JOIN USValentine's day 2021: Best gadget gift ideas
Gone are the days, when just offering a bouquet of red roses or a doll or chocolate would have been good enough to win over the affection of the loved ones on Valentine's day.
But, things have changed a lot and people expect better and a thoughtful gift such as a new phone for communication or a smart wearable for good health or a smart speaker for timepass and get things done with voice commands.
DH lists top gadget gift ideas to present it your loved ones.
Smart wearables
Apple Watches
Consumers can go for either the Watch Series 6 or Series 5. They have pretty much the same features but differ in terms of processor and SpO2 reader (only available in latest model).
Must read | Apple Watch Series 6 review
Most importantly, they both have an intelligent watchOS user-interface. Without nagging, they nudge to complete the daily goals, make you walk every hour and also take time-out to relax for a minute.
Must read | Apple Watch Series 5 review
However, they are compatible with Apple iPhones and iPads only.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
The Galaxy Watch 3 is a solid smart wearable build to last long and with the Samsung Health app, users can develop a disciplined routine to improve physical fitness, food intake, mental, and sleep.
Must read | Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 review
Amazfit GTR 2e
It is one of the best mid-range smart wearables in the market and also, one of the very few to boast a SpO2 sensor.
Amazfit GTR 2e sports a classic circular dial design that has a rotatable bezel. It features a 1.39-inch AMOLED high-definition screen and offers 50 plus watch faces. It is protected by tempered glass with an anti-fingerprint vacuum coating on top. Furthermore, it comes with 5 ATM rating, meaning it can survive water pressure up to 50 meters in depth.
Inside, the GTR 2e comes equipped with a big rechargeable cell, which promises up to 24 days of battery life. It can track more than 90 sports activities and has health tracking metrics like SpO2 which helps measure your current blood oxygen saturation.
Other notable features include stress monitoring, sleep (REM/Nap), 24X7 heart rate, GPS, temperature sensor pedometer, and more. The GTR 2e also has offline voice assistance which can be used to give offline commands and improved haptic vibration feedback.
Must read | Amazfit GTR 2e: First impression
Xiaomi Mi Band 5
It is the best fitness tracker under the Rs 5,000 range in the market. During the review, Mi Smart Band 5 was able to last more than two weeks in a single full charge. Also, women's health tracking, stress monitoring, guided breathing exercises, and PAI ratings are really good value additions to the Mi Band 5
Read more | Mi Band 5 review
Mobile phones
Apple iPhone 12 series
Apple's latest iPhone 12 series models come with the A14 Bionic, the most powerful chipset for phones in the market. In addition to the powerful processor, all four- iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max --models come boasts sturdy glass shield on both the front and back panels. Also, they come with impressive camera hardware and take fantastic pictures in all lighting conditions.
Must read | Apple iPhone 12 Pro: Back to the Future
Samsung Galaxy S21 series
I have used the Galaxy S21 Ultra for more than a week and am happy to note Samsung has got itself a winner. It has finally delivered the true 'Ultra' flagship phone with the S21 series and really lives up to the reputation.
Right now, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is the best Android phone. The company has done a fantastic job in bringing major improvements to the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G not just with camera hardware but also with power-efficient chipset Exynos 2100 over the predecessor Galaxy S20 Ultra (with Exynos 990).
Must read | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review: Gorgeous and powerful
OnePlus 8T
OnePlus 8T comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor and the camera hardware is also good in its class. The most impressive two things to know about the device are the 120Hz display refresh rate capability and the 65W Warp Charge support. It can power up the phone from zero to 100% under 40 minutes.
Must read | OnePlus 8T: Useful upgrades from the predecessor
Vivo V20 Pro
Vivo V20 Pro 5G is a good value-for-money phone. It ticks all the key attributes we look for in the new mid-range mobile. Vivo device has got great looks and has a capable processor that performs smoothly not just day-to-day tasks, but also shines when playing graphics intense games and other heavy-duty tasks. The camera too takes stunning pictures.
Add to that, it has a 5G modem, making Vivo V20 Pro a future-ready phone. Whenever the infrastructure gets ready in India, users can experience high-speed internet (more than 1Gbps) on the device.
Must read | Vivo V20 Pro 5G review
Google Pixel 4a
Like the previous Pixel 3a, the successor too comes with exceptional photography hardware. What's amazing about the Pixel 4a is that despite having just one camera lens, Google has leveraged its top-notch Artificial Intelligence and machine learning tech in the photography application to deliver high-quality images compared to rivals, which come with three and sometimes four cameras on the back.
Must read | Google Pixel 4a review: Fantastic camera phone
Samsung Galaxy M51
Samsung Galaxy M51 houses a 7,000mAh battery, the biggest we have seen in a tier-1 branded phone in India. With such a high capacity cell, the Galaxy M51 can be able to run for three days easily under normal usage.
It comes with a 25W super-fast charger that can charge the phone from zero to 100% under two hours. That's a value-addition feature, which will save a lot of time to power up the phone. Also, the Galaxy M51 supports reverse charging and comes with a Type-C to Type-C cable.
