Top 5 Tech Gift Ideas for Christmas (or Birthday’s)
The Element 29 Top 5 Tech Gift Ideas
If you are struggling for inspiration as to what to buy for the tech-savvy love of your life, hopefully these tech gift ideas from our team will help…
*Information & prices taken from Amazon.co.uk, apart from Apple TV, where information is taken from Apple.com). Prices correct as at 12th December 2016*
Our 5 Tech Gift Ideas: Recommended By Our Team
#1 The Amazon Echo
Amazon price: £149.99
Amazon Echo is a hands-free speaker you control with your voice, making it a great tech gift idea. Echo connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more. Amazon Prime members can also ask Alexa to order eligible products they’ve ordered before and many Prime products. All you have to do is ask. Echo, equipped with seven microphones and beam-forming technology, ensures it can hear you from across the room, even in noisy environments or while playing music. It’s an expertly tuned speaker that can fill any room with 360° immersive sound. When you want to use Echo, just say the wake word “Alexa” and Echo responds. If you have more than one Echo or Echo Dot, Alexa responds intelligently from the device you’re closest to with ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). Just be careful when your children are doing their homework as Alexa is very good at ‘helping’ with answering tricky questions such as 8×7 and what a proper noun is.
#2 Sonos
Amazon price: From £149.99
Sonos speakers are a perfect choice for tech gift ideas as they combine built-in sensors and smart software to make your listening experience easy. Regular software updates with new features and services ensure that these speakers just keep getting smarter, for as long as you own them.
The free Sonos app gathers all your favorite music and streaming services in one place, making it convenient to find the songs you love from your streaming services or digital library using your smartphone or tablet. You can easily choose the rooms where you want to listen and control all the playback settings on a room-by-room basis.
With Sonos, you have the flexibility to play a different song in each room or synchronize the same track across multiple rooms. At Element 29, our Sonos installers have extensive experience in installing Sonos systems in homes around London. Sonos can access your iTunes and personal music library, stream Apple Music and other online music services, and provide access to over 100,000 internet radio stations from around the world. The Sonos app empowers you to find, play, control, and explore your music exactly the way you want.
#3 Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless Over Ear Headphones
Amazon price: From £319.00
P7 Wireless combines advanced acoustic technology with aptX Bluetooth connectivity to deliver a seamless audio experience and 17 hour battery life. It’s beating heart is a drive unit painstakingly developed to unearth every note in your music. Within seconds P7 Wireless can be paired with any Bluetooth enabled device. Once paired, it’s as simple as switching on and pressing play. Built with portability in mind. Innovative folding design and a secure carry case mean that wherever you go, your headphones can travel with you.
#4 Heatmiser NeoStat 1 White Programmable Digital Thermostat for Wifi
Amazon price: From £184.32
OK, so this digital heating system is hot right now – and being cold out there it couldn’t be better timing.
The White Heatmiser neoKit 1 offers you a smarter way to control your heating from anywhere.
The neoStat is a 230v powered thermostat with a volt free switch. It seamlessly communicates to the neoHub and other neoStats within your home, to create a fully controllable network system of your home heating. It has been designed to replace an exiting three wire thermostat, and after joining the zone to the neoHub, remote control is possible, configuring to work as a thermostat or as a timer- so if you want to take control of your towel rails, or lighting – Neo offers you this and more! And we can install and connect it all.
You can also get the Netatmo Thermostat for Smartphone (Amazon price – £144.90).
This means you can control your heating remotely from your smartphone, tablet, computer, or directly on the thermostat. Or, you can also control it with your voice, simply by using Siri on an iPhone/iPad or Alexa on Amazon Echo (as above). As well as being pretty fabulous to look at (designed by Philippe Starck and a choice of 4 colours), it can also produce 37% less energy to heat your home. Save £312 a year on average (average savings for a conventional 1076 sq ft British house with a gas boiler.).
#5 Apple TV
Amazon price: From £139 for 32Gb
The future of television is here, and it’s all about apps, offering exciting tech gift ideas. We already rely on apps to watch TV on our mobile devices and computers. With Apple TV, apps have revolutionized television, empowering you to have complete control over what and when you watch. Apple TV is built on the powerful platform called tvOS, which introduces entirely new ways to interact with your TV. Simply ask Siri to find the exact film or TV program you’re in the mood for, or transform your living room into a games room, fitness studio, or classroom. This is where television is headed, and Apple TV leads the way.
When it comes to content, Apple TV offers a wide range of options. From iTunes films and TV programs to popular streaming services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer, live sports, news, and so much more. Whatever you’re interested in, there’s an app for it. Explore exciting games, apps that allow you to redecorate your house or shop for a new one, and engaging multi-person experiences that redefine family game nights. The App Store on Apple TV already features thousands of apps, with new ones constantly being added. With Apple TV, tvOS, a redesigned interface, and the Siri Remote, there has never been a better time to embrace the potential of your TV. Plus, thanks to the powerful operating system, tvOS, your Apple TV automatically downloads new features and functions, ensuring it keeps improving over time.
Finding something to watch has never been easier with Siri as your personal assistant. With the Siri Remote, you can simply tell your TV what you want to watch. Ask Siri to provide you with a selection of popular TV programs or suggest boxing films. Siri goes beyond finding films and TV programs — you can ask Siri to play a newly released album or search the App Store for the best fitness apps. If you have HomeKit-enabled products, you can even use Siri to control your lights or adjust the thermostat. Siri makes it effortless to discover and enjoy the content you love on your Apple TV.
- Apple TV is compatible with high-definition TVs with HDMI3.
- Siri Remote is compatible with Apple TV (4th generation).
- Remote Loop is compatible with Siri Remote.
- Apple TV is compatible with Bluetooth keyboards4.
Install Your Tech Gift With Us
If you would like any assistance with your tech installation, design and set up or would like a quote, then please get in touch with our home automation London team using the button below:
