As a blogger and editor, I am often asked to recommend tech gifts. It can be hard to know what to buy, especially when you’re buying for someone who already has an iPhone or iPad. So I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite tech items from this past year that will please anyone on your list.
Kindle Paperwhite
The Kindle Paperwhite is a great gift for anyone who likes to read. You can read it in the sun, read it in bed, and read it at night without having to worry about the backlight keeping you up. There are lots of other features that make this a great gift, too.
The Kindle Paperwhite has a built-in light that adjusts automatically based on your surroundings. If you’re outside on a sunny day, the light will be brighter than when you’re reading at night. It has a touchscreen interface that makes navigating through your library of books easy. You can also look up words in the dictionary while reading without losing your place in the book. The battery life is long enough that you don’t have to worry about charging it every day or two — this thing will last for weeks!
Google Home Hub
The Google Home Hub is a smart display designed to be your home’s center. It’s got a 10-inch touchscreen and built-in Google Assistant, and it just happens to be an Amazon Echo Show competitor. The Home Hub is a smaller version of the Google Nest Hub Max. It’s about half the size and features the same rounded design. A white base with touch controls sits at the bottom of the device and houses all of its hardware components. The screen measures 10 inches diagonally, and it supports 1080p resolution.
Thanks to its small size, it looks great sitting on top of your nightstand or kitchen countertop — you can even mount it on a wall if you want to make it look more like an art piece than a gadget. As far as specs go, there’s also an 8MP camera with a wide-angle lens that supports video chatting via Google Duo or Skype. The front camera is also capable of depth sensing, so you can use facial recognition to unlock the device when someone walks in front of it (similar to what you see on other smart displays).
Apple Watch Series 4
The Apple Watch Series 4 is a great gift for anyone who loves fitness, and it also has many other features to keep it at the cutting edge of wearable technology. With the new Watch 4, you can get notifications through haptic feedback and even more detailed heart rate data. The watch can also measure your hydration level, which hasn’t been available previously. The new Series 4 comes in 40 mm and 44 mm (the old Series 3 comes in 38 mm and 42 mm). There are also three different finishes: aluminum, stainless steel, and ceramic. You can buy the Series 4 in Space Gray or Silver Aluminum (pictured), Stainless Steel, or Ceramic White.
Fujifilm Instax Mini 9
The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 is a great gift for teens and tweens who love to take photos. The camera is easy to use and produces high-quality images that can be shared instantly. The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 is the latest Instax camera from the company. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket but big enough to take great photos. It shoots square photos, which are 2.4 x 2.4 inches, on instant film that develops immediately after the picture is taken.
The camera has a selfie mirror on top, a built-in flash, and an automatic exposure control system that adjusts to various lighting situations. You can choose from 10 shooting modes, including macro and landscape modes. The Instax Mini 9 comes with four color filters: yellow (sunny), red (midnight), blue (snowy), and green (spring). There’s also a macro lens adapter to get up close and personal with your subjects. The camera comes with two packs of 10 sheets of instant film, so you’ll be able to try it right away!
Oculus Rift S VR Headset
The Oculus Rift S VR Headset is a great gift for the tech-savvy person in your life. It features high-resolution lenses and offers a wider field of view than its predecessor, the Oculus Go VR headset. The Rift S also has built-in audio and three degrees of freedom (3DOF). The Oculus Quest is another great gift for a tech-savvy person. The Quest offers six degrees of freedom (6DOF), meaning users can move around in virtual worlds using their hands and heads. It’s the latest standalone headset from Facebook’s Oculus division, which means it doesn’t require a PC or smartphone to work.
Microsoft Surface Go 2-in-1 Laptop
The Microsoft Surface Go is a great gift for people who want to get away from their laptops and tablets. It’s a powerful, portable machine with the power of a desktop PC. The Surface Go has a 10-inch screen, one of the smallest screens you can get on a Windows PC right now. But it still has a great resolution of 1800 x 1200 pixels, so it’s plenty sharp enough for most tasks. It also has a fantastic keyboard, which feels natural and comfortable to type on for long periods. The trackpad is also very good — it’s smooth and responsive so that you can navigate around your computer quickly and easily.
This little laptop doesn’t have many ports; there are two USB-C ports (one on each side), one USB 3 port (on the left side), and a 3.5mm headphone jack (on the right). There are no other ports in case you need them — but if you don’t need them anyway, this isn’t an issue! You can charge the computer with this adapter or any USB port on another device (such as your phone charger).
Roku Streaming Stick+
The Roku Streaming Stick+ is a great gift for those in the market for a new streaming device. The Roku Streaming Stick+ is a small, portable, and easy-to-use streaming device. It supports 4K HDR video, has an enhanced remote control with voice search, and comes with access to thousands of entertainment channels, including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. The Roku Streaming Stick+ is also very affordable at $49.99. This makes it a great option for anyone who wants to enjoy their favorite shows and movies on the big screen without breaking the bank.
