Fitbit Charge 5
Halfway between the Fitbit kids watches and the expensive Fitbit Versa or Sense devices, you’ll find the Charge 5. If you’re looking to step up your fitness tracking, it’s awesome value for money. It’s slim and comfortable, has a bright screen with lots of different watch face options, and great tracking. Not just steps, but your heart rate, sleep, stress and even oxygen levels. Plus 20 different workout or sport activities. You can swim with it and the companion app is easy to navigate, too. It can connect to your phone, but there’s no third-party apps or music storage.
Pivo Pod Silver
We know that a lot of you are experimenting with doing YouTube clips and this device can be a huge help with that. It’s a dock that holds your phone so you can film in landscape. Then it has tracking controls in it that connect to your phone via an app and uses its camera to see where you are. Then when you set it up for filming, either on a flat surface or using a tripod, the Pivo will turn as you walk around so you are always at the centre of the action. It works well and comes with a remote for manual adjustments, too.
TCL Tab 10S
If you keep nagging your parents for an iPad and they keep saying no, there are much cheaper options to consider. The TCL Tab 10S is an Android tablet that a good fit for kids. It’s got a solid 10” 1920 x 1200px screen that’s got good colour while minimising harmful blue light. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 connectivity, a decent 64GB of storage space and a processor that can play the latest games. The 8MP back and 5MP front cameras are joined by dual microphones and speakers for ok visuals and sound (although not exceptional). The battery life that will get you through a whole day of watching video, and best of all, it comes with a pen stylus and a protective case!
ViewSonic m2e
Imagine being able to have a cinema experience with you no matter where you go! That’s what the ViewSonic m2e LED projector offers. This small, high-definition projector can throw up to a 100” image on a surface from not very far away at all. It needs power (so no battery), but has a good range of ports and wireless connection options so you can plug in a laptop or a USB key to play content. There are no native apps, so if you want to stream from a phone, you’ll need a ChromeCast dongle. We wish it was brighter as it’s only good in dark conditions, but we love how portable it is and the quality of the picture for the price.
Surface Pro 8
We’ve always been big fans of the Surface range, as they effectively turn a big desktop PC into a 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop/tablet. You can use and access all the same stuff you do on your PC, so you don’t need to deal with apps all the time to do the stuff you want to do. The Surface Pro 8 has a larger 13” screen than its predecessor, with a fantastic 120Hz refresh rate. The rear camera is bumped up to 10MP, there’s Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. A longer 16-hour battery life and an upgrade to Windows 11 operating system complete a solid package. We just wish it came with the keyboard and stylus, rather than them costing extra.
