iPhone 4
There's no denying the impact of Apple's iPhone, now only four years and four models into its existence. Each version has been markedly better than its predecessor, but the iPhone 4 is - in true Apple tradition - the best yet. A five-megapixel camera with an LED flash; Apple's blazingly fast A4 processor; and that pin-sharp Retina display. Supposed antenna issues aside, this is the best consumer smartphone of 2010.
3DTV
Around the middle of the year when some guys got together to kick some balls in stadiums around the country, Sony was promoting its next big thing: 3D TV. While it's the obvious next step in home entertainment, especially with every second blockbuster movie shot in 3D, the technology is still in its infancy.
The reason it's on this list, though, is because 3D TVs require a lot of high-end technology to make them just capable of displaying 3D images. Conveniently, the by-product of this is that all regular TV and HD programming looks absolutely out-of-this-world fantastic.
Cell C Speed Stick
Logo controversy and marketing hype aside, Cell C really does have a cracking product with its speed stick offering. The prices are right - R3 000 gets you 5GB per month, for a whole 12 months - and it comes as close as can be to those 21Mbps claims. In casual testing, speeds of 14Mbps have been recorded: a sight faster than Telkom's (noteworthy) 10Mbps ADSL upgrades.
Great price, decent speed and then there's the fact that it's a mobile solution, and Cell C promises to have 97% of the population covered by the end of 2011.
Sony SLT cameras
The guys at Sony SA hosted a press trip to the Victoria Falls for the company's new range of SLT cameras. Single-lens translucent, instead of single-lens reflex, uses a permanently-opened shutter. The result is way faster auto-focus than before, for both photos and HD videos. It's not a perfect system, yet, but these are problems engineers can fix: SLT is definitely a technology we'll be seeing more of in the coming years.
Xbox Kinect
While the PlayStation Move is a really good peripheral, it's a replacement for the controller. The reason the Kinect makes this list of best technologies is simple: you can use it in conjunction with a controller.
While no games have yet been announced to use both, Microsoft has hinted at titles that might feature it. The next version of Forza Motorsport could let users play with a racing wheel or controller, while the Kinect camera tracks head movement in the game. First-person shooters could register body movement and let users actually dodge in real life to miss virtual bullets. A quick Google search will also show just how clever the system is, and what possibilities lie ahead.
MINI Connected
Some folks might dismiss the idea of in-car Internet access, but don't judge too soon. Already, a lot of what we do is tied to the Web. Facebook and Twitter, news sites and even media consumption.
MINI Connected lets us use some of those functions while on the road. Plug in your iPhone and the MINI system will use your phone to access the Web to stream music from online stations, display your Twitter and Facebook feeds or even show news headlines from your favourite sites. And this is just the beginning of connected motoring.
Seacom
Meet the fibre-optic cable that changed the face of Internet access in SA this year. Seacom brought us cheaper bandwidth and allowed ISPs, such as MWeb, Axxess and OpenWeb to offer uncapped connectivity. No longer do you have to ration your YouTube viewing, Windows updates or Last.fm music streaming. Next year, we'll see a few more cables landing on our shores, bound to make Internet access even cheaper, but Seacom is this year's Internet superhero for local users.
Macbook Air
When Apple announced its new Macbook Air, in October this year, Steve Jobs said it represents the future of notebooks. He's right, too. Optical drives are no longer essential, and users would much rather have portability, longer battery life and better internal storage.
There are already rumours that the next Macbooks and Macbook Pros will see their optical drives disappear in favour of more modern technology. It's only a matter of time before the other laptop manufacturers follow the trend.
Why not the iPad?
Simple, really. While it is definitely one of this year's biggest gadgets, and an important part of the future of computing, the iPad was not officially released in SA. Those who are fortunate enough to have imported one will know what a pleasure it is, but the general public does not have access to the device - and that alone disqualifies it from being a noteworthy product for 2010 in SA.
Hybrid hard drives
While solid state hard drives are the bees' knees, their prices leave a lot to be desired. A 128GB SSD can cost the same as six 1TB regular hard drives, and then you're still stuck with a relatively meagre amount of storage.
This year saw Seagate release its Momentus XT hybrid hard drive. A 7200RPM platter drive with 500GB of regular storage and 4GB of SSD storage. Clever tech wizardry lets the drive see which files are most used and copies those to the super-fast SSD storage. It gets close to SSD performance levels in day-to-day use, but still has proper storage for our burgeoning media collections. This is the perfect compromise.
Google Instant
Let's not forget the biggest advancement in a product we use every day - Google.
The search giant announced its Instant search function, where results start popping up as you type. This feature was soon augmented with keyboard navigation for search results, and instant search previews - previews of what a Web site looks like - both making for a much faster and more pleasant searching experience.
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