
Apple
Top tech gifts your best friend this holiday season
Best friends are the people who are there for you no matter what, which is why they deserve something amazing and unique this holiday season
Best friends are the people who are there for you no matter what, which is why they deserve something amazing and unique this holiday season
Who's more fun to shop for than a best friend, that pal we love to spend time with, who gets our jokes and is always there for the downtimes too. These ten gifts are those presents that pals will love, whether they're gamers, music lovers or weekend athletes. Some are splurgy, others are great for the budget conscious (and we have more options in our budget-friendly gift guide too), but all are thoughtful — and gifts your best friend will genuinely appreciate this year.
If you have a friend who is a gamer, Google Stadia is one of this gifts they're sure to adore. You can spring for the actual $99 device, or go even further and pay for the full year subscription, which is $9.99 a month. Stadia is definitely a blast, letting your pal play games anywhere they want, is pretty great. The games are fun, well-rendered, hook you quickly, and we had really good experiences in terms of resolution on our TV and frankly our Chrome browser too. The entire set up for Google Stadia is $99 — and that includes one month free access to games, with pricing $9.99 a month after that. This is a fun option for families (especially parents) particularly as a budget entertainment option at home — and a great treat for the holidays.
Helping your best friend clean their house while they're out with you — how is that not the best gift you can give? That's the promise of the yeedi vac 2 pro robot vacuum, a new smart home 2-in-1robot vacuum that is designed to handle both vacuuming and mopping. At $499.99 this is a splurgy gift, we get it. But it's amazing at picking up dirt and dog hair, and other debris. Even more fun? It pairs with Alexa, so your pal can just ask Amazon's smart assistant to start cleaning up even as they walk out the door to meet you.
While earbuds are great for working out and commuting, headphones are your working friend. They typically block out noise more efficiently, and are often a visual signal: I'm working, let me concentrate. The $100 Jabra Elite 45h wireless headphones are perfect — they're small, and covered with a thick memory foam cushion, which makes them comfortable, even after wearing them for hours. They stay linked to two different devices at the same time, and you can even hear your own voice as you speak.
The Sonos Beam's (Gen 2) appeal is for those who lean towards the Sonos brand. There are certainly cheaper sound bars on the market (we've had one.) But what's nice about Sonos if that if you buy one, the next Sonos speaker will work with it as well. You can then build — easily — a surround sound experience. The $449 Sonos Beam (Gen 2) has a nice matte finish, with a cloth covering on the outside, giving it a heavy and substantial feel. Sound is good — full and bright. Dialog is far more clear, bass is bigger, sound is richer, plus you can connect to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. With everyone spending as much time as they are at home, this is a gift any best friend is sure to love.
The $280 Withings ScanWatch is the latest health- and fitness-focused hybrid smartwatch from French technology firm Withings. Ever since its first watch, the Activité, arrived back in 2014, Withings has earned a reputation for selling high-quality hybrid watches that are as smart as they are stylish.
The latest model builds on that reputation, combining an attractive 316L stainless steel case and optional leather straps, with advanced fitness and sleep tracking, plus constant heart rate monitoring, an ECG function, and the ability to measure SpO2. In short it makes for an excellent fitness wearable — and something classy as well. Perfect for your best pal to wear on their next night out with you.
Digital frames allow people to rotate through photographs — many of them, in fact. And today, with social distancing needed for families and friends, being able to see the people we love is even more important than ever. The Aura Carver is a digital frame that not only stores digital images you upload yourself, but allows others to send photographs to the device as well, from wherever they may be. The $149 frame has a chunky, architecturally cool looking back, images are beautifully lit, and the frame itself is clean and well-designed. It's lovely way to keep your best friend close.
For friends who like to cook, we have a great gift idea, The MeatStick. This smart colling device is a Wireless Meat Thermometer that monitors the meat’s internal and ambient temperatures throughout the cook via smartphone app. The MeatStick can help your friend the cook remove the guesswork and achieve perfect meat doneness every time you come over for dinner. We are testing this special smart device and really like how it works.
The MeatStick can take ambient temp up to 572F and internal temp up to 212F and has an unlimited range with your home Wi-Fi network. Its batteries will last for 24+ hours and it works on not only on a grill / smoker, but can be used in sous-vide, deep fryer, air fryer, and be cleaned in a dishwasher.
The MeatStick comes in a variety of sets which are based on the Wi-Fi range. For limited range, The Meatstick set is only $69.99. For 260 ft range, there is the Meatstick X set which costs $99.99, Next is The MeatStick Xtender set which has a range of 300 feet, comes with a Wi-Fi extender and costs also $99.99. Lastly there is the Wi-Fi Bridge set which has unlimited Wi-Fi range and comes with two MeatSticks, a Wi-Fi bridge, charger and Case. This set costs $199.99 and is available on the company website, Amazon and Walmart.
GearBrain
Packed with Tile trackers, the $50 Skullcandy Sesh Evo can make calls, play music and podcasts while you're out running, and they're solid value at just $50, holding a 24-hour charge. Plus they're lightweight, and can slip into a pocket, connecting to your pal's iOS or Android device via Bluetooth, and also connect to Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri. You can also pick them up in mint green, red, black and a sky blue, with a color option sure to appeal to one of your friends.
All parents should have a smart air purifier, especially for the family room. A good smart air purifier to consider is Afloia Smart Air Purifier. We recently tested this smart air purifier and really liked how it kept our large family’s air clean. It comes with a H13 True HEPA filter and can easily keep the air clean in rooms up to 1,500 square feet. It has a 4-stage purification system which filters out 99.9% of particles as small as 0.3 microns in the air. The Afloia smart air purifier works with Amazon Alexa enabled devices and has a UV lamp. It costs $219.99 and is available on Amazon.
Apple Watch SE comes with Family Set feature which allows one iPhone to connect to multiple Apple Watches.
Apple
Apple Watch SE (Gen 2)
Apple just dropped the newest batch of Apple Watches which include both the Apple Watch 8 and the Apple Watch SE (Gen 2). This second generation device is an excellent wearable, able to access almost all of the Watch apps, basic health and exercise features. The GPS + Cellular watch is also colorful, in options from gold to silver and space gray and endless bands, and it's even water resistant up to 50 meters. New features include Crash Detection, Family Set and a bigger display size. The Apple Watch SE 2nd Gen is 30% larger than the Apple Watch 3 — all just $249.
Check out The GearBrain, our product finder for smart and connected devices . It can help you find, buy and manage your smart devices like smartwatches. It can also help you find products that work with your devices as well as other smart devices and voice platforms like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa enabled devices.
How to Find Products in The GearBrain, Our Compatibility Find Engine for Smart Deviceswww.youtube.com
GearBrain Compatibility Find Engine
A pioneering recommendation platform where you can research, discover, buy, and learn how to connect and optimize smart devices.
Join our community! Ask and answer questions about smart devices and save yours in My Gear.