2022 is rapidly approaching, and it’s almost time to say goodbye to 2021. This year has brought us quite a lot, both good and bad, and just so much has happened. The tech industry is still struggling to keep up with demand thanks to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, which is a shame — so many innovative products launched this year.
In this article, I don’t want to talk about everything that has happened this year, though. Instead, I’d like to share with you an overview of all the great gadgets I’ve discovered for myself in 2021 and that I find worth highlighting. And yes, some of these products weren’t released this year — I’ve still only now come across them and started using them, so you’ll find some slightly older stuff here, too.
Google Pixel 6
Let’s start with the most obvious product, at least when we consider that you’re reading Android Police right now — the Google Pixel 6, our phone of the year. It’s the first Pixel phone I’ve bought in years, and coming from the Pixel 3, it’s quite the upgrade. I’ve had my hands on many other phones in the meantime, but I always love returning to the experience provided by Pixels. Android just feels most at home on them to me, though that might just be because Google apps and the Pixel interface perfectly complement each other, making things feel like they’re cut from one block.
While I’d love for the Pixel 6 to be just a tad smaller, the phone still manages to blow me away. I was lucky enough not to run into any of the countless issues we’ve reported on over the last few months, with the awkwardly positioned fingerprint scanner and subpar Bluetooth connectivity being my only truly big gripes. Overall, the Pixel 6 is probably my favorite purchase this year, though I’m still itching to finally try a foldable like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3.
Get the Google Pixel 6:
MacBook Pro 13-inch 2020
Apple released the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro in 2020, but I only got it in mid-2021 — so it’s still tech I’ve discovered this year. In retrospect, I’m a bit annoyed that I went with the Pro instead of the Air. I was hoping to get just a little more oomph thanks to its fans, but I’m not sure I’ve ever needed them at all. In the end, I’m just really annoyed by the Touchbar replacing the top row of function keys, which messes with my 10-finger touch writing.
But what’s much more interesting and impressive than my minor gripes with the exterior hardware is the new M1 chip doing its thing inside the machine. It’s Apple’s first generation of self-designed silicon for Mac, which makes the feat even more impressive. Other than my occasional videographing and editing gigs, I wouldn’t consider myself the heaviest user, and I don’t use too many third-party tools outside the usual suspects like Chrome. I do have the Spotlight replacement Alfred, window manager Contexts, and Mac Mouse Fix in my essential Mac app collection, and all of these worked just fine when I bought the Mac.
I’ve also only got the 8GB model, and while that leads to a bit of a crunch when editing 4K video (though the culprit may be something else, like my external SSD or the M1 chip itself), it was mostly fine for all of my other use cases as a writer — Apple really has worked wonders with Swap memory that essentially relegates part of the RAM to the super-fast internal SSD.
Get the MacBook Pro 13-inch 2020:
Tribit QuietPlus 72
The Tribit QuitePlus 72 is another product that’s been released in 2020 rather than 2021, which is when AP alumnus Caleb Potts reviewed it here. When I was looking for an affordable but capable pair of Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones, I kept coming back to this Tribit product, and I’m perfectly content with it, except for the fact that you can’t connect to it via Bluetooth while it’s charging. I mostly use it wired anyway, though.
Sure, a Bose 700 or a Sony WH-1000XM4 probably sounds way more refined and would likely reduce outside noise even more, but I didn’t really see a reason to spend what feels like a €200 premium on a product I’m not using all that often anyway — when I’m out and about, I’ve got my Bluetooth hearing aids taking care of all my music and podcast needs.
Get the Tribit QuietPlus 72:
Xiaomi Mi Band 6
I reviewed the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 back in the summer, and I still stand by my conviction that it’s almost perfect. Opposed to its predecessor, it’s equipped with an oval screen that perfectly fits the body, and it’s become much more accurate at tracking your fitness activities. I don’t care much about apps, local music, and payment support on a smartwatch, so I consider it a neat replacement for a full-fledged Wear OS watch, too. At less than $50 in the US, I find it to be the perfect low-cost companion device that I mostly use as a notification buzzer and a means to skip and pause music playing on my phone.
Get the Xiaomi Mi Band 6:
LG TV 55B1
The LG TV 55B1 is one of the more extravagant purchases of this year in my household, enabled by my wonderful parents-in-law as part of a wedding gift. To put that into perspective, we used to rock an ancient 32-inch 720p Samsung TV from 2005 before that, with the appropriate bezels to go with it. The switch to a 55-inch 4K OLED panel sure is quite something, and I’m still drooling over the true black enabled by the technology on such a large display.
I’m also surprised how much I find myself liking LG’s webOS, which it uses in favor of Android TV or other third-party operating systems. webOS comes with a Wii-style remote that displays a cursor on your screen, and once I got the hang of it, it just felt way more intuitive and faster than using a D-pad to me. In fact, I’m barely using my Chromecast with Google TV anymore. While I haven’t tried it for myself yet, webOS also supports Stadia and GeForce Now, which I’m looking forward to testing once I’ve got some time to wind down. Google Assistant is on board, too.
Get the LG TV 55B1
As I mentioned, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and those are just my personal highlights — a small selection of the best new products I’ve discovered this year. Things might be very different for you, but I hope that this gives you a bit of an idea of what bloggers like myself use for themselves.
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