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The MoDaCo last-minute gift guide


Guest PaulOBrien

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Guest PaulOBrien

Are your friends and family struggling to find you gifts? Are you struggling to find presents for techie friends? We're here to help, with a guide that we've broken the guide down into 5 categories with 3 submissions in each.

Do you disagree with anything on the list or have your own suggestions? Post a comment below!

The <£15 category

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What? Xiaomi Pistons

Where from? Merimobiles

How much? $20

Why? Excellent, widely respected earbuds that are well made, look good, sound incredible and are insanely cheap. Look out for fakes - buy from trusted retailers to be sure you're getting the real deal.

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What? Joby GripTight mount for Smartphones

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £10.89

Why? We all take lots of pictures on our phone, but i'm willing to bet that we don't get pictures of ourselves with our friends / families enough. The GripTight helps fix that by giving you the ability to mount your phone on any regular Tripod mount. Nicely built, folds flat, a worthwhile buy. Add a gorillapod tripod for extra goodness.

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What? A selfie stick!

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £7.99

Why? Don't be afraid. Be that guy / gal! Paired with the above, this is great fun while doing sport or, er, if you're a teenager. Also useful for self defence. ;)

The £15-£75 Category

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What? Anker Astro Slim 3 6000mAh

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £19.99

Why? This is a great external battery, again from Anker. What do I like about this? It's got tons of capacity at 6000mAh, but it isn't too big. It's roughly the same size as my HTC One. It has a built in microUSB plug so I don't have to carry cables and a USB port to charge a second device. Very handy to chuck in the bag.

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What? Leef Bridge USB 3.0 microUSB / USB flash drive

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? From £21.99

Why? Storage is often a problem on today's devices, as is transferring large content from your computer to your phone or tablet. The Leef Bridge solves this problem by providing a USB stick that works both with your PC (via USB 3) and your phone (via a microUSB connection). Simple but effective!

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What? LightwaveRF WiFi Link

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £69.99

Why? Start making your home Smart with the LightwaveRF WiFi Link. This is the piece that connects your home to the Internet (and your Android phone), you'll also need to add sockets, switches or whatever you want to control - even your heating. The system works well and is genuinely useful.

The £75-£150 Category

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What? Moto G

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £119.95

Why? The Moto G isn't a cheap phone. Well, it is, but it doesn't feel like it. Lack of 4G aside, the latest 5" incarnation is a cracker. Dual SIM, microSD expansion, great screen, fast OS updates, capable Snapdragon 400 processor... what's not to like? Highly recommended.

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What? Seagate Wireless Plus Hard Disk

Where from? eBuyer

How much? From £125 (1TB)

Why? If the Leef Bridge above won't cut it for data storage and transfer, maybe this will! A huge hard disk (a 2TB option is available) that can support connectivity via USB 3 or WiFi, allowing you to stream content from it directly to your phone or tablet (as well as 4 others at the same time). Clever.

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What? LG G Watch

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £114.99

Why? Android Wear is already huge, but it just gets better and better. The LG G Watch is the cheapest point of entry, but it's still a great watch. Yes, it's not as sexy as the newer G Watch R (see the next price category!) but Android Wear is arguably still best on square screens and the white / gold model featured here actually has a little bit of unique style.

The £150-£250 Category

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What? LG G Watch R

Where from? MobileFun

How much? £199.99

Why? While the LG G Watch is a bargain, the G Watch R is the one you really want for two reasons. One - it has a really compelling design. Two - it has a truly fantastic P-OLED screen which blows every other Wear device clean out of the water. The leather strap isn't bad, but youc an add a 22mm metal one easily. Forget the 360, the G Watch R is far better.

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What? Acer C720P Chromebook

Where from? Tesco

How much? £179.99

Why? The C720P (the touchscreen version of the C720) has been around a while now, but it's still a great device. With it's 2955U processor it's plenty speedy enough and on Chromebooks RAM and SSD aren't really an issue. ChromeOS itself is going from strength to strength and you can even run Android apps now, perfect for a device like this with a touchscreen. A particularly worthwhile buy at this price.

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What? Sonos Play 1

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £169.99

Why? It might look like an overpriced Bluetooth speaker, but actually the Sonos system is very impressive. Like the Chromecast, the Sonos pulls your tunes directly from the cloud, using your phone only as a remote rather than as the direct streamer. A free 1 year Deezer subscription is included (normally a tenner a month), which makes the price seem a little more reasonable.

The over £250 Category

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What? Sony Xperia Z3

Where from? Clove

How much? £460

Why? Still THE Android phone to have, the Z3 gets it right in every possible way. Great feel, great build, great screen, great battery, great software - the upgrades from the Z2 are fairly incremental, but they really round off the product.

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What? Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Copmact

Where from? Amazon UK

How much? £269.99 after cashback

Why? If the Z3 phone is great, the Z3 Tablet Compact is unbelievable. It's incredibly thin and light yet still packs a formidable punch and has great battery life. Arguably the only Android tablet that can beat the iPad and certainly a far better feat of engineering than the Nexus 9.

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What? The Pocket Drone

Where from? The Pocket Drone

How much? $599

Why? Drones are the next big thing and this Kickstarter launched drone is foldable, suitable for heavy-lifting a gopro camera and intelligent enough to follow you around. Shipping in the first few months of this year, it's a gift that the recipient can look forward to!

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