25 Slick Gadgets For Back To School
Bad News, Kids!
The worst moment in every child's summer is when that first back-to-school commercial pops up on the TV or radio. Hopefully, this slideshow won't elicit that reaction as much as it'll make students of all ages excited over some cool, new gadgets that can make their school year so much better -- and more convenient.
From smartphones, tablets, headphones and device accessories, you'll find that here. We've got devices that'll help with school work, devices for those who constantly lose their things, and even a device that'll make you never press the snooze button again.
Here are 25 tech gadgets for back-to-school season.
Durable iPhone 5S nuud Case
You know what kids do? They drop things. This goes for kids of all grades -- middle school, high school even college. So getting one of these kids a smartphone without a case may not be the smartest move in the playbook.
The nuud case by LifeProof is the best way to protect an iPhone. It's waterproof, dirtproof, snowproof and shockproof, and doesn't have an annoying screen protector like some other durable cases.
It takes advantage of the device's already durable screen, leaving it wide-open for users to enjoy the great touch screen. It also has open ports, keeping in mind each of the iPhone's features, including Touch ID.
LifeProof makes nuud cases for other all iPhone and Galaxy smartphones, as well as iPads and Galaxy Tabs.
Price: $89.99
Shure SE215 Sound-Isolating Earphones
When doing homework or studying for a final, it's important to stay focused and avoid all unwelcomed outside distractions.
These earbud-style earphones block out all distracting noises with its sound-isolating technology.
Its durable Kevlar reinforced cable makes for a long-lasting wire that users don't have to worry about getting worn down or ripping apart like many popular earbud headphones. The cable also is detachable for users on the go.
That, in addition to the high sound quality, make these great headphones for any student who loves music.
Price: $99.00
iProcrastinate
Want to be a good student? Get organized! This app for iOS and Mac OS is a great calendar and task manager to keep everything on a schedule in check.
It illustrates clearly upcoming tasks, attached files, short-term to-do lists and long-term project due dates.
What's great about iProcrastinate is that it seamlessly syncs to the iCloud and can be accessed by all your other Mac OS and iOS devices. Made a change to your schedule on a MacBook Pro? That change will show up on your iPhone without you even realizing it.
Users can create groups for tasks to split them up by importance, due date or whatever your preference.
Livescribe 3 Smartpen
Like your smartphone? How about a smartpen?
The Livescribe 3 smartpen syncs with any iOS 7 device and feeds anything you write on a piece of paper to your mobile device. Notes you are writing on a piece of paper will show on your iPhone or iPad screen instantly.
This comes in handy for taking notes in class or at a lecture.
Once your notes are on your device, you can convert them into text. You can then send your text to friends over email or text a message. Livescribe can recognize dates and times to easily add appointments to your calendar. It also can record audio to later playback notes you may have missed.
Price: $149.95
Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive
This is a tool that comes very much in handy for anyone that works on a computer, especially students.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive makes it easy to back up photos, videos, documents or whatever else. Seagate calls it "the thinnest portable hard drive available with up to 2 TB of capacity."
You can back up all your devices easily, but also your social media accounts, including photos and videos from Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.
The portable drive can go anywhere with you, and makes it easy to share files between Windows and Mac computers.
Price: $79.99
Selfy Case With Remote Camera Shutter
Wait till Ellen DeGeneres gets her hands on this.
Selfy, from iLuv Creative Technology, is an iPhone 5/5s case with a built-in wireless camera shutter for your smartphone's camera.
The remote shutter slides out of the back of the durable iPhone case, and connects via BlueTooth as a remote for your iPhone's camera to take videos and pictures from far away.
Selfy does not require installing any additional apps and is completely wireless. It enables users to take pictures or videos of themselves -- or anything really -- without having to be within an arm's length of the phone. The case comes in both black and pink.
Price: $39.99
iFrogz GoLite Portable Charger And Flashlight
How often are you out and about, and you have to milk the small amount of battery your mobile device has left?
This can cause problems if you have to get in touch with someone for both social or professional reasons, or if you're working on something on your tablet or laptop and can't stop to find a wall outlet.
With the iFrogz GoLite, your device's battery becomes a lot less of a concern. Its small, slim build makes it easy to carry, whether in your pocket, backpack or purse. It also has a built-in LED flashlight, is perfect for low-light situations, and its USB port makes it easy and convenient to charge devices while you're on the go.
Price: $29.99
IOGear MediaShare Hub
This is handy for any dorm room of friends who want to share media files and documents with each other.
This Media Hub can connect to up to seven devices, making it easy to share movies, music, photos and documents while you're on the go. You can access them from anywhere on almost any wireless device.
