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.
