Top 5 Gadgets of 2007

Its that time of year again when everyone and their cousin is making top N lists, so who am  I to resist. As you may or may not be aware, I like and appreciate the odd gadget now and again so didn't take much to let you know the best 5 gadgets that I have had the pleasure of owning this year.

The year 2007 has been a great year for technology and gadgets. It will be remembered as the year that saw the launch of the iPhone, Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Apple TV, Windows Vista, Mac OS X Leopard among others.  I, of course did not buy every single gadget out there so without further adjure, here is my list of top 5 gadgets (that I have owned) of 2007:

Number 5, Ubiqiou 503G: The Ubiqiou is a Windows Mobile Smartphone with a Blackberry form factor. It is a very well built phone that's slim and light. It packs WiFi, 3G (HSDPA, UMTS), camera and a very bright and sharp screen.

The phone was however let down by early problems with the keyboard (fixed by ROM update) and generally sluggish feel to the OS. I also feel that if there is one thing a phone should always do - it is to be able to make and receive calls; and this is where the Ubiquio failed. It would often take several seconds to answer a call or it would altogether crash when attempting to make calls. Still, not a bad attempt by Ubiquio especially on the hardware side.

Number 4, Sony VGN-SZ650N: This is the laptop that I am writing this article on at the moment. The machine is very well built with an amazingly slim and bright LCD screen which makes it nice and light. Its also no slouch when it comes to performance and battery life. This is partly thanks to the hybrid HDD and Core 2 Duo processor. It also has some nice touches like a built in webcam, fingerprint reader and dual graphics sub-system.

Unfortunately, the laptop was one of the worst out-of-the-box experiences I have ever had. The laptop was loaded with so much crapware trialware that it impaired the system performance and I spent days removing  it before I even started installing my own applications.

Number 3, Denon AVR-2807: The Denon is an excellent AV receiver with a multitude of connections including HDMI switching capabilities, iPod integration, multi-zone support and up to 9.1 speaker setup.

The Denon has an auto-calibration feature that will set up the speaker levels according to their placement and room characteristics. I have the Denon paired with Q Acoustics 1100 in a 5.1 speaker configuration and the sound is exceptional. Not only is it able to deliver punching surround, it also delivers music in a very "Hi-Fi" fashion.

The downfall for the Denon is in its complexity. Outside of the auto-configuration, everything else about the receiver requires referring to the very thick user manual. Also, the volume control increases faster as you hold the button longer. This makes it very hard to move from say high to medium levels.

Number 2, Apple iPhone: what can I say about the iPhone that hasn't already been said. Its simply the best smartphone I have ever owned. Despite the fact that it is missing some functionality available in other phones, I would not swap it for anything else even if I was paid to (well, ok - perhaps I would for some hard cash). A lot of the nay-sayers (e.g Steve Ballmer) are already eating humble pie after the iPhone outsold all Windows CE based phones in Q3 2007 as well as accounted for 0.9% of all Internet browsing in the same quarter. Not bad for a device that's only been out for 6 months.

The only reason the iPhone is not at numero uno in this list is because, at the end of the day, its just a phone - right? Well, that and Apple's strategy of locking the phones to certain carriers.

And the winner is,  Apple TV:

Steve Jobs described the Apple TV as Apple's hobby that will one day hopefully become the "fourth leg in Apple's chair". Sure, the Apple TV hasn't been the runaway success like the iPod, but ever since getting mine, it has revolutionized my entire family's "lounge life". My 2 year old has all his favorite films available at a touch of a button and my wife can access all our photos and her music just as easily. As for me, I do everything else. You see, like most people, I have a lot of media on my computer but would rather use the big TV and big speakers in the lounge. The Apple TV is the first device that has not only made this possible, but done so in an easy to setup, easy to use and easy to manage way. Besides photos, music and videos, it is also my personal TV-on-demand service. I can now download entire TV series (bittorrent legally of course ) and watch them from the Apple TV and also access YouTube as an entirely always changing on-demand TV channel.

Despite the poor sales (which is more down to lack of official content thanks to the movie and TV studios), I believe that the Apple TV is a great success at what it aims to achieve.

So there you have it. What are your favorite gadgets of 2007? Be sure to let me know in the comments.