Coolest Gadgets of 2016 – Part 1

We keep scouring the internet, reading up on the latest reviews and even visit many shows including the famous Consumer Electronics Show (more commonly known as the CES) at Las Vegas where we met tons of brand new startups and saw cool gadgets ranging from the latest 3D printers, smart health-focused wearables, drones, new laptops, breath taking (and bendable) smart phones to the new rage that are AR/VR headsets. However, we also found some lame products, or old products in new packing or products that might never take off the shelf. But don’t worry, we’re only going to tell you about the best ones we picked so far.

This is Part 1 of the ‘Coolest Gadgets of 2016’

DietSensor

The SCiO, a very cool gadget, powered by consumer physics, along with the DietSensor app is going to help people decide whether they should be eating or drinking a certain kind of food, or how much can they eat to maintain their goal. This sensor can scan most foods (and even non foods) by analyzing the chemicals and letting you know if you should be eating that particular food based on the kind of diet you have.

Delicious medium rare roast beef seasoned with fresh herbs, chilli powder and rosemary with golden roasted potatoes.. yummm.. eh, what were we talking about?

Here’s how the gadget works: The handheld scanner, called SCiO, sends an infrared beam to the surface of the item. It then captures the reflected wavelengths that carry the signature of its composition. The DietSensor companion app will then interpret the data and create a meal profile that provides you with the nutritional facts, along with some general tips about how many calories, carbs, or proteins you should eat for the meal.

Source: DietSensor.com

Sounds great but (there always seems to be a but) it’s not perfect. The scanner can only read homogeneous foods, those with a single level such as chicken, crackers, bread, cheese, and cereal. We tried it with a bread filled with cheese, but ofcourse it couldnt detect the cheese and told us it was bread. Someone tried a nutty chocolate bar and the device failed him too. To overcome this, the DietSensor app allows you to manually input nutritional data in such situations, which is a feature thats already available in many fitness apps.

Even with this drawback, the DietSensor is still cool. It can help people with diabetes or obesity. However, there is another catch. It isn’t cheap. The small SCiO scanner will retail for $249, while the DietSensor app may include an activation fee or a monthly subscription, between $10 to $20 (the company hasn’t finalised it yet). Even with $10, the first year will end up costing you $349. It’s available for pre-order here and expected to be made available in September 2016.

The Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook™

You might be wondering why are we including a laptop in the coolest gadgets. Well, because this is no ordinary laptop. It is a truly breath taking work of art that doesn’t compromise on performance. The Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook™ sets a new standard for ultra-mobility and extreme performance. The extremely skinny 0.52†[1.33cm] aircraft grade CNC aluminum chassis encases an Intel® Core™ i7 processor, and probably the most visually stunning 12.5†4K high-resolution touch enabled display.

The extremely thin 0.52†aircraft grade CNC milled aluminum chassis does look awesome

It’s an ultra book that is able to run many of the latest video games on mid to high setting depending on several elements, nevertheless it’s definitely going to be an amazing product for avid gamers who want something really portable. You may be wondering, how long does it last though? The company says the battery can last up to 8 hours, so you don’t have to worry about going out of power. It comes with a choice of either 128GB, 256GB or 512GB SSD hard drives which are pretty damn fast. You do have a choice of display. You can either go for the cheaper QHD or the more expensive 4K screen. Both IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) displays are touch-enabled with broad viewing angles and unmatched picture and colour quality. Oh and did we mention you can change the backlight colour of each and every key on the keyboard. Now that is a deal sealer, or is it?

You can change the keyboard colours, make them wave, dance or breath

And of course, it has the Thunderbolt™ 3. The Thunderbolt™ 3 technology in Razer Blade Stealth brings Thunderbolt to USB-C at speeds as much as 40 Gbps, creating one compact port that does it all. With the ability to connect to a Display Port, a USB, PCI Express, and Thunderbolt units, it’s the most versatile connection available. A single cable now gives 4 times the data and 2 times the video bandwidth of any other cable, all while also supplying energy to the notebook. Whether you are gaming or editing 4K videos with plug & play external desktop graphics, now you can transform the Blade Stealth into a real desktop experience.

Buying it? But wait! For a machine that advertises itself as a gamers dream, this ultrabook does not, we repeat, does NOT have a built in GPU (although you can attach external GPUs via Thunderbolt), and there is more. The Intel Core i7 processors installed in the ultrabook are dual cores, not quad cores. Now thats a bummer. Price starts from $949 for the base model, with QHD display and 128GB hard drive and maxes out at $1450 for the 4k screen and a 512GB hard disk. If you want to play real video games, you will have to buy an external GPU with the laptop, otherwise you can always play candy crush.

VR BOX 2.0

The creation of the famous Oculus Rift has spawned a large number of new virtual reality gadgets that are coming out for a much lower cost. The VR BOX 2.0 reality headset is extremely affordable and very powerful. It costs less than $15. Yes, we didn’t miss a zero. And it comes with a Bluetooth 3.0 Remote Controller. It provides a great virtual reality experience for those who already own a smartphone and don’t want to spend $500 to $600 on their virtual reality headset.

The VR Box 2.0 pictured alongside a bluetooth enabled wireless remote that is included in the price

Made up from 43 precision parts, the reason its so cheap is because it is now being made in China. There are some even cheaper models but their quality wasn’t good enough. This particular model though is really nice and adaptable. You can use any smartphone from 3.5 inches to 6 inches [covers almost all the smartphone market], adjust the lenses and its a comfortable, snug fit.

You can order the virtual box + remote from Aliexpress for 14.85 and from Amazon for $18.5 – Without the remote its $11.85 and $15.5, respectively.

Coming up next: Smart Watches, Wearables, Holograms, Bendable TVs & Mobiles, Modular Smartphones and much more. Stay Tuned 😯

Tell us in the comments if you agree with us or would like to see something else as well.