Over the last several years, we have adopted the tradition of making a gift to our readers by sharing our insights on the best technology gifts. We have excerpted this guide from a larger and more comprehensive version published in the November-December 2024 issue of GP Solo Magazine. We refer you to that guide for more information and additional gift options.
The iPhone 16 is the basic unit at the top of Apple’s new phone line. It comes in two screen sizes, 6.1” and the Plus at 6.7”. The Pro versions add additional features and boost the price. Differences between the 16 Pro and Pro Max primarily relate to the size of the device and its screen, camera features, and battery size. You can find a detailed chart comparing the models of the iPhone 16 family on Apple’s website.
On the Android side, Consider the Google Pixel 9 ($799) and Pixel 9 Pro ($999), two of the hottest Android smartphones of 2024. The Pixel 9 boasts a 6.1” OLED display, while the Pixel 9 Pro shines with a larger 6.7” OLED display. Both phones are powered by the Google Tensor G2 processor, ensuring top-notch performance. The Pixel 9, with its 12GB of RAM and storage options of 128GB ($799) or 256GB ($899), is a solid choice. However, for those who crave more, the Pixel 9 Pro steps it up with 16GB of RAM and storage choices of 128GB ($999), 256GB ($1,099), 512GB ($1,219), or 1TB ($1,449).
The Samsung Galaxy S24 stands out with significant updates from the Galaxy S23. Check out the 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This provides a smooth and vibrant visual experience. Like the Pixel line-up, this smartphone is powered by the Google Tensor G4 chipset, ensuring top performance and efficiency. With 8GB of RAM and storage options of 128GB ($799.99) and 256GB ($859.99), its memory is not as strong as the Pixel 9 at the same price point. Samsung upgraded the camera system to include a triple-camera setup with a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 48MP telephoto lens. This lines up with the Pixel 9 Pro, so if you are a camera enthusiast, you might like an advanced camera at a lower price point. Additionally, the 5000mAh battery supports both fast and wireless charging, ensuring long-lasting usage.
Apple has dominated the tablet market since it introduced the iPad. Once again, Samsung provides Apple with the most robust competition for pure tablets. However, Apple remains the runaway leader.
For years, we have preferred the iPad Pro ($999) for both work and personal use. The newest iterations of the iPad Pro offer the most powerful iPad and the best collection of features yet. The latest features, however, are primarily to the benefit of graphics and graphic artists. While we love the Pro and would not mind having it, we consider the iPad Air ($599) with the M2 chip the best value of the iPads for personal and professional use (unless you are a graphic artist). The only downside we can find is its memory cap of 1TB compared to the 2TB available on the iPad Pro. Unless you need the second terabyte, you will find the current iteration of the iPad Air with 1 TB of memory and the M2 processor an excellent choice for work and personal use, and we recommend that to you.
POV Cameras have become quite the thing over the last several years. You can often see people wearing a POV camera while engaging in many different activities. We have seen tourists with POV cameras strapped to their heads or posted out in front of them as they tour various venues worldwide, recording the entire trip for them. The POV camera records video of whatever you put in front of it. Since they first hit the market, the quality has improved, and while still not our first choice for high-quality video, some of the POV cameras do pretty well and produce highly satisfactory video footage with minimal effort. We find them particularly useful for travel and an adventure with children or grandchildren.
The GoPro HERO13 Black ($399.99) represents our first choice for a POV camera. The HERO13 Black, released earlier this year, shoots 27 MP stills and 5.3k video. The camera has an advanced video stabilization system and is waterproof to more than 30 feet. The Hero 13 represents a significant upgrade due to Go Pro’s introduction of a new lens and filter system called the HB Series. If you use HB lenses, the Hero 13 can automatically detect the lens or filter you are using and adjust to it.
Many accessories from GoPro and third parties will help you take action videos while holding or wearing the camera. You can see the entire list of GoPro accessories online. You can find compatible third-party accessories at most camera stores and online.
