 9
Google's new tablet manufactured by HTC is one of the hottest new tablets on the market.
Running on the new Android 5 Lollipop operating system, the Nexus 9 features an 8.9-inch IPS LCD display, HTC's front-facing BoomSound speakers and runs on a 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor at 2.3GHz. Users can get 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage on the device.
The Nexus 9 also has an 8MP rear camera with f/2.4 aperture and auto-focus and LED flash for taking better shots in poorly lit settings. It also has a 1.6MP front-facing camera with f.2.4 aperture.
Google's flagship tablet boasts up to 9.5 hours of battery life and comes in three different color options.
Price: $399.99
Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB Portable Hard Drive
This wireless portable hard drive offers 1TB of storage and has built-in Wi-Fi to connect with all devices.
It weighs just 9 ounces, and is 5 inches tall, making it quite portable. The wireless hard drive runs on a lithium ion battery (included).
The Seagate Wireless Plus Portable Hard Drive streams digital media to all mobile devices and PCs, and synchronizes with Dropbox and Google Drive, so it's also connected to cloud content.
This hard drive can stream up to three different HD movies to three devices at once, and connects to DLNA devices, Samsung Smart TVs and AirPlay throughout the home.
Price: $179.99