Chinavasion Top 10 Gadgets Of 2010 Part 1

How was 2010 for you? As we approach the Christmas and New Year holiday season it’s time to look back and get a little misty-eyed over some of this year’s 10 best gadgets on the market and at Chinavasion.

Settle down in front of the fire with a glass of mulled wine and let’s look back at which gadgets have been hot this year and how Chinavasion have continually been there with finger on the gadget pulse. You might even find a perfect gadget for yourself that you’d missed first time round!

Read part 2 of the blog here.

Read on for part 1:

Mobile Phones

The big news this year? It has to be Apple’s newest fanboy-fodder, the iPhone 4. These were always going to take the world by storm, need I say more? Great OS, great screen and, since they installed the nets at Foxconn, you can buy them secure in the knowledge that less blood is on your hands too!

Or you could go a different way, the Android way…

Chinavasion Star Phone Of 2010 – The Excalibur

If you haven’t noticed, we love the little green Droid here at Chinavasion and we’ve been releasing cheaper and cheaper unlocked Android phones all year!

For me I have to go for the Excalibur, as this is one of the only phones on the market that give you a pure Android experience. No 3rd party spin. No branded bloatware. Just Android OS the way it was meant to be.

Despite it being a very cheap unlocked phone at about US$350, it’s possible to root it and even install the latest 2.2 version of Android if you’ve got the time and compulsion. Let me put it into perspective. To get a similar user experience you’d need to buy the Google Nexus S phone (made by Samsung) which costs about US$670. That’s twice as much!

 

Tablet

Predictably hot on the heels of the iPhone4 is the iPad. Yeah, I get it, we all want browsing on the go and tablets fulfill that need better than any other gadget. Who wouldn’t like to watch Youtube videos on the train, or check in to FB from the coffee shop?

I have used an iPad and it is a lovely screen. I’m not surprised that they are popping up in everyone’s hands these days. In my opinion they are an unwieldy beast due to their large size. I’m also unsure about how portable they really are.

Chinavasion Star Tablet Of 2010 – 7 Inch Android Tablet with WiFi and Camera

So if you’re looking for a tablet that won’t give you eye-strain, yet is small enough to be handy and not scare small children, this is the daddy! Best of all it’s got Android OS, so say hello to multitasking and plentiful apps!

So it does everything the iPad does, and more, yet it’s still less than US$100. That’s why it’s this year’s star!

 

Memory / Storage

2010 has been the year that SSD (solid state drives) have become fairly widespread. They are large drives of solid memory, not spinning hard-drives. Before these, people could get smaller SD cards, but they have a low capacity. SSD’s can hold anywhere up to around perhaps around 120GB. This may sound low, but they are incredibly fast in comparison with traditional HDD’s.

Only problem is…the price. They’re still quite expensive, and you could pay around US$130 for only 40GB!

Chinavasion Star Memory Of 2010 – Portable External Hard Drive (500GB, Silver, PC and Mac)

If you need beefier memory, but good value, then this 500GB HDD is perfect! Don’t think it’s really big and fat like HDD’s of the past, it’s small, sleek and chrome. I think for such a large capacity this drive is really compact at just 2.5″!

It doesn’t have the price issue of the SSD’s either, with a teeny price tag of around US$70!

 

Camera

This year we’ve seen professional standard DSLR cameras take quality to the next level, with cameras being released that can get good shots in pretty much any light condition.

It’s not about megapixels, maybe never was! It’s about the camera’s ability to gather in its environment’s light which is all-important for getting good, clear shots.

The Nikon D3S and the Canon 1D Mark IV are the chief perpetrators of this awesomeness and are available to you at somewhere around US$5000.

Chinavasion Star Camera Of 2010 – 8MP Digital Camera with 3 Inch LCD Touch Panel

Ok, it’s probably not quite as good in the dark as the Canon and Nikon cameras above, but to be fair, this handy, pocket-sized camera features an 8MP sensor, face detection, 3″ touch screen and 5x digital and 3x optical zoom!

At around US$4,850 LESS than the Canon and Nikon, you’ll also have enough cash left over to buy a car to carry yourself and your new camera too!

 

Sports Camera

With the proliferation of X sports and loads of people choosing to start biking as fuel costs rise, it has been unsurprising to see sports cameras, like helmet cams, getting more popular.

This year these sports cameras have started coming out with HD quality recording. This is pretty cool, especially given that you can capture some stunning scenery when mountain-biking etc!

Big name brands like GoPro and Contour are the ones you’ll see on the high street and you’re looking at 720p HD footage minimum, but their price is prohibitive at around US$200 to $300; especially as they can be damaged, lost or destroyed.

Chinavasion Star Sports Camera Of 2010 – Waterproof Sports Action Camera – (50FPS)

If you can’t accept such a high price, then you’ll love this Waterproof Sports Action Camera – (50FPS) which can be used in any environment and comes with a variety of mounts so it’s useful for any sports from running, to biking, to paragliding!

It uses AA batteries and an SD card too, so if you’re out in the wild you just need to pop in some spares. It’s also only US$50, so it’s an ideal gift, or can be purchased for the most aggressive of sports as you needn’t fear bashing it!

 

Do you agree with these picks or are there other Chinavasion stars of 2010 in your opinion? Feel free to leave a comment after this blog and tell us, and don’t forget to look out for part 2 of this blog!

Read part 2 of the blog here.