Many people have started creating content for their use, their websites, social media postings, and other reasons. We have seen them using various camera equipment, including smartphones, tablets, dedicated video cameras, and even POV cameras like the Go Pro, to record their efforts.
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3, Vlogging Camera with 1” CMOS & 4K/120fps Video, 3-Axis Stabilization, Fast Focusing, Face/Object Tracking, and 2” Rotatable Touchscreen ($519) greatly impressed us for this and other uses. DJI introduced the Osmo Pocket series to fill a niche for compact, stabilized cameras that users could operate with one hand while delivering high-quality video. DJI has continuously refined its hardware and software to meet the demands of modern content creators, making the Pocket 3 a serious contender for anyone looking to shoot high-quality footage on the go. Its portability and versatility allow it to be used in various scenarios, from casual vlogging and travel videos to more professional content like interviews, action shots, and cinematic sequences.
The perfect blend of practicality and luxury. This year’s models take immersive sound to a new level, with innovations like 360-degree spatial audio and Dolby Atmos becoming standard features. The trend toward compact, space-saving designs, like Samsung’s Music Frame, lets you enjoy powerful sound without sacrificing style or space. Additionally, intelligent technology integrations allow speakers to sync seamlessly with smart home systems.
The Samsung Music Frame (on sale for $299.99) makes a standout gift, combining high-quality sound with a sleek, space-saving aesthetic. This innovative speaker is disguised as a customizable 8” x8” or 8” x10” picture frame, allowing users to display their favorite artwork while enjoying the immersive sound. It packs a punch with Dolby Atmos support and incorporates two woofers, two tweeters, and two mid-range drivers for balanced sound across a range of frequencies.
Bose is a renowned name in the audio world, celebrated for its commitment to high-quality sound and sleek design, making it a go-to brand for home entertainment enthusiasts. Known for delivering premium audio experiences, Bose’s products are engineered for both aesthetic appeal and acoustic excellence.
One of Bose’s latest offerings is the SoundLink Home Bluetooth Speaker ($219). This compact, wireless speaker boasts Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, a sleek brushed metal and fabric design, and up to 9 hours of battery life. It is available in light Silver or a darker cool gray. It also features USB-C connectivity, making it easy to use with various devices. Its ability to connect with another SoundLink Home speaker for stereo sound adds to its versatility.
For those seeking a more immersive home theater experience, the Bose Soundbar 900 (currently on sale for $599) is a top pick. With Dolby Atmos and Digital Theater System (DTS) technology, this soundbar delivers realistic, cinematic sound thanks to its up-firing and side-firing speakers. It also features built-in voice control, making it easy to operate without lifting a finger. This soundbar is perfect for movie buffs or anyone who enjoys high-quality audio for both music and TV, making it an excellent gift for families or tech enthusiasts who want to upgrade their home entertainment system.
Give your loved one the gift of high-quality sound to go with the hottest portable speakers of 2024. This year’s models don’t just sound great—they’re built to last, with durable, waterproof designs perfect for outdoor adventures. Technology has also leaped forward, with Bluetooth 5.3 offering better connections and multi-room pairing, allowing you to create your portable sound system. Whether for a beach trip or a backyard party, these speakers deliver high-quality sound wherever you go, making them an ideal gift for anyone on the move.
The Bose SoundLink Max ($399) is an ideal gift for those who love powerful, high-quality sound in a portable package. This speaker delivers rich stereo audio with Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, ensuring a stable wireless connection up to 30 feet. It’s also equipped with IP67 water and dust resistance. The SoundLink Max boasts up to 12 hours of battery life.
The Bose SoundLink Revolve+ (Series II) ($299) stands out for its 360-degree sound, delivering deep, powerful audio in every direction. This speaker is ideal for gatherings where people are spread out.
Bose SoundLink Flex Gen 2 ($149) is one of the portable speakers we like the most. Its diminutive size makes it easy to carry in your backpack or bag, yet it produces an impressive, engineered sound typical of the Bose sound profile. The Flex sports an IP67 rating, so take it with you to the beach, or a pool, or even for a walk in the rain.
