It’s official: the most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner, and Santa is once again coming to town.
That means if you’re planning on giving him a helping hand, you’re going to need to start planning your mission to find the perfect pressies.
That’s where we come in. We’ve hand-picked a brilliant selection of gadgets and gizmos that’ll be sure to make it onto any gadget lovers wish list this Christmas.
From high fidelity headphones, a pocket-friendly tablet and the latest must-have action cam, to stylish smart specs and the latest drone for aspiring pilots, we’ve got you completely covered.
Bang & Olufsen Explore
A beefy base and major stamina
The clue is in the name. With ultra-tough and waterproof credentials, this cylindrical speaker is the Bear Grylls of portable audio and fully committed to life in the great outdoors.
Physical buttons take care of control, while its weatherproof woven nylon strap and aluminium carabiner clip ensure it’s able to withstand whatever you throw at it.
As you’d expect from a Bang & Olufsen speaker, the 360-degree sound oozing out of it is superb with surprisingly beefy base and is fully tweakable via the dedicated app.
With 27-hours of battery life, it’s got enough stamina to keep going all week – even if you don’t.
Shop for £196 at Bang & Olufsen
Sony Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones
Rich vocals and modes aplenty
Sony knows a thing or two about excellent in-ears, and the WF-1000X5s continue its quest for audible excellence.
The superb and immersive sound quality shows, whether it’s a throbbing bass line or the detailed richness of vocals, while Active Noise Cancellation does an excellent job of reducing outside racket.
Expect auto pause/play when removed, or for the music to stop and ambient mode activated, when you start a conversation.
You can even accept or decline a phone call with head gestures, and fire up the app to tweak EQ settings.
Chuck in around 24 hours of battery, and you’re looking at an excellent true wireless contender.
shop for £259 at sony
Oppo Pad Air
Smart and affordable multitasker
Oppo’s first stab at an Android slab has its sights set squarely on the more affordable end of the scale.
But it doesn’t skimp when it comes to visuals on its 10-inch high-res display, or its quality aluminium construction.
Performance can’t compete with higher-end rivals, but it multitasks reasonably well, and has a couple of decent 8 and 5-megapixel shooters.
Its Dolby-branded speakers are good, just don’t expect home-cinema quality audio to ooze out of it.
What you can expect though, is ten hours of battery life and expandable storage via microSD.
It may cut a few corners, but it massively undercuts the cheapest member of a certain fruit-flavoured brand.
shop for £199 (save £40) at oppostore
GoPro Hero 12
Ready for adventure
GoPro sets the standard once again when it comes to intuitive action cams.
Whether you’re the intrepid type after a helmet or handlebars-eye view, or you just want to capture an outdoor adventure, it can record crisp footage in extreme, or not so extreme environments, complete with voice control and HDR support for more detail.
Underneath that waterproof exterior, which can withstand a drop in up to 10m of the wet stuff, expect improved low light capabilities, incredible video stabilisation and 4K slow-mo at 120fps.
Vertical capture and Bluetooth wireless mic recording ensures it’s prepared for all kinds of adventures.
shop for £399 at gOPRO
ReMarkable Paper 2 Tablet
Lives up to the name
It seems a bit arrogant of a brand to call its product ‘remarkable’, but in this instance, this 10.3-inch E Ink slate really does fall into exceptional territory.
That’s thanks to its ultra-thin and lightweight design, and impeccable ability to emulate the look and feel of writing on actual paper, right down to the scribble sound effects.
You can sync notes to your phone, and convert them into a text document; and with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, whether you’re taking notes, or putting your artistic skills to the test, this device delivers traditional note-taking with a lick of modern day paint.
shop FOR £299 AT REMARKABLE
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses (2nd gen)
Smart face furniture
Ray-Ban has really outdone itself with its latest pair of smart specs.
Prepare to be wowed by the ultra-wide 12-megapixel camera that captures stunning hands-free photos and crystal clear 1080p video, with excellent stabilisation.
Just press the button near your right temple, or utter the words ‘Hey Meta’, and get the voice assistant to do it. Whether you’re taking calls, listening to music, or livestreaming to your Instagram followers, all the features packed into these things will impress.
