Ah, November. The month we as a country dedicate an entire day to gorging ourselves on bird meat and gravy, followed immediately by bludgeoning one another at various retail centers. But also a time of giving thanks and sharing all the great gadgets that came out this month. Here are some of our favorites:
For the full list of Gizmodo favorites, head over to the complete Best Gadgets
In:
Best Smartphone
Well, yeah. The new iPhone 4S is out, and while the gap is narrowed significantly, we still think it's the best piece of hardware you can buy. Much like the iPhone 4 and its antenna issues, the 4S is flawed—battery issues this time—but its buttery smooth performance and ecosystem still power it to the top. For you Android faithful, though, your godphones are still on the horizon, with the Galaxy Nexus and Motorla Razr yet to be released.
Best Robot Floor Cleaner
The Roomba 770 is the best robot cleaning slave you can get, mostly because you don't have to pay any attention to it. It's got the best collision detection and pathfinding of any of the major models, and has great sucking power, too.
Best Speakers
Audioengine's been proving that you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on a good set of speakers for a while now. Their A5 speakers last year were our favorites, and the A5+s are a direct upgrade. They have an improved cabinet design, better thermal management, a remote control, and a bunch of other nice improvements.
Best Solid State Drive
Solid state drives are the future, except that their version of the future is really tiny and expensive. OCZ's new Octane series is the first solid state drive to squeeze one full terabyte of storage into a 2.5-inch drive, and it also has top notch read/write speeds.
Best Bluetooth Headset
The Samsung HM7000 is a darn pretty sight, and it's got the best sound quality you're going to find in a Bluetooth headset. It's also super-comfortable—like a comfy hoodie for your ear—and has some really useful text-to-speech and speech-to-text features.
Best Fitness Watch
The Garmin 910X is an upgrade to the 310X, and it outpaces its predecessor in basically every way imaginable. It's waterproof to 50 meters, has a barometric altimeter, links to your Tanita profile to track body fat and weight, and has Garmin's awesome website behind it. This is your timepiece if you're looking to un-how-did-I-get-this-fat yourself.
Out:
Best Speakers: Not much for the A5 to do when there's a direct upgrade.
Best AT&T/Verizon Phone: Yes, the iPhone 4 gets bumped by the 4S, but it might not be worth the upgrade if you've already got the 4.
*Note, this is not a complete list—just the change log. Our full list of The Greatest Gadgets is right here.