Top 10 Gadget Innovations of 2012
Posted by
Nick
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http://www.gizmocrazed.com/2012/12/top-10-gadget-innovations-of-2012/#ixzz2LMGiYYza
The end of 2012, and
maybe the end of life as we know it,
is coming up in less than a month; so this is the perfect time to look
back at the year and reflect on the best it had to offer. Now we give
thought to what the best gadget innovations of the year, with products
from companies like Samsung, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and some new
companies, and in various shapes and sizes. After reviewing the list,
let us know in the comments if you agree with us or if you have found
even more
innovative gadgets from this past year.
10. AR.Drone 2.0
The first AR.Drone was an incredibly fun toy for all ages that could
be controlled by your favorite iDevice and stream video to it as well.
Now Parrot is back with their update to this innovative flying device.
The AR.Drone 2.0 is tougher, faster, and more high-tech than its
predecessor, with 720p HD video recording/live streaming, a faster
processor, and carbon fiber body structure. Go as high as 165 feet with
your new drone for a personal eye in the sky.
Availability:
Parrot’s AR.Drone 2.0 site, also available from Apple and Amazon (
Link)
Price:
$299.95
9. Google Glass
While it is still just a device in development,
Google’s Project Glass
is making strides toward being a legitimate product in the coming
years. This gadget had a high-flying and fast-paced unveiling/demo
during Google I/O 2012 when the audience got a first-person point of
view skydiving from a plane over the convention center and a BMX biker
jumping across the roof and riding through the lobby and finally onto
the stage. Attendees at the
conference got the privilege to purchase one of these developer devices, shipping next year, and see what they can some up with.
Availability:
The Project Glass Google+ Page (
Link)
Price:
$1500 for Google I/O attendees
8. Microsoft Surface RT
Although the Surface hasn’t been selling as much as Microsoft would
prefer, there is no doubting that the Redmond company definitely took a
chance changing the mold for the traditional tablet device (even when
they insist on still calling it a PC). The Surface running Windows RT is
an incredible step forward in the mobile computing industry with it’s
great build quality, a fresh new OS, and the very innovative Touch
Cover, albeit it could be better without the desktop option. The Surface
Pro should be what everyone is really waiting for but we’ll see how
that turns out in 2013.
Availability:
The Microsoft Surface RT site (
Link)
Price:
$499, $599 w/ the Touch Cover
7. Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite
It might not be the first handy, little light-up e-reader on the
market but Amazon has certainly made it worth the wait for their
version. The extensive battery life of up to 8 weeks, all touch
interface with the appropriately-bright light guide, and super light
weight of 7.5 oz, make this e-reader the perfect travel library for all
anytime reading pleasures. The low-cost and 4G option is the push over
the edge that make this the more innovative product.
Availability:
Obviously on Amazon (
Link)
Price:
$119 w/special offers, $139 w/o special offers, and $179 4G option
6. Samsung’s Galaxy Note II
Like the AR.Drone, Samsung first Galaxy Note brought a new type of
product to the mobile market – the phablet. With a minor screen size
upgrade from 5.3 to 5.5-inches, Samsung still has packed quite a bit of
tech into their gigantic smartphone. The 1280×720 resolution, 1.6 GHz
quad-core processor, new S-Pen, and innovative multi-tasking
performance
has certainly made the Note II the king of the phablet monarchy. There
has even been a demonstration of how to use it as your all-in-one
productivity device with a keyboard, mouse, and external display.
Availability:
Samsung’s Galaxy Note II site (
Link)
Price:
$299.99 w/Verizon contract, $655.00 from Amazon unlocked
Lytro is a brand new company and product that is turning the digital
photography business upside-down. It does not measure in megapixels,
rather in light-rays to take in all the light in a photo for an unique
effect later on. Besides the incredibly unique shape/design, the ability
to focus on any item in a picture after taking said picture is
extremely awesome. With their latest update, you can add various live
effects as well, and you can even post interactive pictures to your
various social media sites that allow your friends/followers/subscribers
to focus on various objects and change filters too.
Availability:
Lytro’s Online Store (
Link)
Price:
$399 for 8GB, $499 for 16GB
Nest is a spin-off company started by a variety Apple employees to
create more innovative products for your home. Their remarkable
thermostat doesn’t just control your home’s temperatures but it also
learns your habits as you use it. It will lower your energy use
automatically when you are away, and you can control all your settings
from their web or mobile app while you’re on the go. With a nice
starting product, it should be interesting to see what they can come up
with next.
Availability:
Nest’s Home site (
Link)
Price:
$249 per unit, $119 for the first installation.
3. Karma Mobile Hotspot
This is not only an innovative product but innovative idea and
service. This a mobile hotspot made for sharing and is very flexible
since you can pay as you use it. The more you share your hotspot, the
more free data you receive for your kindness; you usually get 100mb per
extra user on your network. Use this lightweight data device for up to 8
hours and connect up to 8 devices at a time, and coverage is pretty
nice for such a new product.
Availability:
Get Your Karma Now (
Link)
Price:
$79 for the device, $14 per GB per month
2. Pebble E-Paper Smartwatch
As the reigning king of Kickstarter, the Canadian company behind
Pebble started out with a smartwatch for your Blackberry devices and has
moved on to a new device supporting iOS and Android devices. They
raised over $10 million in funding from the now popular crowdfunding
site, and are now set to manufacture 85,000 watches for their backers
and normal consumer pre-orders start in January. This water-resistant,
Bluetooth 4.0 enabled intelligent time device makes receiving all your
notifications and using your smartphone apps so much easier. The
e-paper, much like the e-ink seen on Kindle and Nook devices, display
allows you to see your Pebble while out in the sun, which is a downside
to all other smartwatches.
Availability:
Pre-Order Open Now (
Link)
Price:
$150.00
1. Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro w/ Retina & 27-inch iMac
It wouldn’t be an innovative year without an Apple device appearing
on the “Best of” list, but this year it’s a definite tie between the
resolutionary 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and the incredibly
thin 27-inch iMac. The RMBP is less than an inch thick, weight of 3.5
lbs, resolution of 2560×1600 pixels, and loads of other amazing
features, this is the ultimate portable productivity device for those
looking a little more power than the 13-inch MacBook Air can offer.
Fully stocked you can get up to 8GB of RAM, an Intel i7 dual-core chip
for 2.9 GHz standard, and 768GB flash storage, you can do a lot with
incredible new machine.
The iMac is another story completely; it looks like it went on Atkins or had a
tummy tuck, cause that is one skinny all-in-one desktop. It has a 5mm edge now that it took out the Super Drive and weighs only
21 pounds.
It keeps its 2560-by-1440 resolution and even increased the
backlighting a bit for greater color reproduction. They have also
introduced a new type of storage format knowns as the Fusion Drive,
which fluidly combines the mass of the standard hard-drive with the
speed of flash storage for amazing CPU
performance.
If you want to stock this all the way, you can get: 32GB of RAM, 3.4
GHz quad-core Intel i7, 3TB Fusion Drive, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX
2GB GDDR5; all of this upgrading along with the size can make the iMac a
great competitor for the outdated Mac Pro.
Availability:
Apple Store (
Link)
Price:
Base Price for each: $1,699.00, $1,799.00
Fully Stocked: $3,199.00, $3,349.00
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