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Home / News / Radio 1’s top Christmas gadgets

Radio 1’s top Christmas gadgets

I'm on Radio 1 today at noon, talking with Annie Mac about my tips for the hottest Christmas gadgets. In light of the economic conditions, I've split

Under £25

£10 Joby Gorillapod. If you’re buying a present for a keen photographer, but can’t stretch to a new camera, then this is the next best thing. It’s a miniature tripod that will work with any camera with a standard tripod screw on the bottom (bigger sizes are available for large SLR cameras and camcorders). But the gorillapod’s simian magic is it’s ability to wrap around anything – low hanging branches, handlebars, gateposts – to provide a secure place to film from. It’s brilliant for sports shots, nature photography or just avoiding camerashake at parties. You can read our Gorillapod review here.

£20 MyAmp MP3 speaker. A cute portable speaker shaped like a classic guitar amp. It’s only the size of a fist, so don’t expect party-rocking sound quality, but it can be powered by batteries or USB and takes any audio input – such as a PC, mobile phone or MP3 player. And yes, it goes up to 11. You can read our MyAmp MP3 speaker review here. Available from firebox.com

£25 Samsung YP-S2 MP3 player. This shiny, pebble shaped MP3 player is designed to be worn around the neck as a pendant – it even comes with its own lanyard, with earphones attached. But don’t let that put you off – you can always store it in your pocket if you prefer and it delivers great sound quality for the price. The 1GB on-board storage is enough for about 250 songs. You can read our Samsung YP-S2 review here.

Under £50

£30 Blaze Megadrive. Can’t stretch to a Nintendo DS? Try this handheld games console instead. It comes preloaded with 20 Sega Megadrive games (including early-90s classics like Sonic and Knuckles and Ecco the Dolphin) and can be hooked up to a TV for the complete retro gaming experience. You can read our Blaze Megadrive review here. The Megadrive is available from HMV.com

£30 Vox amPlug An evergreen favourite for rockers – plug this matchbox-sized amp into your electric guitar with headphones attached and they’ll be able to rock out to the sound of a classic Vox amp – without disturbing their neighbours. An auxilliary input means they can even play along with their favourite tunes. You can read our amPlug review here. Rock on.

£40 Pure One Mini. One of the cheapest – and cutest – DAB radios you can buy. Fortunately, British DAB specialists Pure haven’t skimped on sound quality, and the rechargeable battery is good enough for 20 hours of untethered listening. It even features an audio input so you can plug your MP3 player in and use it as a speaker. You can read What Hi-Fi’s review of the Pure One Mini here.

Money no object

£130 Kodak Zi6 This pocket-sized camcorder will record video straight onto memory cards, and has a built-in USB cable so you can easily upload to YouTube. Which makes it pretty similar to The Flip, which I showed Jo Whiley earlier this year. But the Zi6 has one crucial difference – it can record in high definition. A great way to make more of your HD-ready TV – or just capture New Year’s Eve debauchery with shocking clarity. You can read a full reivew of the Kodak Zi6 here, or see a comparison test with The Flip Mino in the new edition of Stuff magazine, on sale today.

£250 Sony Rolly This is possibly the pinnacle of human achievement – our entire exitance has been leading up to developing a dancing, MP3 playing portable speaker system. Ok, so it’s hardly a recession essential, but it’s a great gift for the geek who has everything – and was judged good enough to win Cool Toy of the Year at September’s Stuff Gadget Awards ceremony. You can read our Sony Rolly review here. The Rolly is available from SonyStyle.co.uk

£270 Aiptek V10 Projector If you giving a gift for someone at the bleeding edge of technology, this is the gift. It’s the best of a handful of brand new battery powered, pocket-sized projectors and will comfortably project a 30in image on any available wall. It’ll take video from a portable games console or iPod, or you can load up a memory card with films and presentations. You can read our full mini projector test in the new edition of Stuff magazine, available today at good newsagents (and some bad ones).

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

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