Regarding earphones, we have a strong partiality to the second generation of the Apple AirPods Pro 2 ($249), the Bose QuietComfort Ultra ($299), and the Ultra Open ($299). Note that the Ultra Open does not go inside the ear. It sits just outside the ear canal, making it much more comfortable than the inside-the-ear variety. The open-ear design of the Ultra Open keeps you better connected to the outside world as it does not block out most of the sounds around you. These all have noise-cancellation features and produce excellent sound quality for streaming music. They will also work with Zoom and with your telephone. If you have moderate or less hearing loss, be aware that Apple has announced that later this year, it will release a software/firmware upgrade to its top-of-the-line earbuds that will enable them to function as over-the-counter hearing devices and mitigate that hearing loss. That feature alone might prove the inducement to get the Apple devices.
Our favorite headphones include Apple’s AirPods Max ($549), Shure AONIC 50 Gen 2 ($349), Bose QuietComfort Ultra ($429), and Sony WH-1000XM5 ($399.99). Each of these headphones has excellent noise-cancellation and built-in microphones to allow you to use them for Zoom or telephone calls and music streaming. All produce excellent to superior sound. We have listed them in the order of our sound preference.
For those of you who want to maximize contact with the outside world while listening to your earphones or have hearing impairments, consider bone-conduction headphones. These devices fit around the ears but remain open, so they do not diminish ambient noise. They transmit sound by sending vibrations to your skull. They work well, although we have never found one that generates sound as good as the better traditional earphones and headphones we tried. To go this way, check out the AfterShokz OpenRun Pro ($159.95).
Far more than fitness trackers, Apple Watches have become the bar that fitness trackers aim to reach. Apple has three models of its watches (the new Series 10, the Ultra 2, and the SE). You can get a detailed comparison of each model on the Apple site.
Apple has labeled the Series 10 the thinnest Apple watch with the largest display. Internally, all versions of the 10 have the same power and features. All differences are cosmetic (although perhaps the different case materials go beyond just cosmetics). You can choose between an aluminum case (jet black, silver, or rose gold) and a titanium case (slate, gold, and natural). The stronger titanium case costs more than the aluminum. The display comes in 42mm and 46mm sizes. Aluminum cases with a 42mm display and GPS only start at $399. Titanium cases with 42mm display and GPS = Cellular start at $699. The final price depends on the feature choices you make. You can get pricing for the build you want on the Apple website.
All versions of the Series 10 run the S10 SiP with 64-bit dual-core processors, a 4-core neural engine, and 64GB of memory.
Apple introduced a somewhat different watch genre in the Ultra, which it upgraded to the Ultra 2 last year. This year, Apple offered no upgrade to the Ultra 2 but added new colors. The Ultra provides additional features but primarily differentiates itself from the other Apple watches by its ruggedness. The Ultra starts at $799, is larger (49mm display), and is heavier than the Series 10 watches. You can get the case in your choice of materials, provided you choose titanium. It has all the features of the Series 10, plus a battery that lasts twice as long, water resistance to 100 meters, a depth gauge, and a water temperature sensor. It has dual-frequency GPS for more accurate location recordation. Its special night mode turns the face red. The Ultra 2 runs on the S9 SiP, so the newer processor is where the Series 10 comes out on top in technical specifications.
The Oura Ring ($349) is known for its focus on sleep tracking and overall wellness monitoring. It offers heart rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen level tracking features, making it ideal for users who prioritize sleep and recovery insights. The ring is simple to use, syncing data seamlessly with the Oura app, which provides daily readiness scores and insights into how lifestyle habits affect overall health. Aesthetically, the Oura Ring has a sleek, minimalist design in silver ($349), black ($349), stealth ($399), brushed silver ($399), rose gold ($499), and rose gold ($499), appealing to those who want a sophisticated yet understated wearable ring.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring ($399.99) emphasizes AI-powered sleep tracking and daily energy insights. It assigns users a “sleep animal” or chronotype based on their sleep patterns, providing actionable advice to improve rest. Fitbit users may find this eerily familiar since the premium app also uses sleep animal assignments to provide insights into sleep patterns. Unlike Fitbit, the Galaxy Ring uses AI to assign users a “sleep animal” or chronotype based on their sleep behaviors, offering personalized advice to improve rest. It’s focused on real-time energy and sleep scores. While the Galaxy Ring doesn’t offer extensive workout tracking beyond steps and runs, it provides deep insights into sleep and energy levels, making it a good option for those focused on improving their daily routines. Its discreet, unisex design comes in titanium, black, gold, or silver.
