Top 10 gadgets of 2013

New Delhi: Time Magazine has released its “top 10 gadgets of 2013” list and has named the Google Chromecast as the top product. Surprisingly, it was for the first time in three years that something other than an Apple device has claimed the top spot. The magazine attributed the gadget's top ranking due to its simplicity and focus and said that "lots of companies have built devices to do this; Chromecast is the first one that gets it right."At the same time, Google described the iPad Air and iPad Mini as the "best tablet you can buy, in two convenient sizes."Here are the top 10 gadgets as ranked by Time:10. Nokia Lumia 1020 With a 41-megapixel sensor, along with Nokia's custom camera app, the Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone gives mobile photographers a reason to salivate. The 1020 is the ultimate in convenience and point-and-shoot quality. The phone has a large camera module on the back (about 1.75 inches in diameter) that protrudes a full 0.51 inch from the phone's face. Like all the Lumia 920-series phones, the 1020's 4.5-inch display features a 1,280x768-pixel resolution (WXGA) and pixel density of 334ppi. Its AMOLED screen is supersensitive, which means you can operate it with fingernails or gloved fingertips. The phone's massive camera module includes a wide xenon flash and a six-lens Carl Zeiss lens, plus an LED sidekick that's mainly used for focus. Nokia says if the 1020 users hear the phone rattling, it's actually just the “sound of blur-free photos and super-stable videos.” A wide-angle lens, f/2.2 aperture, very effective built-in image stabilizer and a maximum ISO speed of 4000 makes Lumia 1020 a great phone for hand-held low-light photography. The device comes with a lens-based image stabilisation system that the company claims offers a 3-stop advantage compared to smartphones with no anti-shake. That means the phone gives sharp results for both stills and videos in fairly dark conditions. The phone allows users to digitally zoom by 3x by swiping up and down on the screen. The lens has a minimum focus range of 15cm.By default the Nokia Lumia 1020 uses the Auto shooting mode. The other available modes are Close-up, Night, Night Portrait, Sports and Backlight. In addition, you'll also find the Nokia Pro Camera app which is meant for more experienced photographers. Taking a photo is easy. You can do it by half-press the conventional shutter button to focus then full-press it to fire the shutter. Or you can simply tap on the LCD screen, which quickly focuses and takes the photo with a single tap. The phone allows users to shoot High Definition video clips at full 1080p or 720p HD at 30fps in the MP4 format, complete with stereo sound with the ability to change the white balance (Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Automatic, Daylight) and continuous focus mode. 9. Leap Motion Controller Leap Motion Controller is a small USB accessory which you just need to plug and play. The Leap Motion technology allows you to use gestures in the space directly in front of the display. That means you can now play games or read New York Times stories — by waving your hands in the air. It can even detect the angle of your palms and how many fingers you're sticking out. Already, the technology is being built into laptops, starting with HP's Envy17 Leap Motion SE.8. Nest Protect Nest Protect is a $130 smoke and carbon-monoxide detector. It has a sleek design, offers the ability to remotely monitor via mobile device, and wave off false alarms with your hand. Rather than producing a loud noise, Protect alerts you to hazards in a calm female voice which says helpful things like “There's carbon monoxide in the den.” The device also has the ability to send alerts to the Nest smartphone app. A good thing about Nest Protect is its ability to wave to silence the alarm when something small like a burnt toaster pancake sets it off.7. Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets are known as one of the best low-cost Android tablets. Amazon's third-generation Kindle Fire tablets costs a $239 for seven-inch model and a $379 for a 8.9-inch model. The Kindle Fire HDX 7" comes with 1,920x1,200 resolution which is the same resolution as used by the Google Nexus 7 (2013). This gives the screen a high pixel density of 323ppi meaning sharp text and images. The tablets use a high-quality IPS panel meaning great viewing angles. The device delivers rich and vibrant colors along with great contrast. As always, they make it as simple as possible to consume mass quantities of Amazon content — video, music, books, games and more.6. Microsoft Xbox One Instead of building a beefed-up version of the Xbox 360, Microsoft has built a comprehensive media hub for all of your living room entertainment. Kinect