The 10 best tech products of 2017

From the super-powered Xbox One X, to the first ever waterproof Kindle
Happy snapper: the Fujifilm Instax SQ10 is one of the best tech products of 2017
Fujifilm
Ben Travis27 December 2017

In a year that saw smart speakers become ever-more ubiquitous and 4K ultra high-definition make its way into more people’s living rooms, the last 12 months have brought an array of brilliant gadgets.

There were brand new gems – especially in the world of gaming – while some familiar favourites got important upgrades resulting in a new wave of must-haves.

Here’s our pick of the top 10 tech products of the year.

Nintendo Switch

Drew Angerer/Getty

If a piece of kit performed miracles this year, it was the Nintendo Switch. It turned around Nintendo’s ailing fortunes after the Wii U tanked, redefined what a games console could be, and delivered two of the very best games of recent years in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.

The Switch is a pure joy to play, with an ethos of sharing your games with the people around you. It works equally brilliantly when docked for TV play, and on the surprisingly crisp tablet screen, and its games library is already formidable. A genuine triumph.

Sonos One

Sonos

Over a year since Amazon’s Alexa assistant launched in the UK, asking a speaker to play you a song is second nature. But while the Amazon Echo has reasonable sound quality and volume, it can’t compete with multi-room audio champs Sonos.

Then along came the Sonos One, building Alexa right into a Sonos speaker. The results are still slightly buggy (the software is constantly being updated and improved), but for audiophiles this is the must-have smart speaker out there right now.

iPhone X

Apple

After a few years of playing it safe with the iPhone, Apple took a bigger leap with the iPhone X. Removing the home button was only the first step, with a screen that stretches across the full face of the device. Then there was the controversial ‘notch’ design, with a black bar at the top of the screen housing major new facial-recognition hardware.

While Android and Apple will always have their die-hards, the iPhone X seemed to resonate clearly as something new – so much so that Samsung is said to be preparing its Galaxy S9 handset for an early launch to fire back as soon as possible.

Sky Soundbox

Sky

While TV displays are getting better and better, sound quality is facing a different problem. Getting some kind of soundbar or additional speaker is practically a necessity to combat thin, tinny speakers in slim TVs – and Sky’s answer is ingenious.

If you’re a Sky Q customer, Sky’s own Soundbox is a no-brainer. It’s got the credentials thanks to a partnership with audio experts Devialet, but it’s the way it works in tandem with Sky’s top-of-the-range TV package that truly marks it out. The box can enhance dialogue and muffle gunshot sounds in your chosen shows, and Sky customers get it at the bargain knocked-down price of £249.

Sony Xperia Touch

Sony

This year’s smartest screen wasn’t actually a screen at all. Sony unveiled the Xperia Touch projector, which turns any surface into an interactive display.

It’s not the most practical invention of the year – the set-up is fiddly and the calibration and scaling on it is limited – and it’s £1400 price tag is eye-popping. Still, the future implications of a finger-tracking projector with touch screen capabilities are hugely exciting.

Sphero R2-D2

Sphero

Two years ago Sphero launched the year’s must-have Christmas toy – an adorable gyroscopic BB-8 droid from Star Wars. But as loveable as the android star of the new saga is, you can’t knock the classics.

This year Sphero gave fans what they really wanted – an app-controlled R2-D2 that beeps, boops, and screams its away across your living room at the push of a button. Is it a life-changing bit of kit? No. Is it happiness in a box? Yes.

Sony Bravia A1 TV

(Sony)

As 4K and HDR became the dominant screen technologies, Sony went ahead and redesigned every other part of the TV with its flagship Bravia A1 range. The easel-like frame makes this a ridiculously stylish telly, with thin-bezel edges that make it more akin to a sharp and vibrant free-standing window into the world of whatever you’re watching.

It’s also tackles the tinny sound problem with Acoustic Surface technology, which pumps audio out from behind the whole screen.

Amazon Kindle Oasis

Luxury: Amazon's latest e-reader packs in all kinds of bells and whistles
Amazon

Once you get the not-so-small matter of price out of the way, the Kindle Oasis offers the ultimate e-reader upgrade: you can read it in the bath without fear of breaking it.

Yes, Amazon has made a waterproof Kindle that can survive being submerged, and the squat design is more book-like than previous Kindles. The basic £60 version is still a bargain, but this luxury model shows Amazon has impressive upgrades for people willing to spend more on their e-reader.

Xbox One X

'The best bar none': the Xbox One X is 'the world's most powerful console'
Microsoft

If Nintendo brought flexible fun with the Switch, Microsoft’s Xbox One upgrade brings the muscle. The Xbox One X pushes console gaming towards the PC realm with this compact and powerful 4K machine.

Whether or not it turns around Microsoft’s fortunes as it continues to struggle against the market dominance of Sony’s PS4 remains to be seen, but the One X really lives up to its promise of ‘the world’s most powerful console’.

Fujifilm Instax SQ10

Fujifilm

Considering the ubiquitous popularity of Instagram, it’s almost baffling that a product like the Instax SQ10 didn’t make its way to fruition until now. Better late than never, this square-format not-so-instant camera can print Polaroid-style pics on the fly, but is also a digital camera that means you can check your pics before committing them to film.

It’s not perfect – the next version should include Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity, while many of the digital filters make your printed photos too dark. But this was the hottest summer snapper of the year, and a brilliant fusing of old and new.

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