When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works

Home / News / 25 Gadget New Year’s resolutions

25 Gadget New Year’s resolutions

Here's all the gear you need to be better, faster, thinner and stronger in 2012

Upgrade your headphones – SoundMagic E10

£35, amazon.co.uk

Fact: bundled headphones are rubbish, tinny sounding and an insult to your music library. Do your ears justice with these SoundMagic E10s, which are hands-down the best headphones you can get at this price point.

Protect your gear – InvisibleShield iPhone 4S

£17, mobilefun.co.uk

Don’t let your flawless new iPhone 4S lose its box-fresh sheen by desecrating its body with scratches. This InvisibleShield iPhone 4S screen and back protector is made out of the same durable film used on military helicopter blades, so you know it’s up to the challenge.

Find love – Philips all in one Bodygroom Pro

£50, boots.com

If you look like you’ve escaped from your local zoo’s chimp enclosure then it’s high time you sorted yourself out with this all in one Philips body groomer. It can be used to trim or shave offending hairs in either wet or dry conditions, leaving you nice and presentable for potential suitors.

Get fit – Motorola ACTV

£245, motorolastore.eu/uk

Burn off the festive fat with the Motorola ACTV, a wearable music player with Bluetooth for headset hands-free calling. A built in GPS sensor and calorie tracker measure your progress while a smart playlist feature chooses which of your tracks will get you motivated to move, before pumping them in to your lugholes.

Delete Facebook – SocialSafe

£5, socialsafe.net

How many times have you tried to leave the vice-like grip of Facebook only to be drawn back by the photos and memories stored on it? SocialSafe abolishes such excuses by backing up all of your Facebook photos and contacts, allowing you to delete your account without any guilt. Can also be used as a handy backup for paranoid users who just can’t let go.

Stop smoking – E-Lite electronic cigarette starter kit

£40, e-lites.co.uk

Sucking on tobacco sticks is severely detrimental to one’s health, but some people just can’t kick the habit. These electronic cigarettes should help by delivering tar-, tobacco-, and chemical-free nicotine-infused vapours with each puff, satisfying your cravings without sacrificing your health (or making you smell).

Learn something new – Today I learned

£free, itunes.apple.com/gb

Did you know that Whoopie Goldberg once worked as a phone sex operator? No? Well neither did we until we downloaded this app, which pulls in all the latest revelations from reddit.com. Feed your brain with interesting, odd and often deliciously useless facts this year and broaden your mind. Might come in handy for those obscure pub quiz sessions too.

Stay connected – Duracell 2-in-1 USB charger

£19, amazon.co.uk

If you’re sick of your juice-sucking smartphone dying on you, pick up one of these Duracell chargers for some on-the-go charging action. The best bit? You can breathe life into two USB-chargeable gadgets at the same time. How’s that for multitasking?

Be more productive – Evernote

£free, itunes.apple.com/gb

Evernote is the ultimate productivity tool. Notes, pictures, voice memos – you name it, you can record it. With full synchronisation between the web and desktop applications, you can finally make some use out of your daily commute. Too much Angry Birds was never good for you anyway.

Spring clean your desk – Cyber Clean pot

£7, iwantoneofthose.com

The average keyboard is probably crawling with more germs than your toilet seat. While that thought sinks in, go ahead and order this Cyber Clean goo, a germ-killing, dust-sticking yellow blob of sciency goodness that will leave your gadgets smelling nice and lemony.

Fight stress – Lightening Bug sleep clock

£free, market.android.com

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the hectic hustle and bustle of delayed trains, overdue reports and flailing footy teams – before you know it you hair is either grey or falling out and you’ve got more wrinkles than Gordon Ramsay. This little app will help restore your equilibrium with a collection of relaxing sounds, from the pitter patter of rain drops to meditation bells. Very Zen.

Kill boredom – Gametel Portable Bluetooth controller

£50, amazon.co.uk

We’re all for gaming on the go, but the challenge of touchscreen controls has given us a love-hate relationship with mobile titles. This Gametel Bluetooth controller will safely cradle your phone in its adjustable grip and allow you to game away with honest-to-goodness buttons. A free iOS or Android app is all you need to set it up and ensure that commuter boredom is permanently abolished.

