Look-back: These gadgets swept us off our feet in 2016

Moneycontrol Bureau

Year 2016 saw a raft of gadgets hitting the market that were both ahead of their time and light on the pocket. Be it television sets, mobile phones or even air purifiers, consumer technology firms raised their game and ensured their offerings came to India within a few days of global launches.

Here’s a low-down on the top gadgets that managed to grab eyeballs in 2016.SMARTPHONES

Hits: Google Pixel, OnePlus 3 and Apple iPhone 7

Google Pixel — the first Google-branded phone — is by far one of the best smartphones available in the Rs 50,000 plus club. An unbeatable camera, unlimited storage space and top-of-the-line hardware coupled with a glitch-free Android Nougat OS makes it a worthy competitor to the iPhone 7. Google stepped up the artificial intelligence game with Google Assistant which trumps Apple’s Siri by a huge margin.

Design has been Apple’s forte and the latest iPhone showcases it clearly. While Google Pixel’s cameras largely pip iPhone 7s in terms of colour reproduction or detail, Apple product’s design is a beauty and worth a king’s ransom. Doing away with the traditional 3.5mm audio jack, the Cupertino-based company is attempting to bring wireless earphones (AirPods) back into the fold.

OnePlus, a Chinese mobile manufacturer, stood out with OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T handsets. Both devices pack in excellent hardware, offer nifty and no-nonsense features. With a sub-Rs 30,000 price tag, the OnePluses exemplify value-for-money and provide almost as good an experience as a Rs 50,000 plus smartphone.

Misses: Samsung Galaxy Note 7

If not for the exploding phone mishaps, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 could have made it to the ‘hit’ list of 2016. Samsung pulled the plug on its flagship Note 7 model because of unexplained explosions which put many users at risk. The Korean company had in fact launched the Note 7 earlier to fend off the iPhone 7 threat. The subsequent recall and end of Galaxy Note 7 will remain an embarrassment in Samsung’s history.TELEVISIONS

LeEco and Vu

The idiot box became smart in the truest sense due to an onslaught by players like LeEco and Vu Technologies to name a few. A good 40-inch LED HD television set is now affordable and can be bought for about Rs 20,000. Rs 60,000 will allow you to adorn your wall with a top-of-the-line 55-inch 4K smart television.

Not just the affordability or specs, television makers realised that it is the content that will drive up adoption.

LeEco Super 3 X55 4K UHD TV, for example, offers web-based content ecosystem which can potentially replace existing set-top boxes and view channels across categories such as news, entertainment, movies, sport and cartoons.

It has a ‘Live’ section which airs popular channels from YuppTV which you may already be viewing through your local cable provider. While the TV comes with a pre-loaded app store which doesn’t offer variety like Google Play Store, you can download YouTube to access HD and 4K content.

Similarly, Vu Technologies, too, joined the party with Netflix-enabled smart televisions. Vu 65-inch Premium UHD smart LED TV costing just a tad above Rs 1.5 lakh shows how to match modest prices with above-average offering.INTERNET OF THINGS DEVICESOakter and Reos

Technology companies, especially Indian startups rose to the occasion making every-day electronic appliances such as bulbs, geysers and air-conditioners communicate with your mobile phone, thereby pushing the tech-savvy to become early adopters of Internet of Things (IoT).

Flipkart-backed Cube26’s Reos Lite bulb is one of the most affordable electronic appliances on the IoT platform available in India. You can communicate with 13W bulb through Bluetooth and Reos Lite app. Simply put, you can change the intensity or hue of the light emitted by the bulb by sliding your finger over your smartphone.

The Oakter Smart Home Kit is a starter’s key to control large home appliances such as air-conditioners and geysers, or smaller ones like mobile chargers and table lamps. The kit consists of a WiFi hub and two smart plugs. Once your smartphone and the plugs are connected to a WiFi network, you can regulate various appliances.