By Samrat Amatya
2019 has been a great year in the world of technology. We saw a lot of innovative and useful products throughout the year. Even in Nepal, we saw a lot of new launches from renowned brands. But among the clutter of gadgets available in the market, here are a few worth owning:
Mi Band 4
Price: Rs. 3,600
Mi Band 4 is one of the most robust and inexpensive fitness bands available in the market. It comes with a sleek design and a lightweight body. For a guy coming from a clunky smartwatch, this light heft was very important. For people into fitness, the band will not distract you when you are on a jog or pumping that iron. Besides being ergonomic, the band is also a great activity tracker. You can record a slew of activities like running, hiking, cycling, and swimming. Yes, swimming! Since the band is 5ATM rated for water resistance, you can take it for a casual poolside dip. The band also packs a heart rate sensor and sleep tracking capabilities. Other features include an online band face options for customization and information sharing with friends.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
Price: Rs. 1,35,000
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is the best smartphone in the market right now. It packs a perfect combination of work and play. For those wanting to get a phone for productivity, the Note 10+ is the way to go. The phone still packs the useful S-Pen (stylus) now with even more features. Other key aspects include a massive 6.8-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, rear quad-camera set up, an in-display fingerprint scanner, and a large 4300mAh battery. If size and money are of no issue, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is the best smartphone you can buy right now.
iPad Air 2019
Price: Rs. 1,35,000
iPads are the best tablets available in the market right now. They hit just the right spot between productivity and pleasure. The latest addition to Apple’s iPad line up is the iPad Air 2019. The tablet is the revamped version of the popular iPad Air 2. Compared to its predecessor, the tablet has received a lot of upgrades, mostly internal. The new device packs an Apple A12 Bionic chipset backed by a 4-core Apple GPU. This gives it superb graphics performance with smooth day-to-day usage. Unlike the Air 2, the new iPad comes with better productivity capability. It now supports both the Apple Pencil and the Smart keyboard cover. This makes taking notes and working on a paper that much easier on the iPad Air 2019. A great piece of technology to balance both work and play.
GoPro HERO8 Black
Price: Rs. 51,500
If you are a big fan of adventure, then a GoPro is a must-have tech for you. And the latest addition to the lineup, the GoPro HERO8 Black, will blow your socks off. This new action cam packs a 12MP sensor with a more impact-resistant lens. The design also has been streamlined compared to its predecessor. It is more compact with better access to the battery and mount port. And did I even mention that you can now take photos and videos up to 4K 60fps with the GoPro!
The company has also improved its stabilisation with the new Hyper Smooth 2.0 technology. This will help take stable videos even in the harshest of condition. The Slow-Motion video also gets an update with a higher resolution of 1080p at 240fps. Overall, the GoPro HERO8 is the action-cam to have right now.
MacBook Pro 16
Price: Upwards of Rs. 2,50,000
The MacBook Pro 16 is the Swiss army knife of laptops. It probably is the laptop you have been waiting for from Apple. For this one, the Cupertino based company left no stones unturned. The new MacBook has it all from a sleek almost bezel-less display to a more ergonomic keyboard layout. The touch bar is also back with now a separate key for the escape button and fingerprint scanner.
The MacBook Pro 16 also packs some crazy internals with a 9th gen Core i7 processor backed by 4/8GB AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU. Talking about storage, you can pack this thing with 512GB SSD all the way up to a whopping 8TB. That is some crazy specs for a laptop! Although the product is still not available in Nepal, it is worth a mention for the amazing product it is. The laptop will nonetheless launch very soon in Nepal.
