Having covered numbers 5, 4 and 3 on the top 5 gadgets in my earlier post (read it here), time to move on to the top 2 gadgets you should gift yourself in 2015. Hopefully no major surprises here.
2. A Streaming Media Player
The Why: Be it Youtube, Vimeo (which has just been banned by the Indian government), iTunes or other legal / illegal sites, streaming services are changing (or have changed) the way we watch TV. While the shift away from cable / TV is yet to make a dent even in the West, the coming years will see more and more people choosing to abandon a cable and depend completely on streaming services (live sports is probably the only area TV trumps streaming, and that's not changing soon). Till that judgement day arrives, your cable subscription will have to co-exist with the likes of Youtube. Enter media players which can handle streaming media and plug in to your TV's HDMI port, so that you can have the best of both worlds, watch Youtube AND shift to cable just in time for that 2 year old repeat of The Big Bang Theory. And it need not be limited to just streaming media. Apps like Plex, LocalCast and Beamer (for Apple TV) make it (somewhat) easy to stream local media (like saved movies / other videos) as well to the TV.
My Choice: I wrote an entire post on the Chromecast, so I don't think I need to repeat myself. In the tangled world of streaming media players from the likes of Google (Chromecast and Nexus Player), Amazon (Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick), Apple TV and Roku, Chromecast is my pick if you don't want to spend too much and still want to get on to the streaming bandwagon. Of course, if your world revolves around iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, the boring but effective Apple TV would be your go-to device. If you prefer the underdog (in this space), then throw your lot in with Amazon (Fire TV is not yet available in India) and if you absolutely hate the big tech companies, then Roku (pick one of its multiple offerings) is the one for you.
This raft of offerings might just be the tip of the iceberg in what promises to be a fight for your living room. All the major tech giants have thrown their hats in the ring, even Microsoft and Sony with their Xbox and Playstations. With such heady competition, 2015 might just be the year when things get even more exciting in this area.
1. The Top Pick - A Tablet
The Why: This question would have been so difficult to answer 3 years back when I first got my iPad 2. Since then, the iPad has become our go-to device for almost everything, be it watching videos, reading books and magazines (with the excellent and cost effective Magzter app), playing games, browsing the web, reading emails and even drawing, and all this on a device with still gets me close to 10 hours of battery life. The iPad has changed how we consume content and fight boredom. Which is why the question of why you should get a tablet is no longer relevant.
My Choice: The bigger question is, in a field so keenly contested, which tablet do you choose? The cheaper Nexus / Android tablets or the more costly iOS counterparts? For me, it has to be the iPad Air 2. Don't get me wrong, I love Android. I would bite my hand off before I would recommend an iPhone over an Android device, but in the world of tablets, Apple has Google beat (in quality, not market share). The sheer beauty and elegance of the iPad design, the simplicity of the software and the mind-boggling number of tablet optimized apps in App Store just blow its Android competition away.
If you are in the mood for something cheaper than the Air 2, the iPad Air is still worth considering even though it's a year older (it's Rs. 7,000 cheaper). If a 10-inch tablet is too big for your needs, the iPad Mini 2 (the iPad Mini 3 is just not worth the upgrade) starting at Rs.21,900 should be your first choice. If you do want to get an Android tablet (and they have improved leaps and bounds since the early days), your best option still remains the excellent and cheap Nexus 7 (2013).
The Bonus
This was supposed to be a list of 5 gadgets, but I just realized that devices 2 and 3 on my list both require an HD output. And that posed a problem in 2013 when it hit me that my 3 year old TV has just one HDMI input and I needed to plug in both the Tata Sky HD Plus and the Chromecast. After a bit of research, I stumbled on to this - HDMI Switcher Splitter (essentially a switching device which allows you to pick which of the 3 inputs you want to show on the TV). Available for around Rs.500, it has served me well since (not to mention the money saved from not buying a new TV). Yes, I do have to occasionally get up to switch from one input to the other but if don't feel like making even that effort, there are also a number of remote controlled options available on Ebay. Lo and behold, your TV has just sprouted extra HDMI ports.
