The 10 Best Gadgets of 2014 (So Far)

Image via Sprint/Sprint.com

Price: $400 - $500 

Arguably the strongest Android rival capable of going toe-to-toe with the iPad, Samsung’s latest flagship tablet takes on a more premium form across the board. This lighter and thinner slate sports a 2K-esque Super AMOLED display (2,560x1,600), which “adapts” to lighting conditions and generates 100 percent better contrast ratio than LCDs. Dope features like SideSync 3.0 and Remote PC serve as extra selling points, with the former creating a virtual image of your Galaxy S5, allowing owners access to all of the handset’s functionality. That includes screening calls over wi-fi. The new keyboard covers also give the Galaxy Tab S some affluent swag.

Price: $200 

Stepping up its design and sound stage, the Solo 2’s deliver a balanced listening experience that matches its comforting ergonomic fit. The sound profile is much crisper and mellower this time around, though audiophiles will still find Beats signature bass present here. Even more impressive is its noise-isolation feature, blocking ambient noise at effective rates.

Price: $350

Virtual reality is becoming the new wave of the future. Get used to it. Playing trendsetter to the movement, Oculus continues to visually shock audiences with its position-tracking headsets, creating an immersive, AR gaming world unlike anything we've ever experienced. The latest developer kit welcomes new technology that reduces blurring and motion sickness, along with an external camera to allow six-degrees-of-head-movement freedom. Now a property of Facebook, the world awaits to see how the social network will utilize the groundbreaking hardware. Hopefully we get something along the lines of this.

Price: $1,000

JBL’s vintage-inspired audio system pumps out clear, big sound with such incredible detailing that it can only be outmatched by its retro acoustic speaker construction. Harman's Signal Doctor technology plays an integral role in the L16’s high-end performance—taking low-quality digital music files and enhancing the resonant specifics absent in digital compression to produce immaculate results. Analog, optical, and photo preamp jack connections make it an elite all-in-one noise blaster suited for hardcore audiophiles.

Price: $140 

TV junkies with last year’s Hopper model will find the Super Joey to be an upgrade worth investing in. A “Best of CES” winner, Dish’s latest set-top DVR proves more is always better by adding two additional tuners to record up to eight shows simultaneously. Sling integration means seamless media streaming across mobile devices and its smaller box design blends perfectly into any home entertainment setup. 

Price: $100 - $200 (w/two-year contract) 

Samsung went back to basics with the Galaxy S5, ditching its critically panned motion-gesture system in exchange for refined hardware. A gorgeous 5.1-inch Super AMOLED panel, dynamic 16MP camera with user-friendly shooting options, and Qualcomm’s monstrous Snapdragon 801 quad-core are enough to appease the hardcore Android conformist. Though the phone’s true value comes from its sportier attributes such as the built-in heart rate monitor, S Health integration, and water-resistant design. It’s easily the most functional smartphone out.

Price: $100 

As if Gary Busey didn’t already do an awesome job selling you on Amazon’s set-top box, guess we’ll fill in for the deranged actor. The Fire TV isn’t only the best way to take in content from the company’s Instant and Prime services, but also the more user-friendly courtesy of its fast video streaming and intuitive voice search feature. Its ability to double as a gaming machine—promoting hundreds of Android titles and hi-def graphics—is another one of its strengths. Nothing really beats it at that price point.

Price: $150

Mophie broke new ground with its latest power solution—blessing iPhone 5/5S users with a lighter, sleeker charging case that just so happens to double as an external storage drive. We’re talking more juice and an increase of 16GB/32GB in memory here. Simply put, it’s become a godsend for standard iFiends bitching over their on-board storage or iCloud space limitations. The days of deleting older Instagram photos in order make room for new selfies are over.

Price: $230 (w/two-year contract)

Guess Gary Oldman was right. Ask the Internet what's the best smartphone on the market and it'll spit out the HTC One M8. Only difference is we're cosigning its louder counterpart as the more elite model at the moment. Besides carrying over the gorgeous design and immaculate performance of the standard version, the Harman Kardon version manages to outshine the old Beats audio architecture by making more noise with its Clari-Fi and LiveStage technologies—using algorithms to pick up lost details during audio compression and expanding the soundscape for headphones to present a live-listening environment. 

Price: $800 

A great Windows tablet, but an even better laptop replacement, the Surface Pro 3 is the closest we’ve come to owning the ultimate all-on-one computer hybrid. This full-fledged PC boasts the hardware to back up such claims spearheaded by a clear, vibrant 12-inch display with 2,160x1,440-resolution and strong internals. It does an incredible job combining function with form as well, making the patented kickstand infinitely adjustable and introducing the perceptive Surface Pen—a multi-functional stylus optimized to wake the touchscreen and open productivity apps through the click of a button. A lighter, slimmer form factor and updated Surface keyboard are just two more reasons to make the Surface Pro 3 your next Windows portable PC.