Top 10 Gadgets of 2013

The year 2013 witnessed a slew of gadget launches. While some were better versions of existing gadgets, many showcased innovations and new possibilities.

Here's our pick of ten best gadgets of the year 2013.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The third-generation of Samsung’s popular Note range of phablet devices, Galaxy Note 3 offers a brilliant full-HD screen, a powerful Exynos Octa processor and a whopping 3GB of RAM. Its best feature though is its unique S Pen stylus that takes scribbling notes and creating other content to the next level.

The international version of the Note 3 even offers 4K video recording.

Apple iPad mini with Retina display

The first iteration of Apple’s compact 7.9-inch tablet had everything a best-seller could offer barring a low-resolution display. The year 2013 saw the Cupertino giant close the gap by bringing its Retina display (2048 x 1536 pixels) to the second-generation iPad mini, and give it brand new internals.

The iPad mini with Retina display is powered by the same 64-bit A7 chip that drives the iPhone 5S. It still retains the premium aluminium chasis.

HTC One

At a time when most flagship Android smartphones offered flimsy plastic bodies, the HTC One emerged as the answer to the iPhone with its solid aluminium frame and chamfered edges.

Its dual front stereo speakers and the first ultrapixel camera lens was among the phone’s major USPs, along with Blinkfeed that brought news and socialmedia feeds to the home screen.

Sony PlayStation 4

Sony’s much awaited new-generation gaming console got an overwhelming response selling more than 2.1 million units after less than three weeks. The PlayStation 4 is powered by an eight-core AMD Jaguar CPU and features 500GB hard drive, 8GB of unified memory, built-in Blu Ray drive and the new DualShock 4 controller.

The PlayStation 4 also features 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connectivity option, an Ethernet port, Bluetooth 2.1, and two USB 3.0 ports. It also features more entertainment and social features.

Apple iPhone 5S

In 2013 Apple launched iPhone 5S, which the company calls its most forward thinking phone. One of the first phones to be powered by a 64-bit processor, the iPhone 5S comes with a major performance boost, an improved camera, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor for authentication and better battery life. It also comes in a brand new Gold colour variant. 

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9

Amazon’s new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 tablet features an 8.9-inch display with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels resolution and pixel density of 339ppi leaving behind the iPad Air.

Under the hood, the tablet is powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM, and runs the new Fire OS 3.0 which is based on Android Jelly Bean. It also comes with Mayday, a unique button that offers a 24x7 connection to Amazon’s customer support.

Google Chromecast

One of the major USPs of Google’s new small thumb drive-like media player is its $35 price tag. The other is the ease with which it can be configured and used.

You can just plug it into a TV’s HDMI port and access internet video services such as Netflix and YouTube, and content from Google Play, beaming the content through smartphones, tablets and personal computers connected to it. The content is beamed via the internet and not mirrored unlike the Apple TV.

Google Nexus 7

Google upgraded its popular 7-inch tablet, the Nexus 7, bestowing it with a high-resolution 1920 x 1200 pixels display, and an even more compact form factor. It also got a rear-camera for casual photography. The Nexus 7(2013) is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor running at 1.5GHz and 2GB of RAM and offers great performance.

Google’s latest tablet is a complete package, with relatively good hardware, a brilliant HD screen and the promise of the latest software updates.

Nokia Lumia 1020

After bidding farewell to Symbian, Nokia decided to bring its oversampling technology first seen in the PureView 808 to Windows Phone, putting the 41MP sensor on the Lumia 1020. With lossless zoom, that lets one take a big image and crop it without compromising on the quality, the Lumia 1020’s camera is undoubtedly the best compared to the ones on other phones, available at the moment.

Other hardware specs of the Lumia 1020 include 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ Amoled display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, 2,000mAh battery and 32GB internal storage.

Curved TVs

While 4K TVs are still in the process of infiltrating our drawing rooms, electronics giants LG and Samsung have already announced giant 105-inch ultra-HD TVs with curved screens.

The two launched Curved OLED TVs with full-HD resolution, earlier in the year. The companies claim that a curved display panel offers equal distance from all parts of the screen to the eyes resulting in better viewing angles, less colour distortion, consistent contrast and an immersive TV viewing experience.