We continue with our end of the year specials and we do it with a new one that we have taken out of our sleeve, but that is well recognizable: the best gadgets of 2022. We are talking about electronic gadgets, yes, but just in case…
What exactly do we mean by ‘gadget’? According to the introduction that can be read on Wikipedia, “a gadget is a device that has a specific purpose and function, generally small, practical and innovative at the same time.” And what is a “device”. Well, according to the closest meaning of the RAE, it is a “mechanism or artifice to produce a planned action.” In other words, a gadget can be an electrical appliance, a peripheral, a complement, a toy… any technological gadget, any independent piece of hardware will work for us.
The best gadgets of 2022, according to MC
With the previous hodgepodge of concepts in mind, that is, with the freedom to choose what we want, it is how we have made the following list with the best gadgets of 2022. And yes, there is a bit of everything.
Apple TV 4K 2022
- Category: media player
- You can buy it on Amazon
- Recommended by David Salces
This year’s Apple revision to its media player hit the market with a surprise that, to this day, I still have not finished assimilating. And it is that, as we have been telling you in recent months, Apple is revising the prices of both its devices and its services upwards. Some increases are limited, yes, to certain regions, while others are global.
However, in this general trend of rising prices, the small and versatile Apple TV 4K surprised us not by keeping the price compared to the previous version, but by lowering it a few euros, while its storage capacity has doubled. .
Thus, compared to 199 euros and 219 euros for the 32 and 64 gigabyte versions, now we will have to pay 169 euros or 189 euros for the 64 and 128 gigabyte versions, respectively. There is only one “but”, and that is that the 64 gig version does not have an ethernet port, so its connectivity is exclusively wireless.
As a user of Apple TV for years, I am aware of its limitations, notably the lack of a web browser, and it is increasingly clear to me that Apple should end that limitation as soon as possible. However, both because of its integration with the Apple ecosystem and, above all, because of its extreme simplicity of use, I still think that it is an excellent optionand now more than ever, with this unexpected but more than welcome price drop.
8BitDo Ultimate
- Category: Gaming Peripherals
- You can buy it on Amazon
- Recommended by J. Pomeyrol
This year I have bought a few ‘gadgets’, various gadgets of very different kinds and prices and I am quite happy with almost everything. Also with 8BitDo Ultimate (the Bluetooth model, not the basic one), one of my latest acquisitions and the one that I have chosen to recommend here because… something had to be put in and this seems interesting to me.
Namely: I was looking for a controller both to play on Nintendo Switchwhere the miserable drift of the Joy-Con makes me sick, and on PC, where my old console controls and the Steam Controller have become outdated. And although my first impulse was to go for the Nintendo Pro Controller, I quickly put it out of my head because the drift problem, without reaching the level of the Joy-Con, is a fact.
Of the available options, after searching, reviewing and letting myself be advised by my buddy Eduardo Medina, among others, I opted for the new 8BitDo Ultimate Controller, the latest from this Chinese brand specialized in game controllers that you can learn more about by reading the linked article, Because I’m not going to go into much detail.
In summary, the 8BitDo Ultimate seems to me a great choice for its design and ergonomics -if you don’t like that, we’re off to a bad start- and, of course, because it works great both for playing on Nintendo Switch, even when it does without compatibility, for example, Rumble HD, and for playing on PC, that is, Windows or Linux. The latter is an essential factor for me, because it is where I play the most.
In fact, contrary to official indications, I use it on Nintendo Switch with the 2.4Ghz spike and on PC via Bluetooth, since that’s the only way it is linux-compatible. But it works perfectly and prevents me from pairing when I change platforms. The autonomy is going quite well and the charging dock that it includes is not only practical, but also aesthetic.
The only drawback that I would get is the software that accompanies the product, since it is a bit green, it only works on Windows or Android, depending on the purpose and the experience could be more polished. Yes, it is a recent command and over time that support will improve, but they have released it like this and it must be said. However, it makes up for it with everything else and I haven’t had the need to delve into its advanced features either.
Still more in summary: the 8BitDo Ultimate is my new controller to play and in addition to standing out in almost all the sections above the average, it guarantees me -at least on paper- not to suffer that derivation again (note: due to the technology it uses to avoid drift, it can have it if the battery is very low) horrible than the one suffered by Nintendo controls.
