Another holiday season and another fresh list of gadgets to buy for friends, family and let’s be honest, yourself. Tech companies make sure to bring their A-game around the month of December. From gaming consoles to fitness companions, 2013 looks promising for gadget lovers across America.
iPad Air ($499)
Photo by John.Karakatsanis via Flickr
The iPad’s been around since 2010, but never has so much power been packed into something so thin and light. At just one pound, the iPad Air carries the same A7 processor as the iPhone 52, giving the new iPad the power to run vivid new apps and the efficiency to run up to 10 hours on a single charge. The iPad is a great holiday gift every year, but this time is one of the best.
Xbox One ($499)
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The newest gaming consoles will only be a month old when the holidays hit, making them hot items on this year’s list. The Xbox One is Microsoft’s new all-in-one console that promises better graphics, an improved Kinect (the motion-sensor device for hands-free gaming) and a complete multimedia experience. There are even rumors floating about that One gamers can soon play online with Windows gamers, making your Battlefield 4 PC download compatible with a future console.
Playstation 4 ($399)
Photo by Stiftelsen Elektronnikkbransjen via Flickr
If $500 is just outside your holiday budget, the PS4 might be the better alternative for a next-generation console. Not only is it $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, it has more raw power under the hood to power games (just like the PS3 and Xbox 360). The PS4 is known as the “gaming purist’s console” when compared to the Xbox One and is preferred by a lot of gamers, regardless of price.
Fitbit Flex ($99)
Photo by aloha nico. via Flickr
The holiday season brings on enough delicious food and sweets to last a lifetime, and that New Years Resolution is just around the corner. Millions of Americans will recommit to their fitness in 2014 and the Fitbit Flex is the perfect companion to help them out. It’s a device worn around the wrist that measures the user’s activity throughout the day and even their sleep habits at night. Fitbit then provides stats on a smartphone, tablet or computer to show everything from calories burned to miles walked to hours of uninterrupted sleep at night — all in real time.
Jawbone Jambox ($149)
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If you love to stream music from your smartphone, the Jambox is the perfect sound dock for the home. First, it’s not really appropriate to call it a “dock” because there’s no need to physically plug your phone to the box. All music is streamed wirelessly from both iPhone and Android devices. To top off its function, Jambox lets you choose from dozens of different style and color combinations to create a box that will look perfect in any living room (and most importantly, it sounds great).
Google Chromecast ($35)
Photo by EricaJoy via Wikimedia Commons
Amazing and affordable. Chromecast is a simple dongle that plugs into your television and streams Netflix, Hulu Plus and other online media without the need for an expensive box like a Roku or Apple TV. It’s so simple, in fact, that Chromecast doesn’t even come with a remote— simply download an app to your smartphone to control Chromecast in your living room.