The new Samsung phone sports a 6.7-inch full HD+ (2400x1080p) super AMOLED Infinity-O display (with Corning Gorilla Glass 3), peak brightness up to 420 nits, 20:9 aspect ratio, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G octa-core processor with Adreno 618 graphics, 6GB/8GB RAM, 128GB UFS 2.1 storage (expandable up to 512GB), Android 10-based One UI 2.1 OS, FM radio, Dolby Atmos sound system, 3.5mm audio jack, dual-SIM slots, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz) and Bluetooth 5.0. Its price starts at Rs 24,999.
OnePlus Nord
OnePlus Nord is one of the best looking phones in the sub-Rs 30,000 price range. It has premium metal-and-glass build quality. It also has decent camera hardware and processor configuration.
Must read | OnePlus Nord review: Bang for the buck
Xiaomi Mi 10i
The new Mi 10i excels in design, build quality, smooth performance, long battery life, and the camera hardware are just top-notch in its class. Right now, it is the best value-for-money 5G phone in the market.
Xiaomi Mi 10i is being offered in three variants-- 6GB RAM +64GB storage, 6GB RAM + 128GB Storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB storage--for Rs 20,999, Rs 21,999 and Rs 23,999, respectively.
Must read | Xiaomi Mi 10i: A camera powerhouse
Poco M3
Poco M3 is a feature-rich mid-range phone. It takes pretty good photos and also processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 663 is pretty good and performs smoothly in terms of day-to-day tasks.
Must read | Poco M3: First impression
Xiaomi Redmi 9 Power
The Redmi 9 Power is the best value-for-money budget in the market. It is a well-packaged phone with the right processor, camera hardware, and a long-lasting battery.
Read more | Xiaomi Redmi 9 Power review: Top-class performer
Smart speakers
Apple HomePod mini
Apple HomePod mini comes in a compact design with just 3.3-inches tall. HomePod mini features an Apple-designed acoustic waveguide to direct the flow of sound down and out toward the bottom of the speaker for an immersive 360-degree audio experience.
Thanks to creative design language, customers can place HomePod mini anywhere in a room and hear a clear and consistent sound. The three-microphone array is tuned to hear 'Hey Siri,' and a fourth inward-facing microphone help isolate sound coming from the speaker to improve voice detection when music is playing. Outside, it has a premium fabric finish.
Inside, HomePod mini comes packed with an Apple S5 chip, an Apple-engineered full-range driver, a neodymium magnet, and a pair of force-canceling passive radiators, which enables deep bass and crisp high frequencies. Apple's HomePod mini costs Rs 9,999 in white and space grey colours.
Amazon Echo Dot 4th gen
It is one of the best looking smart speakers in its class. Echo Dot 4th gen resembles a crystal ball and the illuminating light ring at the base makes a beautiful showpiece not just in bedrooms but also in living rooms. Most importantly, it can deliver quick real-time information on weather, the latest sports update, and news with simple voice commands in addition to offering control over Internet-of-Things(IoT) gadgets such as smart light, smart ACs, smart Geysers, and more. It costs Rs 4,499.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker
Xiaomi's Mi Smart Speaker is a really good budget IoT device. It responds well to the commands without any fuss even while playing music. It is really big compared to the peers and yes, the surround sound output is just fantastic. It costs Rs 3,999.
Must read | Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker review: Amazingly good
Google Nest Audio
Google's Nest Audio has a visually appealing aesthetic design and the numerous use-cases offer the freedom to the owner to install it in any part of the house to get things done. Its sensitive microphones can detect voice commands even with noisy background and users can turn or change light colours on smart bulbs, change channels on TVs with inbuilt-Chromecast and other IoT gadgets. Additionally, it can offer to get quick access to real-time weather, latest news, cricket scores, other sports updates, and more. Most importantly, it excels in delivering a really good audio experience. It costs Rs 6,999.
Must read | Google Nest Audio review
Tablets
Apple iPad Air (4th Gen)
It flaunts a 10.9-inch LED-backlit Liquid Retina display with multi‑touch, True Tone Display, IPS technology, up to 500 nits peak brightness, 2360x1640 resolution and a pixel density of 264 ppi (pixels per inch) and comes with fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. It also supports Apple Pencil (2nd gen).
Apple's new six-core A14 chipset is the world's first 5nm class architecture. Apple has packed 11.8 billion transistors in the CPU and with this, it can deliver 40-percent faster, 30-percent faster graphics, 2X graphics performance, which is more than enough to play power-intensive games, do video editing, and other heavy work on the iPad. Its price starts at Rs 54,900.
Apple iPad 8th Gen
Apple A12 Bionic-powered iPad (8th gen) simply out-classes Android tablets under Rs 40,000 price segment.
With Apple's own utility applications and Microsoft Office Suite apps, children can make good use of the iPad (8th gen) for project work. Add to that, the display is really good enough for them to attend long hours of online classes with less worry of fatigue to the eyes.
Parents and children both can do creative stuff with accessories such as the Pencil (first gen) and there are lots of doodling applications and infotainment games on the Apple App Store to play and learn on the iPad.
Must read | Apple iPad (8th gen) review: Best in its class
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7
Galaxy Tab A7 is a reliable Android tablet for its price. Samsung tablet offers long battery life and most importantly, the display is good enough to watch multi-media content for long hours.
It is best suited for customers looking for a mid-range tablet for their children to attend online classes and also read e-books. Its prices start at Rs 17,999.
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