Life & Style | Gadgets & Tech

Pick of the best gadgets for December

The best new gadgets and tech you need in your life this month

By Nitin Nair, Editor, Alpha magazine
Published: 15:46 November 29, 2012

Image Credit: Supplied picture
The headphones use Bose’s TriPort acoustic technology, audio is reproduced with full, balanced sound and plenty of detail.

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Bose SIE2i Sport Headphones

Bose has taken some rapid strides toward convincing a younger customer base to warm up to the brand. After the success of its wireless Bluetooth speakers, Bose has now introduced the SIE2i sport headphones, the brand’s first in-ear headphones, specifically engineered for use during exercise. Apart from the fact that these are greatsounding headphones, the SIE2i also come with a Reebok fitness armband that can hold your mp3 player or phone. The headphones use Bose’s TriPort acoustic technology, audio is reproduced with full, balanced sound and plenty of detail.

The acoustic ports are sweatand water-resistant, and are covered with a hydrophobic cloth to keep moisture out. The in-line remote and microphone has watertight button housings and a hydrophobic acoustic screen to reduce the effects of wind noise and moisture. The ear tips come in three sizes, and not once during my time in the gym or during my evening runs did the headphones slip out. Affordable and stylish, Bose has a winner here.

Dh629 at Bose showrooms

Xperia Miro

If the thought of owning an iPhone 5 gives you nightmares, settle for the Xperia Miro. Think of it as a Luddite’s smartphone. It’s got loads of features, but it all comes in a user-friendly, affordable package. At 110g, the Miro is lightweight, but that’s largely due to its plastic case. It’s stylish too, and with a 3.5” touchscreen, you’ll never complain about visibility. The Miro runs Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich software and comes with a 5MP camera. Clearly aimed at a younger audience, the phone is meant to keep you active on social media.

Facebook is integrated into the phone’s software, so you can view friends’ photos, their birthdays are in your calendar and so on. The hardware is not as impressive though – the 800Mhz CPU sometimes struggles to keep pace, but then you would expect this from an entry- to mid-level smartphone. The Miro has an impressive (for a phone), powerful built-in speaker. It doesn’t have the firepower to take on the big boys in the smartphone category, but it does a decent job as a cheap and cheerful smartphone.

Dh849 at leading stores

Samsung NX1000

The Samsung NX1000 has a nice compact shape and is easy to lug around. Though it has an all-plastic body, it comes with a metal lens mount. Be warned, the camera comes with a tricky strap that keeps coming undone – not ideal because you keep worrying if Dh2,000 plus worth of kit is going to hit the ground! This is a smartcamera, so the NX1000 comes with loads of preloaded apps. I found the placement of some of the settings on the control wheel a wee bit annoying. Also, it slipped into video mode a lot.

The camera has loads of features, like an ISO range of 100-12,800, 1080p HD movie recording, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, 3” LCD screen, 8FPS continuous shooting, Sweep Panoramas and Samsung’s i-Function lens. It produces good-quality images for a camera in this category, but then with a 20.3MP mirrorless CMOS sensor, you would be surprised if it didn’t.

Dh2,299 at leading stores

The shortlist

The G upgrade

The Canon PowerShot G15 features a super-bright f/1.8-2.8 lens, a 5x optical zoom and offers a f/1.8 aperture at its 28mm wide-angle, and a f/2.8 aperture at its maximum 140mm focal length. So you can shoot in low light, use fast shutter speeds for freezing motion, or add atmosphere to stills by using a shallower depth of field throughout the camera’s entire zoom range. Dh2,499 at leading stores

Big Bass Headphones

Sony has just launched its new XB series of headphones — the XB200, XB400, XB600 and XB900. The line features a special driver unit that is engineered to deliver powerful bass. They are also sleeker, slimmer and lighter than their predecessors, and they boast a smooth swivel and foldaway action, so they’re easy to store and carry. From Dh149 at leading stores

Made for gamers

MSI’s range of gaming notebooks feature Intel’s third-generation core processor and the new-generation Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M discrete graphics card. Specifically designed to meet the demands of top gaming geeks around the world, these killer notebooks boast keyboards specifically designed to be suited to gaming, as well as amazing peripherals. From Dh11,000 at leading stores