Any student wants to make their life easier. We’ve decided to help a bit with our top five tech gadget picks – ideal for anyone who spends a lot of time scrambling to get from one class to the next on a daily basis.
We’re not advising you to stop typing or writing your notes in class, but a digital voice recorder is a good investment. You can make sure the entire lecture is recorded, upload the file easily to your laptop, and save yourself the panic that comes with misplaced notes.
Always check whether your lecturer is okay with you electronically recording their class – as some professors do copyright their lectures.
Digital voice recorders can cost anywhere between US $270 / INR 16,799 for the really high quality gadgets, for example the Zoom H4n, and the relatively cheaper but solid Olympus VN 6200PC at around US $50 / INR 3110.
The Livescribe pen is the most advanced and well-known on the market, and comes in different models - the Livescribe wifi and the Livescribe Echo. What is the Smart Pen? It’s a device that allows anything you write on a specially prescribed paper be synced to your tablet or laptop through wifi. The Echo’s selling point is an inbuilt voice recorder, and quick and easy connectivity via USB cable.
The Livescribe Echo costs around US $150 / INR 9330 and the Livescribe Wifi US $205 / INR 12,755.
The Jawbone ‘Up’ wristband
Jawbone’s Up, a fitness tracker wristband, wraps snugly around your wrist and unobtrusively records your physical activity, sleep cycle,. and, best of all, has a battery life of around ten days. What better way to make sure that you keep fit while racking up sitting hours during classroom lectures.
Jawbone UP Wristband; Photo courtesy www.jawbone.com
You can download the Up App on a smartphone and connect the wristband to access the information it has recorded. The app tracks your daily fitness regimen, sleep cycle (including the hours you spend in deep, REM sleep), and you can even enter your meal details to track calorie consumption. It also connects to a social platform enabling sharing of regimen and goals with the Up community. Other features include an alarm clock that tells you when you’ve been sitting idle for too long.
It’s even water-resistant, so you can wear it while showering or doing the dishes. It comes in eight different colours and three sizes.
The Jawbone UP wristband is priced around US $162 / INR 14,499. The App is available for free download.
The smart watch functions like a wearable phone - you can download applications that allow you to view email, Facebook or Twitter notifications, even sync to and control the music that’s playing on your music device. There are even apps that will allow you to surf the web.
The Pebble Smartwatch is a popular bet, other brands include Martian, Sony and Connect Device.
The Pebble Smartwatch costs US $120 / INR 7500.
Solar powered chargers
Panasonic Solar Chargercan; Photo courtesy www.panasonic.com
What better way to feel like you’re doing a small bit for the environment while maintaining your tech-friendliness – than by using solar powered chargers. The Panasonic Solar Charger can be used to charge your tablet, phone or laptop, and supports the charging of up to two AA batteries. The device can even be used as a source of light itself, and comes with a mount that allows you to set it up on a tripod for this purpose. This is priced at US $79.99 / INR 4980.
There’s also the waterproof Snow Lizard SLXtreme Case, which doubles as a case for the iPhone, the XD Design Solar Window Charger and the WakaWaka Power Compact Solar Charger.
Solar powered chargers can cost anywhere between USD $14 / INR 870 and USD $125 / INR 7780.
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