There are certain personal gadgets that you’ll always find on my person and in my handbag! These include my personal mobile phone and my Airpods for sure. They’re the gadgets that I simply cannot live without, and they make my life better in multiple ways. I’m sure there are a few of these on your list as well, and you’re always ready to add more! Hence, we’ve curated a collection of handy and super functional personal gadgets, that promise to make your daily life easier, simpler and efficient. They’re super easy to carry around and just organize your life much more. From ergonomic earphones that double up as a jewelry piece to super-fast SSDs, this range of versatile personal gadgets will make your modern and fast life easier to manage!
Being an audiophile means you take the audio quality and ergonomic fit of your earphones pretty seriously. If you get one that is stylish too, then you are in for a jackpot. Having a pair of earbuds that come with a snug fit, boast style statement and the reassurance of not being misplaced is something you just can’t ignore. We are talking about these earphones that are designed to double up as a jewelry piece. Designed by Yibai Science & Technology from Shenzen, these are called the “Jade Culture Earphone Jue 20.” That’s a bit odd name but everything else about these conceptual wireless earbuds listed on iF Design Award 2020 is super cool. When not in use, the earbuds magnetically lock together to take the form of a necklace pendant that’s suspended by the tethering wire. Then again, when you want to listen to your favorite tunes, simply separate the pendant and get groovy. Picture this scenario – your buddy compliments, “This pendant looks so cool, bud”, and you’ll detach them and plug-in into your ears to their amazement, “It’s my pair of earbuds, mate!” Added bonus – you surely won’t lose one of the earbuds as there is no accidentally falling down- speaking to you AirPods!
Compatible with most USB-C devices, the HybridDrive offsets your need for multiple hubs, dongles, and drives. With a multiport on one end, and an SSD on another, and a USB-C interface connecting the two, the HybridDrive bridges the gap between your portable devices (laptop/tablet/phone) and your desktop – in the sense that it gives you extra ports and expandable storage… something most desktops have in common. The multiport setup comprises a 4K 60Hz HDMI port, two USB-A ports with 10Gbps data transfer, a MicroSD card reader, an SD card reader, and a USB-C which supports 100W of power output along with high-speed video and data transferring. On the other end of the HybridDrive is an SSD that comes in 4 sizes, starting from 128Gb and going all the up to a whopping 2Tb.
OPPO has teamed up with Japanese design studio nendo (founded by Oki Sato) to present a radical three-fold phone concept at the 4th China International Industrial Design Expo (CIIDE) that has this year’s theme as “New Designs, New Trends, New Momentum.” Dubbed as the slide-phone, the motive of the design is to pursue “a comfortable relationship between people and their products through a human-centric approach to design.” Adapting a caterpillar-like moniker for the folding mechanism, the concept phone unfolds to a 7-inch screen with a slim profile, that’s wider screen real estate than most we’ve seen so far. When unfolded to the first fold it reveals the 1.5-inch screen area for basic notifications or functions like music player controls, call history, or more. The second fold reveals the 3.15-inch screen space for clicking photos, video calls, or playing games. Third and the final fold reveals the full widescreen for multitasking, taking panoramic photos, or playing games with an on-screen controller on each side. It even comes with a stylus for professionals, like the one on the Galaxy Note 20 series.
The Pixel smartphone went onto redefine what a pure Android experience could look like, becoming the gold standard in the Android OS experience. James Tsai’s Google Pixel Smartwatch concept does the same for the Android Wear OS. Embodying Google’s playful-serious aesthetic, the Pixel Smartwatch concept comes in a traditional round format, and in a variety of quirkily named colors. The Android Wear OS logo displays clearly on the always-on display of the watch, transforming into a colorful set of watch hands every time you look at it to read the time. The watch comes with Google’s top-notch voice AI, all of Google’s native apps, and a heart-rate monitor on the back, which ties in well with Google’s plan of acquiring Fitbit and their entire fitness-tech ecosystem. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wearable concept were entirely waterproof too, just to fire shots at Apple!
What’s better than one audio device? A two-in-one! No?! A three-in-one!! I’ve officially hit crazy with the Level x3 Headphones. Just like the Matryoshka dolls, these babies are one big bag of surprises. Designed to be your everything-audio solution, the Level X3 is a pair of in-ear earphones, that fit into headphones. Audio synchronization allows your headphones to continue what you were listening to on your earphones. The only way to top off that awesome idea is to step it up with the Cradle, a docking device for the headphones that not only charges them but acts as an all-in-one speaker.
