My Favorite Things From 2018
Ah, 2018. The year is coming to end as it was quite the year for gadgets, culture, & technology as a whole. There were bad things, weird things, and a lot of good things. From lots of good-to-great smartphones + its cameras, the rise of EVs, getting closer to USB-C everything, more AI in your home, and more useful tech being more affordable.
There was a lot to comb through and go back to the beginning of the year. But there were several things that stood out to me. Not things that completely blew me away but things that I liked or impressed me. So like the classic song says “here are a few of my favorite things.”
Titans on DC Universe Service
Kicking off the new wave of the streaming wars, DC dropped the DC Universe streaming app where you watch older content, read comics, and more. Their big draw for it all was their original series for Titans. I just subscribed recently and have started watching Titans and have been thoroughly enjoying it. It has a bit of a rocky start but the grit, grime, and seeing many of these characters in live-action for the 1st time is good to see.
Google Home Hub
Small & powerful is the best way to describe this. With the ability to monitor/control your entire smart home via touch or voice, the Google Home Hub is ideal for most room/situations. If you have the Google Home, Home Mini, or the Home Max, you can use this as a hub (no pun intended) to group them as a Sonos-like sound system throughout your home, broadcast & reply to messages, and much, much more.
Sony WM-1000XM3 Headphones
For many of years, the Bose QuietComfort 35s have been the example of what the best noise-canceling headphones look/sound like. This year, Sony changed that example w/ their WM-1000XM3 headphones. You got USB-C fast charging, touch controls, superb 30-hour battery life, amazing ANC abilities, virtual assistant support, and support for high-quality sound profiles to give you a better overall sound quality.
Sony A7 III Camera
Sony’s most recent & affordable mirrorless full-frame camera has won over many consumer, prosumers, & professionals for their photo/video needs. You got in-body image stabilization, 693 auto-focus points, 6K video downscaled to 4K w/ more details, dual SD card slots, bigger batteries, touchscreen monitor, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. I got a chance to use it for our Mazda6 2018 review. This thing can fit in damn-near any bag and can do just about anything you can think of.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
The Note 9 offers a 6.4inch QHD Super AMOLED Infinity Display which might be the best on all smartphones. You also got a Snapdragon 845 CPU, 6GB of RAM, and a 128GB of storage upgradeable up to 1TB. You got all-day (maybe 2 day) 4000 mAh battery inside w/ water-cooled internals to prevent any Note 7 issues. Let’s not forget about the S Pen for productivity and its powerful cameras to capture beautiful photos/videos.
Apple iPhone XS/XS Max
The last iPhone I owned was an iPhone 5S and I’ve been missing out on all of the iOS action. Now that we have the iPhone XS/XS Max and the gesture-based iOS, I’m truly digging it. Especially now that Apple has all of the goodies Android phones had for a while like IP68 dust-water-resistant body, wireless charging, stereo speakers, & an OLED display. I’m gonna try to pick one up or wait to see what the 2019 model will bring.
Google Pixel 3/3 XL & Its Software
Google’s Pixel series has been a game-changer in the smartphone world since its 1st release 3 years ago. This year, they wanted to stand on something outside of having one of the best cameras -which they still do. Now there’s even more helpful software features to stand out in the crowd. You got TopShot to never miss a shot, NightSight to get great photos in little-to-no light, Call Screening to combat the spambots, and Digital Wellbeing to track your phone usage. Even if you have a Pixel 2, you get access to these features as well.
We liked a lot of things from 2018 but these were ours. Let us know what were your favorite things in tech of the year. Definitely curious to see what 2019 has to bring. I’m hoping for 5G to be good and death to the notch trend.
*FYI: there are some affiliate links present that we would get a small commission from but did not influence our choices.*
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