Features - HEXUS picks: 10 tech toys for Christmas

[HEXUS]

Christmas is just around the corner, and HEXUS' Parm Mann sounds off on ten gadgets he'd wish to find beneath the tree this year.

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[PeterStoba]

I thought this would be a little better, with less expensive things, like helicopters etc..

[Funkstar]

Or how about nothing from that list?

would rather have:
• Canon 50D or 5D instead of the Nikon.
• Squeezebox Boom or Duet instead of the Sonos
• HTC touch HD instead of the Storm

[Haiku32]

Guitar Hero World Tour .

[Nelviticus]

• Squeezebox Boom or Duet instead of the Sonos

But then you'd have to leave your PC running whenever you wanted to listen to music.

• HTC touch HD instead of the Storm

But then you'd have to put up with - shudder - Windows Mobile, the world's stupidest mobile operating system.

[Funkstar]

But then you'd have to leave your PC running whenever you wanted to listen to music.

Or a NAS box, or connect directly to SqueezeNetwork and have radio streamed directly from hundreds of radio stations including Pandora, Rhapsody, Deezer, LastFM, etc.

But then you'd have to put up with - shudder - Windows Mobile, the world's stupidest mobile operating system.

Hardly. Yes it's getting long in the tooth now, but it is the most customisable phone OS out there, with the biggest installed user base, largest selection of devices and has the largest development community in the industry.

[pauldarkside]

From that list I'd have to choose the MacBook Pro. A hackintosh only goes so far with regards to dev testing. As for the other items, well I've already got suitable alternatives, all of which I'm perfectly content with. Just as well really as I don't see me affording that many new gadgets or expensive upgrades next year

Now, I must PM Santa with my address

[miniyazz]

As someone with an insane amount of internal HDDs, and three screens to boot, while the Dell XPS looks good, the small case and small mobo rule this one out for me.

I've never been a Mac user, and while it may look good, I can't say I'm thrilled by the prospect of no right mouse button. Feel free to disagree with me on that one though, as I haven't personally had the experience! Besides, my old laptop from a few years back still works fine; I even have it running Windows 7 (build 6801) smoothly at the moment.

As an alternative to a 50" TV costing close to £2000, my recommendation would be a projector - namely the (720p) Optoma HD700X, which set me back about £400 back in September. I've never looked back, and it's certainly fairly breathtaking the first time you see a Wii played on a 90" screen. One caveat - unless it's projected onto a blank wall, it may be worth getting a projector screen; these can be expensive, but a £20 white blind from eBay does the job for me.

Moving onto phones, what's with a 24-month contract? If you're the sort of person spending that much on a phone, you're going to want to change it when a newer, lighter, faster version comes along, and it'll be totally outdated by the end of the contract, unless you can get a trade-in or something.

This is certainly one of the more expensive christmas lists I've seen, and somewhat disappointingly, none of the items really seem to be what I'm looking for at the moment.

[99Flake]

Or how about nothing from that list?

would rather have:
• Squeezebox Boom or Duet instead of the Sonos

They are very different bits of kit though. The sonos allows for more than just computer music files to be flung around the house, you can use any source you like.

Plus it has a nicer interface than the Duet and doesn't require you to have a box + am + speakers in remote areas, you just use the sonos amp/receiver with your own choice of speakers.

Best of all it allows you to zone the areas, keeping fixed proportional volumes which go up and down off of one remote, great for parties!

Yes it does cost more but it also does more in a more efficient way.

[Salazaar]

I voted for the Kuro up there but I'd actually prefer it's newer brother...
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/re...n-Plasma-TV/p1

[samcross]

Macbook Pro.......

[Tidus]

The Dell XPS and Nikon D90 get my vote, If Santa's buying .

[miniyazz]

The Dell XPS and Nikon D90 get my vote, If Santa's buying .

Then again, if Santa's buying, I'll have the most expensive thing on the list, sell it on eBay, and buy about three other things on the list with the money

[Nelviticus]

But then you'd have to put up with - shudder - Windows Mobile, the world's stupidest mobile operating system.

Hardly. Yes it's getting long in the tooth now, but it is the most customisable phone OS out there, with the biggest installed user base, largest selection of devices and has the largest development community in the industry.

Five facts, all true, but none make it a good mobile OS. I mean who, who in their right mind would try to duplicate the Windows 'Start' menu on something as small as a phone or a PDA?!? It's clearly a case of "hey, let's put Windows on a phone" rather than "hey, let's think up an appropriate OS for a mobile device", which is why people like HTC have to layer their own UI on top of it to hide its wilfully bizarre awfulness. Suckety suckety suck. It's big but it's not good.

[DataMatrix]

Then again, if Santa's buying, I'll have the most expensive thing on the list, sell it on eBay, and buy about three other things on the list with the money

Lol.

[WoLFe]

No Samsung NC10?

BOOOO! Nah, good list.