Always be prepared – Leatherman Juice XE6

£70, stashmonkey.co.uk

Arriving with a whopping 25 year warranty and 18 tools in 1, the Leatherman Juice XE6 is for all those little moments in life when the lack of a simple tool can mean the difference between you starving to death or having an emergency can of tuna – in a worst-case scenario of course.

Go green – Cube Epro electric bicycle

£2,700, cyclezone.co.uk

All that sitting around surrounded by Quality Street wrappers means you’ll probably need a bit of help getting fighting fit after the festivities. Start the year off with this electric bike which lends some much-needed power to your spindly legs while leaving your emission-spewing car on the driveway.

Eat healthier – Philips Air Fryer

£150, very.co.uk

Enough mince pies and choccies, it’s time for some healthy food. But – we hear you cry out – isn’t fried food super unhealthy? Yes, it is, but this Philips Air Fryer uses no oil whatsoever, instead relying on a circulatory air grill to produce all the taste with none of the artery clogging fat. Win-win.

Embrace 3D – LG 42LW550T Cinema 3D Smart TV

£700, richersounds.com

Like it or not, 3D is here to stay – so embrace the extra dimension with open arms, starting with this LG telly. The passive 3D screen technology means you can use glasses similar to those given out at cinemas, which are far cheaper and more comfortable than the active shutter displays that have flooded the market.

Read more – Amazon Kindle

£90, amazon.co.uk

Reading is cool again, thanks to Amazon’s wondrous slab of literary delights, which can store 1,400 books and last up to one month on a single charge. With free cloud backup and a selection of over 900,000 books, the Kindle is a commuter’s best friend.

Be more creative – GarageBand

£2.99, itunes.apple.com/gb

Break the cycle of monotony and get your creative juices flowing with GarageBand, an app which turns your iDevice in to a feature-filled music creator, with drums, guitars, keyboards and an audio recorder to boot. UK Top 40, here you come.

Manage your money – Pageonce

£free, market.android.com

No more missed bills and cut off electricity this year – Pageonce will help see to that. This useful app lets you pay all your bills in one go and has heaps of useful tools to help you keep in control of your finances, including tracking your mobile minutes, text and data usage.

Flaunt your inner geek – 8-bit tie

£15, lazyboneuk.com

Admit it, you’ve been harbouring your nerdy side for fear of losing all of your hard-earned street cred –unacceptable. You should be flaunting your inner geek for all the world to see – and what better way than with a stylish 8-bit fashion statement. We’re sure even Mario suits up after he’s clocked off – Princess Peach probably has high standards after all.

Rediscover your inner child – Firebox of retro sweets

£25, firebox.com

If you’ve long forgotten all child-like feelings of wonder and excitement in a world full of debt and traffic jams then it’s high time you treated yourself to Firebox’s sugar-coma-in-a-jar collection of nostalgic retro sweets. Cola bottles to white chocolate fish and chips – it has ’em all in one big nostalgia overload.

Clean up your PC – CCleaner

Step 3: Keep it clean

£free, piriform.com

Even the most powerful gaming rigs slow down over time as junk accumulates. Ensure your PC is running in top form all year round with this free programme, which scans for useless system junk before deleting it.

It’s also a handy way of removing all the pointless bloatware that came pre-loaded on the laptop Santa gave you.

Back up your files – Iomega eGo desktop external hard drive

£100, currys.co.uk

Lost files can be a real pain – so snap up this cavernous 2TB external hard drive and rest easy in the knowledge that it has more than enough room to safely store everything from documents and movies to your extensive collection of cat GIFs.

Seize the day – AroundMe

£free, itunes.apple.com/gb

If you find yourself going to the same places week in week out, then it’s time to try something a bit different. AroundMe is a free app which tells you where the nearest points of interest are, as well as letting you search for more specific places that take your fancy. Whether it’s a hidden restaurant or swanky bar, you’ll be sure to find something that’s better than your dingy local.

Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home

Enable referrer and click cookie to search for eefc48a8bf715c1b ad9bf81e74a9d264 [] 2.7.22