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Gadget Countdown 12: Editor’s choice

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19th Dec 2013
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It was a close race with the £200,000 stereo, but the AccountingWEB editorial team had the most fun road-testing the Turbo Drone Quadrocopter, deputy editor Robert Lovell's nomination for 2013 Gadget of the Year. Find out which of them won in this year's Gadget Countdown finale.

Robert Lovell

From when the gadget turned up at Sift HQ for review we were eager to rip open the packaging and get stuck in.

After a cursory glance at the instruction manual is was on to figuring out how to launch the drone into flight by intuition alone.

To our surprise it was far more powerful than we anticipated and had hit the ceiling and bounced all around the room before we even had a chance to run for cover.

Just the shrill noise of the drone is enough to induce panic and get your pulse racing, but when it uncontrollably darts in the direction of your head it’s pretty terrifying.

Once we’d worked out how to safely take off, hover and turn the device, it soon turned into a fight over who was in control. This gadget is really addictive!

For anyone looking for a bit of excitement on Christmas morning, you can’t go far wrong with this little gizmo.

* * *

Nigel Harris

Executive peripherals editor Nigel Harris’s choice for Gadget of the Year would be a nice shiny expresso maching for the office – something like the Francis Francis X1 coffee maker. This is a small scale, but fully workable espresso machine, packed into a stylish retro package with plenty of chrome on view. Way to go, Daddi-O!

“I am getting fed up with instant coffee, maybe Santa will treat me this year!” Nigel pleaded hopefully.

* * *

Philip Fisher

Our theatre-loving, audiophile columnist Philip Fisher nominates the Sony X9 4K Ultra HD television. “It is clearly about 10 steps ahead of anything else on the market. The picture is crystal clear and the sound quality fantastic. At the moment, there isn't too much to watch on it in 4K but that is only a matter of time and upscale Blu-Rays or even TV broadcasts still take the breath away.

It may not quite be 3D but it certainly looks like it and you don't need any of those fiddly glasses.While a price that starts at £3000 depending on screen size might seem steep, until earlier in the year there was nothing on sale for less than about £35,000.

This really is an amazing new innovation in television technology and is little doubt that over the next few years, everybody will want one.

* * *

Rachael Power

Rachael Power has fallen for the Samsung Note 3 phablet, an outstanding representative of the converging capabilities of smartphones and tablets.

"I am a little bit in love with it," she said. It may not fit neatly into the palm of your hand for use as a phone, but you can cope with its awkward size and £680 price tag, Samsung looks to have a winner on its hands.

* * *

John Stokdyk

AccountingWEB editor John Stokdyk confesses to being something of a late adopter when it comes to consumer gadgetry. Hearing tales his Betamax video recorder or 8-track car stereo might explain why.

He was an iPad sceptic until earlier this year, when his bosses got him to start using one to help steer tablet-based developments on the site in the next year or so. “I recoiled when I saw the first picture of Steve Jobs with an iPad. It was almost as big as he was and looked ridiculous,” he said.

The mini model, however, satisfies Stokdyk's ergonomic requirement to fit in a jacket pocket . The variety of available apps, “don’t worry your pretty little head” operating system and all-round user experience have turned his head. Ever the contrarian, he’s voting for it as Gadget of the Year for 2013, even though it was first released in 2012.

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John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB head of insight
By John Stokdyk
24th Dec 2013 13:49

I didn't see that coming...

I thought I was being a bit controversial, but the iPad mini is strolling it so far with 26 votes compared to 12 each for its closest rivals, the Samsung Galaxy 3 Note and the Quadcopter.

It appears that consumer tech needs a little time to prove itself - so the iPhone 4S won last year, even though it had been superseded by the iPhone 5. And even Candy Crush, which seems to be on every screen I look at when I'm out and about, took a while to really take hold.

As Mrme89 put it on our Gadget Countdown final article, "Many people like not to like Apple but their tablets are the best on the market."

If you disagree, there are still a few more days left to vote over the holiday period.

 

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