With its stylish rechargeable case, that’ll charge you specs eight times, range of frames and transition lenses, these are Ray-bans best attempt at smart face furniture yet.
shop FOR £299 AT RAY-BAN
DJI Mini 4
A pocket-sized all-rounder
DJI has a solid reputation when it comes to ultralight flying contraptions, and its latest drone efforts cements the company’s ability to create an excellent fly-anywhere model.
Like its predecessor, it folds to pocketable size, and bypasses most drone restrictions, while the RC 2 controller’s 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen is excellent for brightness, clarity and size.
In exchange for a full charge you’ll get 34-minutes of air time, while omnidirectional obstacle avoidance will prove handy for clumsy types.
Photos can be captured at 12MP or 48MP resolution, and airborne video capture now supports 4K/100fps for smooth ultra-slow motion shots, and 1080p at 200fps, capturing epic moments in stunning detail.
shop From £689 AT DJI
Aarke Carbonator 3 Sparkling Water Maker
Add some sparkle
Why splash out on bottled water when you can have sparkling H2O on tap?
With each gas cylinder creating up to 60 litres of the fizzy stuff, this incredibly stylish household fixture easily transforms tap or filtered water into DIY carbonated goodness.
Did we mention you can use it to make carbonated cocktails too, adding bubbles to your alcoholic beverage of choice, or to any drink for that matter, for an endless supply of sparkling beverages.
Its compact design means it won’t hog too much space on your kitchen worktop, with a choice of eight finishes to match any interior.
Sodastream, eat your heart out.
shop FOR £179 AT AARKE
Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd gen)
It’s got you covered
Throw commands at Amazon’s updated screen-toting smart speaker, and the disembodied voice emanating from its 5.5-inch display will dutifully handle your audible commands and questions.
It’s got you covered, whether you need it remind you of incoming calendar appointments, add stuff to your shopping list, guide you through recipes or keep you entertained with Prime Video or YouTube thanks to improvements in the audio department.
Even better is its compatibility with connected home devices and arming them with voice control. Hook it up to your Ring Doorbell, for example, to have a peep at who’s on your doorstep, or even command it to switch on compatible goggleboxes.
shop FOR £54.99 AT AMAZON
Audio Technica Sound Burger
In high demand – don’t miss out
Despite what it looks like, this is definitely not a toy.
This very cool battery-powered portable turntable, and blast from the past, is back after its super successful sold-out release last year to commemorate the company’s 60th birthday.
Being in such high demand, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to snag it this time around for the vinyl lover in your life.
That’s because it supports Bluetooth for hooking up to a speaker or cable-free headphones, or wired via the 3.5mm output if preferred, for analogue sound on the move, with a choice of three lovely colourways.
shop FOR £199 AT AUDIO TECHNICA
Fujifilm Instax Mini 12
Make some memories
With super simple controls, this plastic point and shooter does a brilliant job of recreating the nostalgic magic of classic instant photography by spitting out credit card-size prints for those after a tangible collection of memories.
A clever retractable lens paves the way for close-ups, a mirror around the front for group photos and selfies, while an automatic control that detects brightness levels triggers the flash when needed.
With the help of the free Instax Up app, photos are instantly shareable too, as it’ll store your snaps, and let you spruce them up before sharing them on your social media platform of choice.
shop FOR £79.99 AT INSTAX
Backbone One PlayStation Edition
Next level
As the name suggests, this Sony-approved version of Backbone’s Android and iPhone-friendly gaming peripheral takes its design cue from the company’s DualSense wireless controller, transforming your smartphone into a handheld gamer.
With its slick all-white hand grips, transparent D-pad and face buttons labelled with Sony’s iconic Cross, Circle, Square and Triangle symbols, it’s instantly recognisable.
As well as choosing from thousands of games from the Google Play or App Store, it plays nice with PS5 Remote Play, Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming, if the cross platform contamination doesn’t bother you.
Perfect for those fed up with prodding their screen and wrestling with touchscreen controls.
shop FOR £99.99 AT BACKBONE
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