Season's gadget greetings: Gadget gifts that you can consider

Gadgets make great gifts. You can rarely go wrong because people don't mind if they already have what they receive: a spare never hurts. Yes they cost a bit more than that dried fruit box, but they'll remember you long after Diwali 2017 has come and gone. Here are some tech toys for boys (and girls!) — all launched very recently — at prices from Rs 1,000 to Rs 9,000.

Wanna run-out like Hrithik?

The Mi Band-HRX edition works for 20 days between recharges.

Fit it, forget it, might well be the motto of the HRX edition of Xiaomi's Mi Band 2 health wearable, co- branded with Hrithik Roshan's HRX fitness brand. With a beefed up battery, and a power-efficient OLED display, it works for about 20 days on a full charge. It tracks steps taken, body temperature, calories burnt, sleep cycles and lets you view your performance for a day, a week or a month. It pairs with Android 4.4 or iOS 7 or later devices and once you set up the app, it will vibrate to alert you about incoming calls and messages. All fairly standard so far, but the MiBand brings some nice touches: raise your hand and the device will display the time. It will also jog you into action when it's time to exercise. Weighing less than 10 grams, it costs Rs 1,299. And if that matters, the limited edition is engraved with the HRX logo

Put a 'spin' on your phone calls!

2017's wackiest idea so far? a Fidget spinner -cum mobile phone!

A Hong Kong- based company — Chilli International — has come out with an interesting combo — a mobile phone that doubles as a fidget spinner! The device is shaped like two blades of a spinner: one bulb houses a tiny 1-inch LCD display, the other contains the keypad. The whole thing is less than 9cm long. Open the back and it has room for a 280mAh battery, a full sized SIM and a microSD card that can take 8GB in addition to the on-board 32MB RAM memory and 32MB storage. It is a feature phone in all respects — including calls, SMS and MP3 music.

And yes, the gear wheel in the centre lets you spin the whole thing nicely! It costs around Rs 1,000 on online shopping sites and includes a USB charging cable.

Playful mouse!

This award-winning mouse is made for FPS gamers.

FPS or First Person Shooter is a genre of computer games, that places maximum demand on the quick reaction and wrist work of the player. So the quality and precision of the mouse becomes crucial. Which is why hard core players are prepared to spend quite a bit more on the mouse than the average PC user.

Kingston's HyperX products are made for gamers — and the latest addition, last week, was the Pulsefire FPS Gaming Mouse which recently won the Red Dot Award for its design. It offers four sensitivity settings from 400 to 3200 DPI, provides a good non-slip side grip and comes with 6 buttons backed by good quality Omron switches, which provide a reassuring tactile feedback with every press. A generous 1.8-metre braided cable makes a failsafe connection to the PC and the whole thing weighs around120g. It costs Rs 3,999.

Value-for-money 4G phone

New Chinese phone, 10.or, offers good combo of specs & price.

Indians are great at sniffing out a good deal. They've shown that they don't like to pay a premium for a brand name when it comes to smart phones. We're guessing they'll be delighted at the combo of price and performance offered by the latest Chinese maker to launch phones here: 10.or (pronounced tenor). We tried the 10.or E with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, expandable with a 128GB microSD card which costs Rs 8,999. The 2GB/ 16GB version costs Rs 1,000 less. Both phones have very good batteries — 4000mAh, good for 48 hours — come with the latest Android 7.1.2 which you can upgrade once Android 8 is offered. The makers have sensibly used the standard Android, without any fancy add ons —except icons for Amazon and Kindle. The 5.5-inch screen is full HD and the dual nano SIMs are good for the latest 4G VoLTE service. A finger print scanner in a phone in this price band is rather rare but the cameras — 13MP rear and 5MP selfie — both with flash are just about OK. We recommend going for the 10.or G model which is identical except for dual 13MP rear cameras and a 16MP front camera — at Rs 10,999. We liked the nice chunky (150g) feel. And the price is feel-good too!

Ethical snooping!

People, pets or things, Letstrack devices harness GPS to buy you peace of min.

Over-seventy senior citizens who misplace their spectacles or phone; pet owners whose dog strays away from home; parents who agonize over the safety of their children or car owners whose vehicle has been stolen..... would all benefit from the simple science of keeping track. London-based Letstrack provides answers to our most fervent prayers with a suite of handy tracking devices for all these scenarios. You can attach the Letstrack personal device to a pet's collar a child's belt; the Letstrack bike series to a two-wheeler or the Plug&Play to the On Board Data or OBD port that can be found under your car's dashboard. All the models used GPS to keep track and an app on your phone to keep you posted.

Prices range from Rs 4,499 to Rs 7,499 and include a year's free tracking service. After that you need to subscribe — typically for about Rs 100 per month. Not too much for buying peace of mind!

—IndiaTechOnline