With the British summer certainly sucking at the moment and showing no signs of improving anytime soon, if you’re heading off on a decent sun-seekers getaway then at some point you’ll need to think about what to pack.
While boring essentials like sunscreen and pants are likely to be at the top of your list, nothing livens up a vacation quite like a backpack full of gadgets.
Whether it’s a camera to capture your memories, an e-reader to read that book you haven’t read yet poolside, or noise-canceling headphones to block out the sound of a toddler crying on top of your plants, we’ve done the hard work for you and compiled the ultimate list of travel tech.
(But seriously, don’t neglect sunscreen).
The perfect gadget for summer vacation or travel
Heading somewhere exotic? A drone will let you enjoy the view from above. Gone are the days when you had to sacrifice most of your carry-on space to bring a drone. The DJI Mini Pro 4 is the best small drone you can buy. It weighs just 249g and fits easily into a case. But don’t let its diminutive size fool you into thinking it’s lacking in features. This is truly a high-end aircraft, with 360-degree obstacle avoidance to put the clumsy pilot at ease, up to 34 minutes of flight time, super-sharp 4K HDR footage, and a variety of shooting modes that will make you feel like Spielberg in swim shorts. You won’t find a better drone in such a travel-friendly size.
Smart glasses are no longer the stuff of science fiction. They’re now so well established that Ray-Ban has released some of their own smart glasses in collaboration with Meta. Available in three frame styles (including the classic Wayfarer) and a wide range of lens types and colors, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses look exactly how you’d expect them to. This is usually the first hurdle for a product of this nature. On the tech side, they come with an ultra-wide 12MP camera for high-resolution holiday snaps, and five microphones for video capture. Media captured by the glasses can be easily shared to social media apps (especially Meta-owned), and live streaming is also possible. The camera is a big part of the experience, but you can ignore it if you want and just enjoy the impressive built-in open-ear headphones with out-of-the-box Spotify support. Listening to podcasts poolside has never been so easy.
If you’re hustling around town on your latest city break adventure, you need the right bag for the job. The Mous Day Backpack is stylish and practical, with a padded back panel and understated look with waterproof materials. The outer shell strives for minimalism, yet there are nine compartments, including a laptop sleeve and water bottle pockets. But perhaps its most useful feature is the central zipper that gives you access to the entire main compartment, so there’s no digging around. It’s perfect for airport security or for quickly grabbing your headphones before stowing your bag away on a flight.
It may be nearing the end of its lifespan, but the Nintendo Switch remains one of the most played gaming consoles out there, and its portability makes it the best travel companion. The Switch Lite may have a smaller footprint, but there’s no escaping the beautiful 7-inch OLED display of the flagship model. I choose this display to play most of my Nintendo games on, even if I’m sitting a few meters away from the TV. It’s that good. Multiplayer on the Switch OLED is now feasible, too, thanks to a vastly improved kickstand and decent speakers. So you can play Mario Kart with your partner to kill time in the departure lounge, or sip cocktails on your hotel balcony as the sun goes down. What could be more romantic than that?
Print books take up precious luggage space, so to thin out your reading backlog, we recommend an e-reader. While Amazon isn’t the only player anymore (check out the Kobo Libra Colour if you want full-colour books), we still think the Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-reader for most people. It has a larger 6.8-inch display than its predecessor, feels perfectly weighted in the hand, and has a warm light that you can adjust to suit your reading light. It’s also waterproof, so it’s safe for the beach. Factor in its affordable price and Amazon’s unmatched library of e-books, and it’s easy to see why the Paperwhite is so popular.
The noise cancelling headphone market is fiercely competitive, so UK-based Cambridge Audio knew their first over-ear headphones had to impress. And the Melomania P100 headphones do just that. With 40mm drivers and support for high-quality lossless audio, the sound quality is fantastic and they do a great job of blocking out the outside world. But if there’s one feature that immediately springs to mind here, it’s the battery life. The Melomania P100 headphones offer a slightly absurd battery life of 60 hours on a full charge. And that’s with active noise cancelling (ANC) turned on. Turn it off and you get 100 hours of use. That’s pretty impressive and especially useful when you’re traveling. Unless you plan on spending your entire holiday chatting with family, friends or partner and holed up in your private musical sanctuary the whole time, these headphones will get you there and back without ever going near an outlet.
If you’re looking for a loud, portable Bluetooth speaker, look no further than Ultimate Ears. The company has been churning out stylish speakers for years. Their latest model, the Everboom, is small enough to fit in a suitcase but packed with more features than ever before. What sets this speaker apart from other rugged Bluetooth speakers? It’s bass-rich 360-degree sound with EQ that can be adjusted to suit any situation, an Outdoor Boost button for extra noise amplification, NFC pairing for Android users, and the ability to broadcast your voice from the speaker using the Boom app, which may be a little scary depending on who you’re with. Whether your kids like it or not, you can make their superstar DJ dreams come true.
Nothing ruins the fun of a holiday like losing something important. With Apple’s AirTag in your luggage, things get a little less scary. This clever little pack is part of Apple’s Find My network, and it will show you the location of any misplaced items. If it’s in your purse and nearby, you can easily find it by making it beep on your iPhone. Had an AirTag in your suitcase that you left at the airport? The Find My network leverages millions of Apple devices around the world to help you track it down.
Running out of battery power becomes even more of a concern when traveling, so a power bank is essential in your carry-on luggage. There are plenty of great options for Android and iPhone users, but if you’re an iPhone user, it’s hard to beat Anker’s Power Bank 10K. You can also charge your phone using 15W MagSafe charging, making it a completely wireless solution. The charger has a capacity of 10,000mAh (as the name suggests), which is enough to charge an iPhone 15 Pro 1.8 times.
The smartphone in your pocket right now is probably a fully functional camera for taking holiday snapshots, but if you want to take photography a little more seriously, you’ll want something a step further. The Fujifilm X100VI is a compact, travel-friendly camera, but it’s also undoubtedly a premium camera. It has a great 23mm fixed lens that’s perfect for travel photography, a 40MP sensor, and in-body stabilization to correct camera shake. The autofocus is very good, and the camera can detect subjects in the frame for stills and video. The X100VI isn’t the best camera for videography, but it does support 6K footage, so you can shoot an incredible amount of video if you want to try your hand at it.
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