Nothing Ear (Stick)
Nothing recently presented its new Nothing Ear (stick) headphones, I had the chance to try them out for a few days, about which I published an analysis and with which I was delighted.
The Nothing Ear in stick format are the new generation of headphones from the Nothing brand, which continue to twist design concepts to make a difference from the competition.
They include a cover that you will not see in other headphones, comfortable to open and difficult to open by mistake in your bag, it fits in a toiletry bag or in a pocket. Plus the headphones they are very comfortables if you are not passionate about those that are inserted into the ear.
You can control what we are listening to from the earphone poles, but it does not do so with pressure sensors, passing your finger over the ear, but the buttons themselves are on the earphone poles so it is much easier to control and reduce mistakes.
The Ear (stick) last all day thanks to the charge of the case. Up to 7 hours of autonomy with the headphones, while the case has another 22 hours of battery life. For a fast charge, it only takes 10 minutes.
Orange Pi 5
- Category: SBC
- You can buy it on Amazon
- Recommended by Juan Ranchal
Raspberry Pi celebrated its tenth anniversary this year with overwhelming success, which has made it the sales leader in the category of single-board mini-computers or SBCs. Although the initial aim of the British non-profit foundation of the same name was to stimulate the teaching of computer science in schools, its low cost and enormous flexibility of use have made it tremendously popular in a number of other segments, including development, IT or any other.
Its great success invited several Chinese integrators to enter a market segment that they handle like no other. Logical considering that most components are manufactured in that country. Shenzhen Xunlong, the company behind the Orange Pi developments and which has ‘cool’ products on the market such as the complete PC included in a keyboard (Pi 800) announced a new SBC board, surely the most powerful of those it has produced to date and that’s why we highlight it.
This is largely due to the ARM Rockchip RK3588S processor that acts as the main engine. It is an octa-core SoC (four 2.4GHz ARM Cortex-A76 cores and four 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 cores), Mali-G610 MP4 graphics, and a neural processing unit (NPU) for AI. Its memory capacity is four times the maximum of a Raspberry Pi 4 and can reach up to 32 Gbytes LPDDRx4. Its connectivity is also superior, with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, support for microSD memory cards and a good number of ports, USB, HDMI, Ethernet LAN and those for audio.
For what do you use it? Like the Raspberry Pi, you can use this Orange Pi 5 in a lot of projects: for programming, as a multimedia center, as a base to create basic PCs, as an anonymous router for TOR, for gaming machines, as a tablet, as a universal translator, such as minimal size arcades, and a very long etc, in which a multitude of enthusiasts of this development work. If you want to experience this SBC it is ideal to do so and along the way you will enjoy it a lot.
Corsair LC100 Lighting Accents
- Category: customization and lighting
- You can buy it on Amazon
- Recommended by Isidro Ros
The Corsair LC100 Lighting Accents represent one of the most important, and most interesting, innovations when it comes to personalizing our PC. They are very easy to use, they have a magnetic fixing system that simplifies the user experienceboth to join each triangle and to fix them to the surface where we want to use them, they have a high-quality RGb LED lighting system and integrate perfectly with iCUE.
With the Corsair LC100 Lighting Accents we can create different lighting effects, and we also have the possibility of adding a greater number of triangles to expand a base configuration, or to extend and create new lighting effects in other areas of our chassis. In the end, the possibilities it offers are very interesting, and the installation and configuration process is very affordable.
The Corsair LC100 Lighting Accents Starter Kit comes with everything we need to start enjoying these luminous triangles, since it brings both the wiring and the Lightning Node Pro, which is the one that allows integration into iCUE. Through this software platform we can access different options to customize the lighting and create different patterns and effects.
An excellent option to give a touch of color and a unique finish to any PC. I plan to use it the next time I update my PC, although I’m still not sure which pattern I’ll adopt.
Tens Beurer EM49
- Category: health
- You can buy it on Amazon
- Recommended by Veronica Cabezudo Rey
Among the geeky gadgets that we can recommend, perhaps this is one of the biggest, but for those who suffer from pain, it may also be one of the most useful.
And it is that the TENS are used for a long time by physiotherapists as another technique against muscle pain and we can say that this model from the Beurer brand has a very good quality/price and, most importantly, it is effective.
Basically it is a device connected to four electrodes that emit stimulation currents. With them it is possible to reduce muscle pain or menstruation thanks to the small massages that are created by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. It has 12 preconfigured programs plus 3 that can be customized and saved.