The Amazfit Helio Smart Ring ($199.99) is a rising competitor, targeting users with a broader range of health metrics, including detailed sleep tracking, readiness scoring, and activity monitoring. What sets the Amazfit Helio apart is its affordability compared to the Oura and Samsung rings. It provides a user-friendly experience with long battery life and seamless app integration for tracking metrics like heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Aesthetically, it has a simple yet modern design, though it only comes in one color choice: a soft gold color.
For those who want a pet but cannot or just don’t want to deal with cleaning up after it, feeding it, or training it, we have had robotic pets with some level of artificial intelligence for some time. Until recently, those offerings have been basic (check out what Amazon has available). Recent advances in artificial intelligence have resulted in some newer and updated man-made pets at reasonable prices. None currently available will feel as warm and cuddly as a natural dog or cat. None will likely attach themselves to your heart like a natural live dog or cat, but none will mess in your house, steal your socks, chew up your shoelaces, chew up your shoes, chew on table legs, scratch holes in walls, dig holes in gardens or run up significant vet bills if they get sick. But they are little computers and quite bright. Some can already look information up online for you, talk to you, translate foreign languages for you, play games with you, and more. Oh yes, they can also do tricks and dance around excitedly when you interact with them, similar behaviors to a live dog.
Our favorite in this category goes by the name Loona. Loona will cost you $449.10 at Amazon. The newest iteration of Loona works with Chat GPT-4o. Its features include voice commands and gesture recognition. Loona can play games, interact with children in an educational environment, and serve as a video monitor on your live pets and house when you are out. With time to learn the layout, Loona can easily navigate your home or office and avoid obstacles. Ads for Loona position it as an excellent gift for kids, but adults will also get some enjoyment and use from Loona.
You might also want to check out the Tombot robotic puppy (it may be sold out). It remains unclear when or if more will become available and at what price. We have monitored the Tombot for the last year and listened with interest when the company said it wanted to lower the cost and make it available to more people. The current plans include increasing the price by around $1000, which will be explained away by new features, improved interfaces, etc. The company has not announced a release date, but it recently sent out a survey trying to determine the likelihood of getting people to pay for the Tombot long before the promised delivery date. We don’t know how that survey turned out, but the fact that the company is considering such an approach causes us to be concerned about its financial condition. If they ever release a new version, know that of all the man-made pets we have seen, this one looks the most lifelike. She is positioned to appear as a golden retriever puppy named Jennie; in the pictures we have seen, she looks the part. We hope they make it work and release a version that is as good as they claim she will be. They position Jennie as a pet for seniors, but she will work just as well for younger adults and children. They claim she will help alleviate depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress. We don’t question the validity of those claims as it is well-established that live pets can do that and more.
Flying a drone can be fun for all ages, even more so when those drones have cameras that allow you to take beautiful photos or videos in the sky. If you are looking for a great beginner drone, check out the DJI Mini 2 ultralight, folding quadcopter ($369.00). It has a 12MP camera mounted to a three-axis gimbal that shoots 4K HD. You can get around 30 minutes of flight time with a fully charged battery. The Mini 2 is a great entry-level drone for beginners to learn the art of drone flying. Still, more serious drone photographers will want to upgrade to better-equipped models like the Mini 3 DJI RC ($549) with a 4k UHD camera and longer flight times. If you want to get a good quality drone for a youngster (not too young), look at the DJI Neo Mini Drone ($199). Check out the DJI website to explore the full line and compare the features of the various models.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
