As the new year approaches, comes a time for celebration, awakened hope and well wishes. It’s a time to make amendments and improvements, and pass on gifts to dear ones, even your own family. The world of technology offers a range of interesting gifts for all kinds of people, with all kinds of interests. The new year is always a starting point for a lifestyle change, and 2022 could be the time to bring joy, and a smarter way of living.
A smart watch is just the kind of personalized gift for anyone, a parent, a friend, a significant other. Smartwatches are available at prices as low as Rs. 1,999 going all the way up to Rs. 40,000 or more. A vast majority of features found at premium smartwatches can also be found on the most affordable ones. It’s really the kind of life improvements that a smartwatch can bring about, that makes it a great gift. The Apple Watch Series 7 comes at the absolute premium end of the spectrum, offering you not only the best health monitoring features but also a construction and design that makes a lot of premium tradition watches look silly. There are variants with more exotic materials too, and you can opt for one of those.
However, if you’re looking at smartwatches down the price range, consider something like the new Fire-Boltt Ring, or the Noise ColorFit Pro 3. They cost well under the Rs. 5,000 mark. They’re built well, have great battery life and more. If you’re looking for a slightly cheaper than that, consider the Amazfit Bip series, that may not include the microphone, voice assistant support of the others but they are complete in every other aspect. They include sleep and heart rate monitors that can be used while working out. The charm of a smartwatch is partly its health monitoring features, but any geek or anyone inclined towards having the convenience of controlling devices remotely, even receiving notifications on their wristwatch will love a smartwatch as a gift. If you haven’t bought one yet, maybe you’d want to gift yourself too!
While the smartwatch is a great gift for one person, a smart speaker is something an entire family will appreciate. Think of a smart speaker as a traditional Bluetooth speaker that you could use to listen to music and podcasts, but more importantly, it’s an ever-ready voice assistant waiting for a command. Smart speakers have turned affordable with models like the Amazon Echo Dot available at Rs. 2,699*. Another good option could be the Google Nest Mini or Google Home Mini priced in a similar price range. Pretty much all the speakers across the price ranges offer similar features, but what the more expensive models do better is sheer performance. They are larger, and sound louder and clearer. If the person you’re gifting one to, likes to listen to a lot of music, models such as the Amazon Echo that sells for about Rs. 4,999 or Google’s Nest Audio at Rs. 7,499 are the ones to consider. What these speakers do well, is listen to your voice, understand commands, and give you a response. We are only giving you a tiny example of things you could do – tell the speaker to play music, turn on and off smart lights in your home, get the latest traffic situation on your way to work, get the latest stock updates, the weather, play the latest episode of your favorite podcast or even tell you a joke. There are thousands of other things you can do. A gift priced so little, can introduce smart living to a friend, family or loved one.
While we may think, most of our friends and families are slowly moving away from traditional TV towards online streaming services, there are so many families that haven’t. A smart TV streamer device may be just the device they need to start that move. A Smart TV streaming solution can stream the latest shows and movies from popular online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and many others. There are plenty of products to choose from, with the most popular one being the Amazon Fire TV lineup. The Fire TV is available in a few variants, depending on your budget for a gift. The most affordable one is called the Fire TV Lite, that skimps out on a few audio decoding standards but does pretty much everything else. There is a no-frills, no-compromises model, the Fire TV 4K, that doesn’t cost a lot more but is the ultimate media streaming device. It even sells at a rather attractive price tag of Rs. 4,499*. Not only is it the most powerful one around, but it’s also future proof. So, you might not own a 4K TV today, but this is a device that will do wonders when you upgrade to one.
If the person being gifted a streaming solution is already part of the Apple ecosystem, consider the Apple TV 4K. It’s a bit pricier no doubt, but it will work alongside all apple devices, ranging from your Macs, your iPad, iPhones and more. The sheer performance, quality and experience is unrivaled. It too can stream from a range of premium network streaming services on the web. On the other end of the spectrum is the Mi 4K Smart TV Box. It’s more affordable, supports 4K and it comes with Google’s ecosystem built in. It even has Chromecast so you can stream a variety of apps and services, even games to the TV.
If the person you’re trying to buy a new year’s gift for, is someone who spends most of their time outdoors, maybe vlogging, loves action exports, or is a biker, an action camera might be interesting to them. The most prominent product of them is the GoPro Hero. There are few models to choose from, but the latest models are the GoPro Hero 8 and GoPro Hero 9. The older model sells as a rather low price, and it can do a ton of things, but if the recipient of your gift is an all-out enthusiast of shooting videos, get them a GoPro Hero 8. It’s water-proof, it’s sturdy, it will shoot 4K videos; it even comes with a touchscreen.
Something a little off-beat, and different from an action camera is a product called the DJI Osmo Mobile 2. It may not be a camera, but it lets you connect any smartphone to it. What it does is stabilize the video recordings like nothing you’ve seen shot on a smartphone. The DJI Osmo Mobile 2 can be used for about 15 hours without having to recharge. It’s easy to setup and use, and gives you a neater, no-obstructive way of holding the phone while shooting footage. It’s even priced at just under Rs. 10,000.
Those were just some of our recommendations for gifts for the new year. Remember, we’re suggesting products that can make more than a day’s impact. A visit to your nearest Reliance Digital store can open up a whole range of ideas, so why not drop by? Oh, and all the products we mentioned can be home-delivered to locations across the country if you order now at reliancedigital.in. With that, we wish everyone well, and a delightful new year ahead!
Note: Prices are subject to change. Please refer to the product page for the latest prices, details and availability.
