Tech review: Last minute gift ideas with something for everyone

Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service on Dec 18, 2024

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Christmas is approaching fast, but you still have time to grab a gift for the techies in your life.

Today we have a grab bag of items. I’ve been personally testing these, and I can assure you they will be well received.

As usual, I’m going to be including list pricing, but you may find the items on sale when you visit their websites.

ReMarkable Paper Pro

If you know someone who still prefers to take notes with a pen and paper, chances are they’d love a note-taking tablet like the reMarkable Paper Pro ($579, remarkable.com).

This is a pretty unique class of gadgets — it looks like it might work like an iPad for watching movies or surfing the internet, but it won’t do either of those things.

The reMarkable Paper Pro is a pure note-taking tablet. The marketing message from remarkable is one of eliminating distractions and letting you do your work.

There are just a few things this tablet does, but it does them very well.

It lets you take notes with a stylus. It’s very easy to create a note and your notebook has unlimited new pages.

When you are writing, you can choose from several pen or pencil options.

Written text can be converted to digital words and notes can be emailed for sharing.

There are also companion apps for your phone or tablet or computer to sync and transfer your notes. You can also get extensions for Chrome or Office see them from a browser or add them to Office documents. There are also integrations to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox.

You can also load and read PDF and ePub documents.

The biggest update from the previous remarkable 2 is the addition of a larger color, backlit screen. The previous versions of the remarkable tablet used e-ink screens and had no backlighting. The new screen can be seen, even in complete darkness and you can write using nine distinct colors.

Battery life is up to two weeks of regular use or 90 days on standby.

Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell

I’m a big fan of Wyze cameras for keeping an eye on my house and yard. I also have used several brands of video doorbell, and for the last month or so I’ve been using the Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell ($89.98, wyze.com).

As you might surmise from the name, this doorbell has two cameras — one to show you who’s at the door, and one facing downward to show you packages that might be sitting on your front porch.

The Duo Cam Doorbell can be powered from your existing doorbell wiring, or it can operate from an included rechargeable battery. It also includes a microSD card slot so you can add your own memory card for 24/7 recording to the device, viewable through the app.

Each camera has 2K video resolution.

The doorbell has two-way audio so you can hear and speak to people at your door. There is also AI detection of things like pets, people, packages and vehicles.

Wyze cameras and doorbells don’t need a subscription to view the cameras via the app and to record to memory cards. If you want to record clips based on motion detection and send them to the cloud or utilize the AI features, you’ll need a CamPlus subscription, which starts at $2.99 per month per device.

Ugreen Uno 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger

The Uno 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger ($69.99, ugreen.com) is a neat little charger for your desk or nightstand.

It has a Qi2 15-Watt wireless charger that can lay flat or at an angle. If you raise up the wireless charger, you’ll expose another 5W wireless charging spot just the right size for your AirPods. Finally, there is a USB-C port to support charging another device, such as an Apple Watch.

The Qi2 charger has a pretty strong magnet to grab onto your phone if it’s equipped for Magsafe charging.

The front of the charger has an LED screen, but instead of showing any useful information, it shows a “groovy robot” face. If you read the website, Ugreen calls the Uno their fun line of chargers. The robot face on the screen changes depending on the charging state of the connected devices.

I get that Ugreen is trying to be whimsical, but I’d rather have a screen that showed me actual numbers of how much power was flowing in and out.

The charger includes a USB-C cable, but not a wall charger, so you’ll have to provide your own.

Dreo Solaris 718 Space Heater

I’ve only been using the Solaris 718 Space Heater ($129.99, amazon.com) for about three weeks, as it’s been too warm in Texas.

It’s tall and thin, so it doesn’t take up much room on your floor. It oscillates up to 120 degrees to heat the entire room. There are five heat settings as well as the ability to set a desired temperature (from 41 to 95 degrees) and let the heater do its thing.

It has all kinds of safety features, including overheat protection, child lock and tip over protection.

The best things about the 718 are its quiet operation and fast warm up. It will put out heat in less than 5 seconds and it does a great job heating a large room. There are controls on top of the unit, an easy carry handle built-in and a handy remote control.