It’s been another month, and an amazing batch of gadgets has once again piled up on our doorstep. If we were being honest about which we’ve loved the most the past few weeks, this list would be nothing but air conditioners. But apparently we’re not allowed to do that. So here are the other gadgets that captured our hearts and minds in July.
For the full list of Gizmodo favorites, head over to the complete Best Gadgets
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-gadgets-5411442
In:
Best Ultraportable Laptop
Apple’s brought both sizes of the MacBook Air line straight up to what you’d expect from a laptop in 2011, adding a Thunderbolt port, but more importantly some sweet Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips—and backlit keyboards.
https://gizmodo.com/new-macbook-airs-get-hit-with-a-thunderbolt-5822966
Best Micro Four-Thirds Camera
Micro Four-Thirds cameras have long promised to bridge the quality of DSLRs with the size of point and shoots. The Olympus PEN EP-3 is the fullest realization of the Micro Four-Thirds dream so far.
https://gizmodo.com/olympus-pen-ep-3-micro-four-thirds-is-starting-to-get-5819506
Best T-Mobile Phone
We’ll have a full review of the myTouch 4G Slide for you soon, but—spoiler alert—it’s pretty good.
https://gizmodo.com/t-mobile-mytouch-4g-slide-the-best-camera-phone-everrr-5816053
Best Stroller
The B.O.B. Ironman Jogging Stroller rolls like Curtis Mayfield circa 1972. It flies. Its ultralight frame and spin-happy hubs make for a delightfully easy ride.
https://gizmodo.com/b-o-b-ironman-jogging-stroller-wont-slow-your-roll-5820606
Best Pocket Camcorder
The Kodak Playfull is a very capable shooter with several great features and one major shortcoming—a too-small display—but the fact that we found it selling at multiple online retailers for less than $100 goes a long way to make up for that deficiency.
https://gizmodo.com/pocket-video-showdown-four-budget-camcorders-reviewed-5823458
Best Online Music Streaming Service
Spotify’s main draw over the competition—even more than the free access—is the ability to meld your local library with Spotify’s streaming catalog. We’d note, though, that Rdio still has the superior mobile app.
https://gizmodo.com/is-spotify-really-your-streaming-music-savior-5821267
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-streaming-music-service-5750415
Best Netbook
The 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One 722 swaps out Intel’s weak-sauce Atom processor for a beefier AMD C series APU. This 3-pound machine is light enough to carry around all day, has HDMI out for watching Netflix or Hulu on your TV, and lasts nearly 7 hours on a charge.
https://lifehacker.com/the-best-back-to-school-laptops-5819323
Best Universal iPhone Remote
The Griffin Beacon is an IR blaster that converts actions from your iPhone into signals all media boxes can understand. Sleek. Inoffensively decorative. Imagine a polished stone sitting on top of an Apple TV-that’s pretty much what the Beacon is.
https://gizmodo.com/griffin-beacon-universal-remote-hey-this-iphone-univer-5825725
Out:
Best Ultraportable Laptop: More a passing of the torch than an usurping, as last year’s Macbook Air gives way to the new model.
Best Pocket Camcorder: Flip is dead, and now so is its reign as the best pocket video option.
Best T-Mobile Phone: LG’s G2X couldn’t sit the throne once we got our hands on the forthcoming myTouch 4G Slide.
Best Netbook: The HP Pavilion dm1 got its butt kicked by the more affordable Acer Aspire.
*Note, this is not a complete list—just the change log. Our full list of The Greatest Gadgets is right here.
