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Christmas Tech Gift Guide 2012: Our Digital Wish List (PHOTOS)

Christmas Tech Gift Guide 2012: Our Digital Wish List (PHOTOS)
Michael Rundle

As everyone knows, Christmas is a time for giving, a time for reflection, and a time for buying loads and loads of gadgets - either as gifts, or for yourself.

If you're really lucky, you might even receive something nice. That is if you'd spent long enough looking up from your phone this year to notice the friends, family and colleagues who might actually do such a thing.

This year there is an absolute ton of amazing technical wonders on the shelves for your consideration - and unfortunately, we just don't have space to cover it all.

So instead of tediously listing everything we think is cool and commercially available, we've selected just 10 gadgets that we are pretty certain you won't have considered - but which we're convinced everyone should try out at least once.

And after that, we'll also list the specialist websites that we think will give you the best advice if you're looking for something a little bit more mundane - but equally fraught - this Christmas.

Tech Gift Guide 2012
GoPro Hero 3(01 of06)
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GoPro Hero 3 (From £199)The GoPro Hero 3 is pretty much the coolest little camera in the world. It's designed for extreme sports and comes with a waterproof case and a variety of mounts to attach it to your bike/board/spaceship (delete as applicable). It also shoots in amazing high definition (up to a bonkers 4K) as well as taking stills and burst shots. Plus it's far, far lighter and smaller than the previous models.
Nike Fuel Band (02 of06)
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Nike Fuel Band (£129)The Nike Fuel Band is a tricky gift to give, because the implication - you need to exercise - doesn't reflect the gadget itself. Yes, this is a stylish way to track your movements throughout the day (and give yourself a boost when you need to be a bit more active). But it's not a nagging equivalent of a pushy personal trainer. It's just a really nicely made, subtle gadget that will get you running a little bit more often. It's pricey, but as a main present for any gadget fan you know it's a surefire hit. (credit:Nike)
Turtle Beach: Call of Duty Black Ops II Headset(03 of06)
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Modern gaming is a high resolution experience. Usually people understand that to mean a massive, HD screen, and while that's true it's also about sound. Turtle Beach have been knocking out some of the best gaming headsets for years now, and this Christmas it's no different. They've come up with a dedicated set of surround-sound, super HD gaming headphones specifically designed for the new Call of Duty game, Black Ops II, and they're really quite awesome. Yes, the Tango set is expensive (£299) but there are cheaper options too (the Kilo set are £89). For the wannabe covert ops warlord in your clan, there's nothing quite as good.
Super Nintendo(04 of06)
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Yes, Nintendo have a new console out this Christmas -- the Wii U. But for sheer value and care free fun, we recommend stepping back in time a couple of decades. A fully-working Super Nintendo console can be had for less than £50 online or from dedicated retro games shops - and another £50 will get you an enormous stack of games. It has Mario Kart and Super Mario, F-Zero and FIFA, and everyone will want to join in. Yes, ZombiU looks cool. But newer isn't always better.
Wacom Stylus Duo(05 of06)
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Wacom Stylus Duo (Amazon, £27.99)Giving pens for Christmas? Not cool. Giving literally the best pen in the world? Yeah, that's ok.The Wacom Stylus Duo is both a nicely balanced, well-made pen and the best iPad stylus we've tried in person. No, it's not as accurate as other models promise to be - but as an all-purpose, smooth and useful stylus you're actually going to use, you can't go wrong.Give this to the iPad lover in your life and you might just inspire them to draw you a Christmas card next year. (credit:HuffPost)
Raspberry Pi(06 of06)
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By now everyone knows about the Raspberry Pi, the small, naked, low-cost computer designed to inspire a new generation of coders and computer scientists. But not everyone knows you can buy one from Maplin, and that for less than £75 you'll get a keyboard, mouse and everything else you need to get up and running. It's a wonderful, creative present for Christmas, and there isn't a nerd in your life who wouldn't find something useful to do with one.

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