5th Place
Macbook Air
So sleek, so thin, so incredibly gorgeous that I fell in love with it at the very first sight! I don't think you can describe the feeling of using a MBA to a person that haven't tried it. One must experience the computer themselves. Ok, the prices on MBA is outrages high but once you get to play around with it you will realize that it's worth it. No other companies comes near to it's incredible design and usability.
I really need to mention the MBA's trackpad which is in a class of it's own. With the multi gestures you simply don't want to use a mouse. It's so darn cool fiddling the pad back and fort that a ordinary mouse becomes unnecessary. Swiping 2 fingers up and down for scroll, swiping 4 fingers opens a task switcher, swiping 4 finger up the desktop will appear and pinch with your fingers for zoom. Ohhh so incredible cool and handy!!
Running Mac OS on MBA is really stable. During the year I've been using it, only once I needed to reboot it cause it got stuck. With it's SSD disk it starts up in only a few seconds and are ready for use immediately. Compared to Windows were a lot of services needs to be started before you can start using the system.
There's however one drawback. I would've wanted more juice out of the battery. Don't get me wrong, you'll get a few hours of heavy usage but I really wanted it to be better and longer. But hey you can't ask for everything right? :D
4th Place
Belkin AirCast.
My review can be found here >> Review : Belkin Aircast
This wonderful little helper has given me a lot of freedom during 2011. When I enter my car I just press the AirCast button and my iPhone connects to it. At this point I can for instance press and hold the button and for Siri to appear and tell her to play my latest playlist I added. " Siri play my playlist good songs" Siri will then start playing the music straight out to my speakers in my car. During the ride I get a call and the music is faded out and paused. I just press the button to answer it. It's my buddy Anders calling and his voice is streaming out to my cars speakers via the AirCast. I end the call by pressing the button once again and right at that moment the music I was playing before, fades in and starts playing again right were it got paused earlier. During my ride I remember that I need to pick up my USB Memory stick I left at my mum's house. I press the AirCast button and tell Siri to remind me that I need to pick up my USB Stick when I reach my mum's house. Siri will then set up a reminder using the GPS. Once I arrive to my mum's house the reminder will pop up with an alarm reminding me to pick up the USB stick. I then continue my ride in my car when it hits me. I need to send a text message to my friend Anders. I tell Siri " Tell Anders: I'll be at your house in about 5 minutes" Siri will then send the message.
This is how the Belkin AirCast works with the iPhone. It's wonderful. The audio quality sound great. The only complaints that I have is the mic. Some of my friends are having problem of hearing me. I have however found a solution for this problem. Speak up!
3rd Place
Apple TV
The media center showdown including the Apple TV can be found here >> The Media Center Showdown Part 1
The Apple TV really really surprised me. I didn't think this little device would be so competent. Straight out of the box the Apple TV doesn't impress very much but if you choose to jailbreak the device, it opens up a new world.
Apps like XMBC and Plex you can play a lot of different file formats. Several diffrent addons can be inserted in XMBC such as SVT Play (Swedish television) Grooveshark and Gamereactor to mention a few.
The biggest drawback with the device is the remote. Using IR signals, you'll have to point the remote in to an angle that suits the device. However, you can download Apple's free remote app that let's you use the remote where ever you are as long as you are in the same WIFI network.
iPhone 4S
My review can be found here >> Review : iPhone 4S
After nearly a year of experimenting with different Android devices I made an comeback into the iOS world once again, All thanks to the wonderful iPhone 4S. Oh my god, how the phone rocked my world.
For starters I fell in love with Siri the virtual assistant. Using the Siri is great fun and very handy. As I mentioned above in the AirCast section Siri is a great partner when your driving.
The camera is out of this world. Such incredible pictures. You can compare it's camera to ordinary digital cameras on the market. Super quality!
With the iPhone 4S heavy artillery under the surface the device opens up new world of gaming. Games like Infinty Blade II leave you completely stunned with it's incredible graphics and gameplay. iPhone is now an even greater competitor of the mobile gaming.
Only one issue keeps the iPhone 4S from getting a perfect score and it's the battery life. Still months from the release there are still problems with the battery. Apple promised us with an early release of iOS 5.01 that this issue would have been taken care of. It didn't happen. I just hope next update will solve this problem once and for all.
1st Place
Synology Disk Station DS211j
My slave, my butler, my Geisha, my hard working queen of media storage! The Synology Disk Station DS211j takes the 1st place of my best buys of 2011. This NAS Server is spectacular. It hasn't once given me any trouble through out 2011. It just sits there in the corner and obey everything I ask for. I popped a Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB HDD into it and they became best friends, delivering all my media just as I want them to do.
One thing that immediately amazed me was how silent it is. The only sound that i'll get sometimes is when the HDD is powering up after being idle for a while. I actually thought it would sound much more, but no.
It's very easy to install. It has a nice web based configuration application that is very easy to navigate through. Installing the EcoGreen F4 was very easy too. Just pop up the cover and insert the disk and you're good to go.
There are several services the device delivers as well. You can use it as a iTunes server, Disk station, File server, Web server, FTP Server, Surveillance server and lots more. Simply amazing!
At this moment I cannot think of any cons on the DS211j. I really recommend you buying this if your looking for a NAS server.
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