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Techilicious by Rajiv Makhni: 5 cool techie things you can gift this season!
Your festive buying guide... beyond the usual suspects.
Talk about timing. This column comes to you smack bang on Diwali day. That time of year when there are more launches, offers, discounts and deals than you can understand or absorb. And it continues right till the New Year. It’s also the time when you start to indulge and buy stuff for yourself and everyone else. You can buy sweets, chocolates, home stuff and even appliances, but nothing brings a bigger smile on someone’s face than a techie-gadgety gift. The problem unfortunately is of plenty. Too many things and very little information. Here’s the ultimate guide to breaking through the clutter and buying some really cool techie gifts this festive season.
The Usual Suspects
There is some standard issue stuff. Apple iPads or Samsung Tabs, an Apple Watch Series 5, a GoQii or Fitbit Fitness tracker, a Samsung Note 10 phone, or if you’re really indulgent, the super duper Samsung Fold phone. But all that you know about. The purpose today is to introduce you to five hidden gems.
Amway Atmosphere Mini
There are more than 75 brands and each promises to clean up that air in your bedroom and work space. But do they really? Not really. The Amway Atmosphere Mini goes where most air purifiers fear to tread. It’s got a ‘better than HEPA’ (the gold standard) filter and uses a three-in-one filtration system. It effectively captures 99.99 per cent particles as small as 0.0024 microns including airborne fibres, hair, 300 plus pathogens and particulates like bacteria, virus and pollen and also gaseous contaminants. The British Allergy Foundation has certified the Atmosphere Mini with the Allergy UK Seal of Approval for removing over 100 contaminants identified as common triggers of allergies
Hero Qubo
Hero is known for its motorbikes, so when it decides to get into tech, it does it with something jaw-dropping. This is a smart camera and assistant on steroids. In fact, I’d go as far as to say there isn’t anything like this device anywhere in the world. The Alexa-enabled Qubo Smart Indoor Camera, priced at Rs13,490, has a touchscreen and a smart speaker. It’s also a 1080p full HD camera with a 140-degree field of view. It gives a live feed, has face recognition, moment detection, works as a baby and pet monitor, has two way communication, an intruder alert with siren and you can set AI routines on it. Hero’s other sensors that work along-with the Qubo include a gas sensor, a smoke sensor and a door sensor.
Playfit SW 75 Smartwatch
The big debate earlier used to be whether there was a need to buy a smartwatch. That effectively has been decided and everyone now wants one. The problem is when you want it all, every feature, but you don’t have a ₹30,000 budget to get one. That’s where the Playfit SW 75 comes in with a big bang. It has everything top-of-the-line smartwatches have – like a 15-day battery life, stainless-steel casing, real time heart rate monitoring, step counter, sleep monitoring, tracking 14 different sports modes, a female health care feature, and it’s also ATM 5 waterproof. And it’s priced at ₹2,999.
Nokia 7.2
No other phone is on this list, so why is the Nokia 7.2 a hidden gem? Because this is something very unique from Nokia. A perfect example of style and substance! It’s an absolute stunner to look at with a satin finish and Gorilla Glass front and back. A circular island on the rear hosts a triple lens with a 48MP main camera with Zeiss Optics and AI night mode, a 20MP front camera, Snapdragon processor and stock android with no bloatware. It also has a 6.3” Full HD+ display and a 3500 mAh battery and it’s priced at a very aggressive ₹18,000.
Netgear Meural
It looks like a framed painting, but stare at it for a few seconds and the amazing painting changes to a new one. It’s an IPS display with matt canvas like anti-glare technology, plus it’s Alexa and gesture control enabled. With 30,000 artworks, your choices are infinite. You can have your own playlist of favourite art and some even have movement enabled. It’s priced at ₹75,000 but that includes the license for those 30,000 images.
More hidden gems coming up as the season progresses.
Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3
Techilicious appears every fortnight
From HT Brunch, October 27, 2019
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