Supposedly the festival of lights, Diwali has slowly transitioned into the festival of the best product deals. This story is dedicated to the true geeks out there. These are geeks who have an inappropriate obsession with gadgets and love tinkering around with them. We have created list of cool geeky gift ideas that you can always come back to pondering what to gift.
Don’t expect these gifts to be as essential as a laptop or a smartphone. These gifts are more like accessories that your geeky friend will gladly accept and use along with their existing gadgetry.
Wouldn’t you love to control streaming all the media at home from the comfort of your smartphone alone? Most of you must have heard about the Chromecast and given the possibilities with this device, it easily finds itself in anyone’s wishlist. All you need to do is connect the device to your TV through an HDMI port and follow the instructions from the Chromecast app. With numerous apps that support casting, you will be able to enjoy your favourite videos, TV shows, music and even games on your TV from your smartphone or desktop/laptop.
Price: 3,399
Geeks usually carry around a lot of gadgets and accessories along wherever they go. Already featured in our Take My Money section last month and also crowned with being the most innovative product in the section, Everyday Backpack is a geek’s dream bag. Ranging in three types, the Backpack version seemed more favourable in this case, with dedicated pouches and sleeves for all your items. A beautifully designed bag from Peak Design, every component right from the straps to the outer material have been carefully chosen. Successfully crowdfunded project, the entire range is estimated to arrive by March 2017, and you can pre-order right from their Indiegogo page.
The HP Women's tote fits in a 15.6-inch notebook in its designated compartment along with padding to keep the notebook protected from any damage. On the outside, the bag features a textured twill fabric in combination with polished brass hardware and removable leather handles for the elegant look that translates into a perfect gift for a geeky women.
Price: 4,499
We live in wonderful times where even a wallet can acquire the title of being a smart wallet. Out of the lot, Walli is one of the popular ones which went through a successful Indiegogo funding round. Made of genuine leather, the smart thing about the wallet is its app.
It will send a notification if you forget to take your wallet and it also can be used to locate your phone by making it ring. It will also remind you if you take out a particular card and forget it put it back, all through the app. These features are packed in a beautiful looking wallet that you would definitely want to own.
Price: 6,000
Your smartphone might sport an innovative design that just works, but add on a useful cover and it works better. The Verus Damda case will offer two features. The most important would be protection for your precious phone and not just any protection, but the Military-Grade-Drop-Protection. The other handy feature is a genius compartment at the back to store your cards if your friend is among the ones who doesn’t like carrying wallets. Do note, the Verus cases are available for only flagship phones.
Price: Rs. 2299
Lately, we’ve been seeing the size of high capacity power banks go down where more is obviously better. Anker’s Powercore series has several capacities where the 10,000 mAh one seems to be the most apt. Also, if you’re picking one up, make sure you get the Quick charge 3.0 supported version. Again, another device beneficial to a specific range of smartphones but can be used normally on any device.
Price: 3350
Just like the Chromecast, the Kindle can’t be ignored from a list of gift ideas. The new 6-inch version has a 300 ppi display with a built-in front light that won’t directly fall on your eyes. This is quite essential if you read a lot which can easily strain your eyes otherwise. With several tweaks on the software side as well, you will be able to store more than a thousand books. If you wish, you could also get the textured leather cover for the Kindle to use when travelling. Along with the Kindle, we would also recommend throwing in a few ebooks.
Price: 4,999
Some of us tend to sign up for many credit cards, debit cards, gift cards etc., resulting in a bulky wallet. Our idea is already to have a minimal wallet with the least possible number of cards, maybe even no wallet at all. But we will still need the card. Enter Stratos. Not a novel concept, the Stratos card lets you sync all your existing payment cards through their smartphone app onto the Bluetooth enabled card. Apparently, it also embeds bank level encryption and you’ll also be able to lock down your card using the app, in case you lose it.
RGB lighting is everywhere, so why not brighten your living room with some? The Philips Hue is a smart lighting solution for your home that can be controlled using your smartphone. Through the app, you’ll have the freedom to choose the colour and ambiance you need, while also having the option to sync the lights with music, games and movies. Someone was able to sync these lights with CS: GO and make the lights react to the C4 being planted and boy, can’t we wait to try that out.
Price: 11899
A gift idea compilation can’t be complete without an audio device recommendation. The UE Boom 2 is a wonderful update to the previous version, now being completely waterproof and more durable. It also supports gesture control, so a simple tap with pause the song and a double tap will skip the song. The updated drivers apparently delivers about 25% louder output compared to the previous one. If you want a Bluetooth speaker for your next pool party, look no further and get yourself one.
Price: 15,890
The experience of typing out words on a keyboard can’t be replaced with a touchscreen. And if your friend is among the people who do a lot of typing on their touch-enabled devices, give them a breather with the Logitech K780. Connecting through Bluetooth, you can type out your next expert opinion on the current social issue through either your desktop, tablet or smartphone. It comes with a stand to hold your smartphone or even your humongous iPad Pro. Up to three devices can be programmed to be stored as profiles and with just the push of a button, you’ll be able to switch between those devices.
As a bonus idea, we would also recommend gifting them subscriptions to services such as Netflix or even gift cards on Amazon and Steam. Do let us know about your choice of high-tech gifts if you have something more to add and if we like them, we will update our list. Until next time, stay geeky.