Yesterday, we brought you the first half of our rundown of the best new gadgets and gear to arrive in South Africa over the course of the last year. Today, we’re finishing off our staff picks.
Read on!
Deon’s Gear of the Year
Price: From R6 299
What is it?
The PlayStation 4 is a dedicated games machine, with some multimedia functionality thrown in that includes Blu-ray playback and the ability to play music files stored on USB drives.
Sony has given the PS4 a fast x86 processor, 8GB of shared (and really fast) GDDR5 memory and a 500GB hard drive for game data installs. The PlayStation Store is an integral part of its appeal, as that’s where gamers can buy digital games and PS Plus subscriptions with the touch of only a few buttons.
Why it’s ace…
Sony’s latest games console is a monster of a machine, with better hardware than the competition and games with graphics that continually surprise and delight.
A stream of updates have kept improving its performance and interface, and the volume of games available has exploded in the past 12 months. The platform has excellent exclusives like The Last of Us, inFAMOUS: Second Son and Resogun.
Sony also updated the controller (finally!) so that it’s actually comfortable to use, and added a useful touchpad that lets you do things in-game with the slide of a finger. The overall experience is just brilliant.
Xbox One Controller
Price: R799
What is it?
A controller for the Xbox One
Why it’s ace…
It’s even more comfortable and responsive than the 360’s truly excellent controller and a joy to hold in your hands for hours on end.
Gigabyte Auros X3 Gaming Notebook
Price: R29 999
The X3 runs most PC games beautifully with its powerful GeForce GTX870M GPU, has some seriously sexy looks and boots up in seconds.
Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X OC
R5 799
Its Tri-X fan design keeps things very quiet, it runs almost all games at 1080p/60fps and above and can even game at 4K.
Dave’s Gear of the Year
Price: From R8 000
What is it?
A top of the range smartphone from one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers with almost every high end specification available packed into a well crafted, beautifully designed body that beats out every other smartphone we’ve played with this year (and there have been quite a few of those).
The Z3 forms part of Sony’s new way of thinking about high end smartphones and tablets mirroring the successful recipe driven by Apple: tablets and smartphones with similar hardware just in different sized packages.
Why its ace…
Sony is on a twice yearly mission to get back into the smartphone limelight and the Xperia Z3 is the fruit of that mission for the latter half of 2014. It replaces the barely six month old Xperia Z2 but makes enough changes to the design and performance that it truly stands head and shoulders above its predecessor.
While other smartphones have made clear strides towards becoming the best in the game Sony has taken a giant leap forward becoming the one to beat. It ticks my two main smartphone boxes of display quality and epic battery life making it my top pick for the year by a country mile.
HTC One (M8)
Price: R7 500
What is it?
HTC was the company behind the first ever Android smartphone but until the HTC One and its successor the (M8) it’s not had a clear lead over the competition.
Why it’s ace
It’s the most beautiful Android smartphone on the market with a premium aluminium shell that matches Apple’s industrial design mastery.
Jawbone UP24
Price: R1 599
Tracking sleep, food and fitness is becoming a big deal and the UP24 does them better than anyone else.
Apple iPad Mini with Retina display
Price: R4 999
Apple’s iPad’s are simply the best tablets in the game and the single-hand-usability makes the Mini the pick of the lot.
Huawei Ascend P7
Price: R4 500
The best smartphone for your buck by a mile, and one of the sexiest looking to boot.
Lungelo’s Gear of the Year
Price: R11 499
What is it?
The 5.7inch Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the latest version of the company’s range of Note phablets. The original giant screened phone and still the best, the Note 4 gets you through your daily work tasks with slick software for handling projects and to-do lists, then kicks back and helps with simple household errands too.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 wouldn’t be a Note without the now-famous Samsung S Pen Stylus created for jotting down notes and creating drawing in your own handwriting as well as performing other navigational tasks on the phone.
ou might think I’m overstating the case, but I don’t think gaming has had a better year for a long time, thanks to next-gen consoles becoming current-gen and ever-evolving PC hardware.
hones, phones, phones… this year saw so many new and excellent smartphones that it’s hard to remember anything else. But it was also the year videostreaming came to South Africa – and that’s going to be big.
Why it’s ace
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is ideal for those who have hectic work schedules and tasks on their plate and are looking for something to cover both their social and professional life.
It’s 16MP rear-facing camera delivers excellent picture cquality for both photo and video and the added extra shooting modes and features make for a great shot everytime. It’s also pretty easy on the eyes with a sleek, elegant metal-framed design.
Plus you get 2GB a month free WiFi for a year from AlwaysOn.
Sony Xperia T3
Price: R5 639
What is it?
The Sony Xperia T3 didn’t win the headlines of its siblings the Z-series, but as a mid-ranger it’s almost impossible to beat.
Why it’s ace…
Although the Xperia T3 is not the best Sony has to offer, if you’re looking for an affordable option that doesn’t skimp on quality it’s hard to fault.
Samsung S32D850T PC monitor
Price: R15 500
It isn’t cheap, but whether you’re doing work, gaming or relaxing with some entertainment, this 32inch PC monitor is huge and has a beautiful display.
Altech Node
Price: R3 499 once-off
One box covers your home’s entertainment needs with 700 hours of movies, TV series and sports content available on the Node. It also doubles up as a smarthome controller.
Withings Pulse fitness tracker
Price: R 1 599
The Withings Pulse is ideal for those who aren’t familiar with fitness trackers and how they work. It’s easy to use and produces great results.
