Hottest back to school gadgets for 2011
Posted Aug 30, 2011 8:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Back to school shopping means more than just clothes; students are looking for gadgets to give themselves a leading edge in their studies.
Citytv’s gadget guy Mike Yawney says smart phones and tablets are hot items again this year and a must-have for students.
Yawney says a lot of people think they’re just for games, but there are many applications that can help with courses, schedules and homework.
“A lot of parents think if I buy a tablet they may just play games on it, and yeah they may do that,” he says. “But they can really improve their school work and studying habits with a tablet.”
When buying a tablet, he adds, it doesn’t necessarily have to break the bank.
Technical specs are virtually the same and there are cheaper versions than the iPad 2, but he recommends doing some research.
“Make sure apps are available for that tablet, whether it’s Google’s Android Marketplace or Apple’s App Store,” he says. “Make sure they connect to either or, or even Blackberry’s App World. Don’t get a tablet with few apps; otherwise the student in your life is going to be very sad.”
One item that has caught Yawney’s eye is the Echo Pen by Livescribe.
It’s a smart pen that records up to 400 hours of audio from a lecture, as well as taking digital images of notes to download into a computer.
Also new on the market, an all-in-one printer from Hewlett Packard with a seven inch display that’s detachable and can be used as a tablet.
From the printer’s screen, users can surf the web and print wirelessly.
Mac lovers can rest easy with the invention of Hyperjuice by Hypermac.
Consumers now have replaceable batteries at their disposal that give users an extra 20 hours on their Mac Book Pro or over 30 extra hours on their iPad.
Yawney says it will come in handy for students at the library taking in late-night study sessions.
For those travelling by transit, he says noise-cancelling headphones are a great investment.
But as with every technological purchase, he says, spend some money because consumers will get what they pay for.
He also suggests for those living in the dorm, a personal internet viewer from Sony called the Dash.
Yawney says it can be used as an alarm clock or screen saver, and you can listen to music with it or put a memory card inside it and watch photos.