You can even access the hub without an Internet connection, making it convenient for adding storage to mobile devices that don't have a microSD card slot.
The IOGear MediaShare Hub is compatible with Android and iOS devices.
Price: $99.95
HTC One
There isn't really a bad occasion to get a new smartphone.
The HTC One (M8) is one of the most popular Android smartphones on the market. Its 5-inch super LCD3 touch screen (1,080-x-1,920) with 16M colors is one of the many features consumers enjoy on the device. Made from Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the durable screen makes the phone great for any busy student.
The smartphone comes with 16 GB or 32 GB or storage and 2 GB of RAM. It can be upgraded to 128 GB with a microSD card.
Its 2.3GHz quad-core processor and long-lasting battery life make the HTC One (M8) a dependable smartphone.
Price: $99.99 (with contract)
MacBook Air
This is a great device for students who are mobile, and need to get a lot of work done.
This will help you stay productive and is the most affordable Apple laptop on the market, without giving up on usefulness and functionality.
The entry-level MacBook Air has an 11.6-inch HD display and runs on 9 hours of battery life. The 0.68-inch casing makes it the thinnest laptop on the market, and weighs just 2.38 pounds.
The MacBook Air starts at 128 GB of flash storage and a 1.4GHz dual-core processor.
Price: $899
Green House Bottle Opener USB Key
Small USB key chains such as this one are quite convenient.
For students who need to transfer large files onto another computer, whether it runs on Windows or Mac OS, USB key chains make life that much simpler.
With 4 GB of memory, students can put term papers, slideshows, spreadsheets or whatever else on their USB key, and run them over to the library to print them out. Students also can save photos, videos or music onto their USB key and transfer them onto another machine. Oh, yes, and it can also pop open bottles for you. Not a bad gizmo to have.
Price: $54
Moto G
Widely considered the best smartphone at its price, the Moto G is a great combination of performance and affordability, something for which all students strive.
The Moto G comes stocked with a 4.5-inch LCD touch-screen display packed with 16M colors. The screen's Corning Gorilla Glass 3 material makes it durable for drops and falls.
Running on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, the Moto G is upgradeable to Android 4.4.4 KitKat, and has a 1.2GHZ quad-core processor. It also packs a 5MP camera, and has 8 GB or 16 GB of storage with 1 GB of RAM.
Price: $179
iPad Air
Tablets are an extremely handy way to get work done on the go, something all students could use.
Apple is the most popular tablet vendor on the market and has been ever since it introduced the iPad in 2010. The iPad Air is Apple's thinnest and lightest tablet, measuring just 7.5 millimeters thin and weighing in at just 1 pound. It comes packed with a 2.4GHz processor and 16 GB of storage, behind an appeasing 9.7-inch Retina display.
The iPad Air has up to 10 hours of battery life and runs on iOS 7, giving users access to Apple's immerse ecosystem.
Price: $499
Kensington ComboSaver Notebook Lock
Losing your laptop is a tough thing to go through for many reasons: the loss of your property, in addition to your irreplaceable work documents, videos and photos.
A great way to avoid this is to lock up your laptop. The Kensington ComboSaver notebook lock's carbon-tempered steel cable coils from 3 inches out to 6 feet.
The lock attaches to 99 percent of laptops and can be set to one of 10,000 personalized combination codes. The lock also is backed with Kensington's lifetime guarantee.
Price: $19.99
Acer C720 Chromebook
Chromebooks are some of the most popular laptops in the education space right now, and Acer is the leader of the pack.
Due to the C720's combination of high performance at a low price, Acer is one of the three most popular laptop vendors worldwide.
Acer's Chromebook features an 11.6-inch display, up to 8.5 hours of battery life and 100 GB of Google Drive Cloud storage.
The device comes packed with an Intel Celeron processor and 16 GB of storage.
Price: $199
Epson WorkForce All-In-One Printer
Students who don't enjoy commuting to the campus library just to print out a term paper will like this device.
Epson's All-in-One printer comes with a color printer, scanner, fax machine and copier, in the most compact design of any item in its class.
The printer is easy to connect, and can connect wirelessly to mobile devices, including laptops, tablets and smartphones, in a multitude of ways.
The Epson WorkForce All-in-One is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS, and students will be happy to forgo a trip to the library's printer on rainy days.
Price: $99
Beats By Dre Noise-Canceling Wireless Headphones
Want to impress your friends and not listen to them while doing your homework?
