AARP Hearing Center
Good news for cost-conscious holiday shoppers: You don't have to break the bank to pick up some cool gadgets and gear.
Whether you're looking to spoil the kids or grandkids with something high-tech this holiday season or just want to treat yourself to something new, there are plenty of tempting electronic options. Here are seven gadget gift ideas that deliver a lot of bang for the buck.
1. Roku Streambar
The new Roku Streambar ($129) is like two gadgets in one: It turns your regular television into a smart TV while enhancing its audio.
Simply connect the Streambar to your TV with the included HDMI cable and link it up to your Wi-Fi to begin streaming movies, television shows and other content from thousands of free and paid channels, with up to 4K HDR (high dynamic range) picture quality and full, rich Dolby Audio sound.
You can also wirelessly play music from your phone or another Bluetooth device, and control it all using the voice remote or an Amazon or Google smart speaker.
2. SanDisk iXpand Wireless Charger Sync
The SanDisk iXpand Wireless Charger Sync (from $99) looks similar to other Qi charging mats that wirelessly juice up iPhone or Android devices, but it does a lot more. As it charges your phone, the iXpand also copies your irreplaceable photos and videos, in full resolution, to its internal memory. It backs up your contacts, too.
Since a copy of your media is saved to the mat, you can delete items off your phone if you're running out of space. The iXpand comes with 64, 128 or 256 gigabytes of storage (the price goes up with capacity) and works through most rubber and plastic smartphone cases.
3. HP Tango
Made to be used with mobile devices, the HP Tango ($149) is a highly evolved all-in-one printer at a relatively low price.
How evolved? For one thing, you can print, copy or scan from anywhere. Take a photo on your smartphone at the zoo and use the HP Smart app to print out a 4-by-6 glossy at home.