So there you have it, my list of top 5 (plus one) gadgets you should splurge on in the new year (oh, by the way, happy new year to all!!!) Let me know which of these you already have and if you found this helpful.
2. A Streaming Media Player
The Why: Be it Youtube, Vimeo (which has just been banned by the Indian government), iTunes or other legal / illegal sites, streaming services are changing (or have changed) the way we watch TV. While the shift away from cable / TV is yet to make a dent even in the West, the coming years will see more and more people choosing to abandon a cable and depend completely on streaming services (live sports is probably the only area TV trumps streaming, and that's not changing soon). Till that judgement day arrives, your cable subscription will have to co-exist with the likes of Youtube. Enter media players which can handle streaming media and plug in to your TV's HDMI port, so that you can have the best of both worlds, watch Youtube AND shift to cable just in time for that 2 year old repeat of The Big Bang Theory. And it need not be limited to just streaming media. Apps like Plex, LocalCast and Beamer (for Apple TV) make it (somewhat) easy to stream local media (like saved movies / other videos) as well to the TV.
My Choice: I wrote an entire post on the Chromecast, so I don't think I need to repeat myself. In the tangled world of streaming media players from the likes of Google (Chromecast and Nexus Player), Amazon (Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick), Apple TV and Roku, Chromecast is my pick if you don't want to spend too much and still want to get on to the streaming bandwagon. Of course, if your world revolves around iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, the boring but effective Apple TV would be your go-to device. If you prefer the underdog (in this space), then throw your lot in with Amazon (Fire TV is not yet available in India) and if you absolutely hate the big tech companies, then Roku (pick one of its multiple offerings) is the one for you.
This raft of offerings might just be the tip of the iceberg in what promises to be a fight for your living room. All the major tech giants have thrown their hats in the ring, even Microsoft and Sony with their Xbox and Playstations. With such heady competition, 2015 might just be the year when things get even more exciting in this area.
1. The Top Pick - A Tablet
The Why: This question would have been so difficult to answer 3 years back when I first got my iPad 2. Since then, the iPad has become our go-to device for almost everything, be it watching videos, reading books and magazines (with the excellent and cost effective Magzter app), playing games, browsing the web, reading emails and even drawing, and all this on a device with still gets me close to 10 hours of battery life. The iPad has changed how we consume content and fight boredom. Which is why the question of why you should get a tablet is no longer relevant.
My Choice: The bigger question is, in a field so keenly contested, which tablet do you choose? The cheaper Nexus / Android tablets or the more costly iOS counterparts? For me, it has to be the iPad Air 2. Don't get me wrong, I love Android. I would bite my hand off before I would recommend an iPhone over an Android device, but in the world of tablets, Apple has Google beat (in quality, not market share). The sheer beauty and elegance of the iPad design, the simplicity of the software and the mind-boggling number of tablet optimized apps in App Store just blow its Android competition away.
If you are in the mood for something cheaper than the Air 2, the iPad Air is still worth considering even though it's a year older (it's Rs. 7,000 cheaper). If a 10-inch tablet is too big for your needs, the iPad Mini 2 (the iPad Mini 3 is just not worth the upgrade) starting at Rs.21,900 should be your first choice. If you do want to get an Android tablet (and they have improved leaps and bounds since the early days), your best option still remains the excellent and cheap Nexus 7 (2013).
The Bonus
This was supposed to be a list of 5 gadgets, but I just realized that devices 2 and 3 on my list both require an HD output. And that posed a problem in 2013 when it hit me that my 3 year old TV has just one HDMI input and I needed to plug in both the Tata Sky HD Plus and the Chromecast. After a bit of research, I stumbled on to this - HDMI Switcher Splitter (essentially a switching device which allows you to pick which of the 3 inputs you want to show on the TV). Available for around Rs.500, it has served me well since (not to mention the money saved from not buying a new TV). Yes, I do have to occasionally get up to switch from one input to the other but if don't feel like making even that effort, there are also a number of remote controlled options available on Ebay. Lo and behold, your TV has just sprouted extra HDMI ports. So there you have it, my list of top 5 (plus one) gadgets you should splurge on in the new year (oh, by the way, happy new year to all!!!) Let me know which of these you already have and if you found this helpful.
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