The Beats By Dre Noise Canceling wireless Bluetooth headphones feature Adaptive Noise Cancelation (ANC) to block out all the noise around you. All you'll hear is your playlist.
The Bluetooth will stay connected up to 30 feet away from your device, allowing you to walk freely and not be tethered to one spot by a cord.
You can take calls, skip songs and change the volume all from your high-end headphones.
The built-in rechargeable battery lasts up to 12 hours on Bluetooth and 20 hours when connected.
Price: $379.95
iRobot Roomba 650
Moving out of your parents' house is great, but cleaning up after your roommates? Not so much.
Instead of arguing with them over who cleans what, get a robot to do it.
The iRobot Roomba 650 is a vacuum-cleaning robot that will start cleaning on a schedule or at the push of a button. It'll handle carpets, tiles and hardwood floors all on its own.
The device comes with a one-year manufacturer's warranty and comes with a battery charger and one extra AeroVac filter.
Price: $400
PowerAll Portable Power Bank And Car Jump-Starter
Your average college student might not have the most reliable car out there, and this is a very handy and helpful device that'll help students out of tough situations.
When the PowerAll is on a full charge, it can jump-start a car up to 20 times. Its a pretty good device to keep in your glove compartment, but can also fit in your pocket.
The portable battery charger also will charge most mobile devices with its two USB ports.
When the PowerAll isn't jump-starting cars, charging smartphones, tablets and laptops, it can be used for its Ultra-bright LED flashlight that has SOS and strobe-light signal settings, which can last up to 120 hours.
Price: $99.95
Apple TV
Apple TV is a great tool for any TV enthusiast, but might end up being a bit too distracting during finals week.
The device can connect your TV to the long reach of the Apple ecosystem. Outside of its vast library of TV shows and movies users can rent or purchase, Apple TV can connect users to their Netflix account, HBO GO, Hulu and more.
Want to watch a sports game? Apple TV can easily connect you to the Watch ESPN app, MLB TV, NBA League Pass and more. Want to just listen to music? Your music library is available along with iTunes Radio.
There is a long list of other viewing apps available on Apple TV, including the History Channel, A&E, Watch ABC and more.
Price: $99
Spotify Premium
Spotify Premium is one of the top music-streaming apps out right now. With this app, users can stream any song, album or playlist from any artist in Spotify's deep ecosystem that ranges in the millions. Spotify offers the most popular artists and most popular songs, and new music becomes available to stream soon after it is released to the masses.
With Premium, users can listen to any song of his or her choosing on any mobile device. With Spotify Radio, users will be introduced to new songs and new artists, based on what they've already listened to. Users also can browse through already existing playlists to find one they might like, or just make your own.
Price: $9.99/month (first month free)
Sony Premium Bluetooth Speakers
If you enjoy streaming music, you might want a good set of speakers to go with it.
Sony Premium Bluetooth Speakers give you high-end sound quality for listening to your favorite songs. The speaker features Bluetooth audio streaming with NFC connectivity, allowing you to take the speaker outside, inside and away from the wall outlet. Users can stream their playlists from their mobile devices, over the speaker through Bluetooth. No need to worry about connecting the two with wires to stream your music library, however, you can use the speaker's USB port to charge smartphones and tablets.
Price: $299.99
StickNFind Location Sticker
This is a must-have item for anyone who tends to misplace things. Save time looking for your lost items and get on with your life.
StickNFind Location Stickers can be attached to any item, whether it's your shoes, keys, mobile devices or even a pet.
Simply put the tracking stick on the item you don't tend to misplace, and use the mobile app's Radar Screen to find the sticker and your lost items. The range of the stickers are about 100 feet and the battery lasts for over a year.
Price: $29.99
BlueFire LED Desk
This high-quality LED light lasts 20,000 hours, so don't worry about replacing the bulb anytime soon.
It'll also cut down on electric bills with its energy-saving technology, with 75 percent less energy consumption.
The LED lamp has a touch-control 5-level dimmer, so as not to awaken roommates when pulling all-nighters.
In addition to saving energy and lasting over two-and-a-half years, the lamp has a USB port with which to charge mobile devices.
Price: $59.99
Clocky
Have a bad habit of hitting the snooze button too much? The Clocky is your savior and your worst nightmare.
After hitting snooze once, the Clocky will let you sleep for 1 to 9 minutes, customizable to your preference. When the alarm goes off again, the clock will roll off the table and roll around the room, forcing you to get out of bed to turn it off, making the snooze button your nemesis. If that doesn't get you out of bed, nothing will.
The Clocky runs on 4 AAA batteries and has a maximum drop height of 3 feet.
Price: $44.99