Top 10 Gadgets of 2011 ..!

Apple iPhone 4S – The much anticipated iPhone 5 proved elusive this year, but Apple did come up with the iPhone 4S. This iteration retained the original design of the iPhone but bumped up dual core specs and introduced a revolutionary voice recognition based artificial intelligence called Siri. Siri pretty much does everything a virtual personal assistant could be expected to do. The iPhone 4S was announced on October 4, a day before the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It started selling in India from November 25th.

Apple iPad 2 – Version 2 of the iPad was launched on 2nd March and has been available in India since 28th April. It provided a concrete sucker punch to the competition from Android as it released before any tangible Android tablet hit the market. It also became leaner and meaner with a slimmer design and dual-core internals. The iPad 2 was the last Apple product to be unveiled by Steve Jobs.  Samsung Galaxy Nexus – It's not available in India yet but the Galaxy Nexus was instantly a superhit in the UK when it launched on 17th November. Armed with Google's latest version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich and its uber cool 4.65-in reinforced Super AMOLED HD display, the Galaxy Nexus is top dog in the Android arsenal. We expect it to get here next month.   Samsung Galaxy S2 -  Launched in June 2011, the Galaxy S2 became the best selling Android device of 2011 and even outsold the iPhone 4. Samsung crossed the 20million mark for the quarter ending 30th September according to the WSJ, while Apple shipped17.7 million iPhones.  The S2 came with super high-tech internals – A 1.2 GHz Exynos dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 MP camera and Samsung's state of the art Super AMOLED+ display.   Aakash Tablet – 5th October 2011 was a red letter day in India's tech history as the long awaited Aakash was finally released by the HRD Ministry. What's so special about it? It's made in India, and it's cheap. At $50, it was pricier than it's original $35 tag, but still the cheapest tablet around. For students, the targeted market, the price tag will be even cheaper.

Canon EOS 1DX - Put simply, this is the perfect DSLR to date. It combines many of the features of the 1D Mark IV and the 1Ds models with many major upgrades. What it offers is truly breath taking - an 18 megapixel full frame chip, an ISO range from 50 to 204,800, shooting at 12 Frames per second and, needless to say, HD video recording. The ergonomic design of the camera is phenomenal with buttons replaced to suit an easier and quick access position. Announced on 18th October 2011, the Canon EOS 1DX is what every photography enthusiast has been waiting for.

Nokia Lumia 800 – Launched in November this is the first Nokia device to don a non Nokia OS, in this case Microsoft's innovative Windows Phone OS. The Lumia 800 has been touted as Nokia's hero phone for 2011 and with good reason - consider it's stunning injection moulded polycarbonate chassis and Nokia's patented camera technology and mapping software.

Amazon Kindle Fire - It's pre-launch reputation as another “iPad killer” polarised opinion but after it launched in October the Kindle Fire turned out to be a different, and intriguing, kettle of fish. It came armed with a super affordable $200 price tag, a forked version of Google's Android customized by Amazon, dual core architecture and, most importantly, integrated Amazon's considerable cloud based services.

Samsung Smart TV -  Originally shown at CES 2011 in January, this smart offering turned out to be the most unique TV money can buy. Samsung showcased their impressive industrial design pedigree with a television that is almost bezel-less, giving the users a window like 3D experience. Apart from this, it came integrated with Samsung's Smart TV platform which offers web based apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype, as well as a Flash capable web browser. All this inside a large 55-inch display. While the tech still has some ground to cover, this surely is the future of all televisions.

MacBook Air 13 inch - The 2011 version of the MacBook Air launched in July and brought to fans another bite of Apple's tasty ultra portable mainstream appeal. This time round, it was powered by the latest generation Intel Sandy Bridge processors and gloried in the goodness of multitouch thanks to the new Mac OSX, Lion.