voice controls, television integration, and multitasking features make the Xbox One an ideal combination of game system, media hub, universal remote, program guide, and Blu-ray player. You can also record your best moves to share with the Live community, including the look on your face as you do your victory dance. The device weighs 7 pounds and measures 13.1 x 10.5 x 3.25 inches, and looks more like an old-school VCR. The Xbox One comes with both exclusives and cross-platform games. Microsoft secured Killer Instinct, Crimson Dragon (the spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon), Dead Rising 5, and Forza Motorsport 5 all as launch exclusives, and they're all compelling titles in addition to Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and other next-gen ports available on both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.5. Apple iPhone 5s Apple iPhone 5s is described as the 'most forward-thinking iPhone yet' by the company. And why not! The iPhone 5S is one of the lightest, slimmest, and best-looking smartphones on the market. The device comes with a 4-inch display with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels and boasts of a 326ppi pixel density. The handset packs a new A7 chipset which boasts of a 64-bit architecture and also includes a M7 motion co-processor for measuring motion data through various sensor like accelerometer, compass and gyroscope. The iPhone 5S runs iOS 7, the new iteration of Apple OS. It comes in three inbuilt storage variants 16GB, 32GB (Rs 62,5000) and 64GB (Rs 71,500) and is available in three colour variants such as Gold, Silver and Space Grey.The 5S sports an all-new 8-megapixel iSight camera with dual-LED flash, which the company called True Tone flash. The rear camera features an f/2.2 aperture and a 15 percent large image sensor, compared to the iPhone 5. It also houses a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera.One of the most distinctive features of the iPhone 5s is its fingerprint scanner, which the company calls Touch ID. The Touch ID scanner can be used to unlock the iPhone 5s or even authorize payments on iTunes.4. Pebble Smartwatch The 2013 witnessed a rise in wearable computing which makes it a great year for web-tethered watches, glasses, and other personal gadgetry items. The Pebble smartwatch does its job, and it does it exceptionally well. The $150 wearable gizmo acts as a satellite for your iPhone or Android handset, receiving snippets such as text-message notifications via Bluetooth and displaying them on its power-efficient E Ink display. Pebble keeps battery drain on your phone to a minimum and also allows for every single notification your iPhone gets to be pushed to your wrist. Pebble has provided an SDK to developers so that applications can communicate with the device, and applications are built for the watch to communicate back to the apps. This watch is waterproof, so you can shower, wash dishes, go in the rain.3. Oculus Rift Development Kit The Oculus Rift is a next-generation virtual reality headset designed for immersive gaming. The Oculus Rift uses two lenses in a ski mask-style head-mounted display that combine to form a 1280 x 800 display. Each eye sees 640 x 800 pixels. The rest of the hardware simply consists of a break-out control box you use to plug the Rift into your computer; it features DVI, HDMI, micro-USB and power. Rift will let games create 3D worlds which surround you.2. Apple's new iPads Apple's latest products, the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, are now available worldwide. The iPad Air is the new full-sized tablet in Apple's portfolio and will be on sale alongside the two-year-old iPad 2. New features of the latest Apple tablet include the 64-bit A7 chipset, thinner profile and refreshed design. The starting price of the new iPad is Rs 35,900, whereas the top model costs Rs 65,900. The second-generation iPad mini comes with major upgrades over its predecessors, mainly the Retina display and the latest 64-bit A7 processor. The base variant of Retina iPad mini is priced at Rs 28,900, while the top model costs Rs 58,900.1. Google Chromecast Google's Chromecast, a $35 plug-in media streaming device, beat stiff competition from Apple, Microsoft and Nokia to claim the top spot as Time's gadget of the year. Time said it was the gadget's simplicity and focus that beat others. . Plug the $35 Chromecast into one of your TV's HDMI ports, and you can start viewing videos and other content from your laptop, tablet or phone to the big screen, no wires involved. Chromecast works with Android smartphones and tablets, iPhone and iPad devices, Chrome (for both Windows and Mac), and Chromebook Pixel.Chromecast supports up to 1080p video resolution, so you won't lose picture quality from high-def sources.