Top Video Games Xmas 2011Gifts for your mumGifts for your dad
Teenage boys talk about two things, girls and gadgets. These two things form the centre of their universe and whilst you can’t help on the girl front you can help on the gadget front.
There’s a lot of choice out there at the moment and it’s not easy to sort the gadget winners from the gadget losers so to help avoid disappointment we’ve picked out a few of the best:-
The Smartphone
The Smartphone has taken the world by storm and for teenage boys it’s a must have gadget. There’s plenty of models to choose from with prices ranging wildly from £100 for basic devices right up to £700+ for the latest all singing all dancing models.
For the purpose of this post we’re going to assume you’re not loaded and that you also don’t fancy the idea of signing up to a two year contract so we’ve set ourselves a budget of £200. This budget won’t get you the latest and greatest but will buy a capable handset that no teenager would be ashamed of.
Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY
The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY was the first phone designed by Sony specifically with gamers in mind and is the first Playstation Certified device available.
Gaming aside it’s also a very capable smart phone featuring a capacitive LED screen running at 480 x 854, 5mp camera with flash, 720p video recording and Android 2.3. All of which is powered by a 1ghz Snapdragon CPU with graphics handled by a secondary Adreno 205 GPU.
At launch earlier this year the full RRP of this device was in excess of £500 but it can now be purchased here for under £190
Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini
The Xperia Mini is available for under £170
It’s small screen size and general compactness is a complete contrast to the Xperia Play and will appeal to a different audience. It’s not designed for gamers but rather those that want a capable, compact handset at an affordable price.
It’s also very, very cool. At a time when modern smart phones seem to keep getting bigger and bigger the Xperia Mini takes a refreshingly different approach.
BlackBerry Curve 8520
Blackberry have for many years been the mobile brand of choice for those wanting to stay in touch and the Curve 8520 is no exception. in addition to Blackberry’s superb email system you’ve now got BBM (Blackberry Messenger) which is the most accomplished messaging system on any smartphone platform. This appeals to teenagers and adults alike and as a result we’re seeing a significant percentage of young adults choosing Blackberry.
The Blackberry Curve 8520 is currently available for just over £140
The Nintendo 3DS
The Nintendo 3DS is the latest in Nintendo’s series of handheld gaming devices which can be traced back to the original Game Boy. Things have come a long way though and the days of blocky two tone graphics (think Tetris) are far behind us. The new 3DS not only produces fantastic visuals it’s the first device of its kind that produces glasses free 3D adding impressive depth to games. Nintendo have got another winner on their hand with the 3DS which is available right now for around £130
The iPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a bit of an anomaly, it’s an expensive MP3 player that isn’t particularly good at playing MP3′s and yet has been hugely successful. Why? because of everything else it now does. In fact, it’s becoming more of a hand held gaming device than an MP3 player. It’s also very good at browsing the web via wifi and also includes front and rear cameras. If you’re going to be buying one of the smart phones above you probably won’t need the iPod but if you’re buying for a serious music and gaming fan the iPod is worth considering. It comes in four models, 8gb – 64gb, all of which can be purchased here
If you’re looking for a device that costs less, is a very good MP3 player with better sound quality than the iPod Touch and has upgradeable memory then look no further than the Creative ZEN X-Fi2
The Tablet PC
The world has gone tablet PC crazy, Tablet PC’s are the one gadget that everyone seems to want and teenage boys are no exception. It’s not a cheap gift but it is a gift that can’t fail to please. Whilst there have been many tablet PC’s released in 2011 there are only two real contenders for your money, the iPad 2
The Netbook
Despite what many seem to think the Netbook is far from dead. Admittedly, It’s sharing a space it used to have to itself with the Tablet PC but still has a place in the market from both a price and functionality perspective. Netbooks provide a cost effective solution to computing on the move, have a proper operating system and proper keyboards. If you’re buying a Netbook in 2012 it’s worth making sure you get one equipped with the newer N5xx series Intel Atom CPU’s as opposed to the older N4xx CPU’s. There’s no difference in the price but a big difference in performance. Our pick of the bunch has to be the excellent Asus 1011 PX which packs the latest N570 CPU and can be had for less than £200
What’s Next?
We’ll be back with a round-up of the best outdoors gifts for teenage boys. We’ll be looking at the best in BMX’s, Scooters and more..
Top Video Games Xmas 2011Gifts for your mumGifts for your dad