A portable, wearable, air conditioner is no more a thing of futuristic TV shows. The Reon Pocket is a smartphone-controlled personal gadget that was designed to be compact and cool. It works using thermoelectric cooling and can cool the user’s body temperature by 13 degrees celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) and raise your temperature by about 8 degrees Celsius (about 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Reon sits on the base of your neck in a special undershirt designed for it. It uses the Peltier effect which means a temperature difference is created by applying a voltage between two electrodes connected to a sample of semiconductor material. The heat is absorbed or emitted when you pass an electrical current across a junction to either lower your temperature or increase it without bulk or noise.
One of the most common reasons for accidents on the road is people wearing headphones or earphones while they walk, ride bikes, or drive. Earphones and headphones cut out a lot of ambient noise and we often get lost in the sound which can be unsafe. Portable speakers are not something you can slip into your pocket or carry around in your hand – it is simply inconvenient. That’s when a sleek, unobtrusive, wearable speaker like the BoomBand comes into the picture to give you the best of both worlds – you don’t have to ‘carry’ it and you will still be able to hear important announcements while having your music within your reach. It has six hours of battery life (more than any wireless audio earphones or headphones can claim) so you can actually get away with forgetting your portable Bluetooth speaker at a picnic if you have the BoomBand! Tech Life has designed this personal gadget to release crisp and clear sound while keeping the form as compact as a wristwatch, you can tune it to your desired volume or raise it if you’re the DJ in your social circle. This nifty device is lightweight, comfortable, and blends with your wardrobe seamlessly.
Joel Meredith, a 22-year-old student at the University of Technology Sydney wants to radically change the way we interact with our music, making it hassle-free while being stylish. That’s his idea for an accessory good enough to go with your style quotient and still being functional. Joel calls it the Melo Ring which sits pretty on your finger, and without even lifting your arm, you can interact with your music using touch or swipe gestures via the various sensors located all over the ring. Sharing songs with other Melo Ring users is also possible with the flick of a finger on the minimalistic piece of jewelry. Not only that one can add songs to a playlist, read out song names, or change the playlist without anyone else even noticing. Being more than just an accessory that you wear every day or probably never even take it off – turning it into something functional is the main motivation for the cool idea.
Designed for speed, storage, strength, and to be the subscription-killer (I’ll explain), the ECLLPSE is poised to be the future of data storage. Simply put, the ECLLPSE is a tiny, finger-sized SSD that’s encased in a rugged, virtually unbreakable, waterproof housing. With as much as 2 Terabytes of internal storage, the ECLLPSE gives you a way to store and carry practically all your data around with you, right in your pocket. It comes with multiple adapters built right into its design, giving you the ability to connect it to ALL your devices, from your laptop to your phone, and from your DSLR to your drone, letting you seamlessly back-up, restore, and transfer files between multiple devices. Although with that much storage, comes a pretty major responsibility… transfer speed. It’s a good thing though that the ECLLPSE boasts of reading/write speeds that reach as high as 550MB/s, allowing you to transfer 8K videos in mere minutes. It also means you could use the ECLLPSE as external storage for your PS5 or Nintendo Switch and run games off it with absolutely no lag!
The WGP isn’t exactly what you’d first think of when you hear the term Smart Glasses, but that’s almost purely on Google for creating that definition. The WGP, on the other hand, are smart in the sense that they put your Truly Wireless Smart (TWS) earphones right into your spectacles’ temple-stems. Designed to be entirely modular and seamless, the stems can easily detach from the frame of the glasses and re-attach onto another pair, essentially allowing you to switch out styles without losing functionality. The WGP comes with a pretty exhaustive catalog of frame styles, from sunglasses to reading glasses, and from acetate to metal frames. Just like all glasses, they can be optimized for optical power, have the option of polarized lenses, and even anti-scratch, anti-glare, and blue-light blocking coatings. On the audio front, the WGP Smart Audio Glasses are quite like any pair of TWS earphones you’ve used. They feature a touch-sensitive surface that lets you tap to control playback, answer and reject calls, and even summon your phone’s voice assistant. There’s even a dedicated gesture to trigger WGP’s game mode, which brings audio-video latency down to as little as 50 milliseconds.
