Is traveling more beautiful if you do it more comfortably? There is no single and absolute answer (basically positive) to this question, but there is no doubt that having a series of digital devices with you at various times of your vacation can be an advantage. All the more, and the pandemic has taught us this, if the holiday turns into a “workation”, that is, a cross between total relaxation and the need to carry out one’s work remotely. The (very personal) feeling is that many Italians, Millennials and not, will spend more time than usual to pack (and not only metaphorically) objects that could be useful for the dual purpose, looking for the perfect balance between the hours to devote to entertainment and leisure and those to be committed to meet professional deadlines of various kinds.
Summer is starting
Compared to 2020, the first summer of the Covid era, anti-contagion gadgets such as connected masks, portable pulse oximeters, notebooks with antibacterial coating, digital thermometers and other products designed to control and preserve personal health will probably be less sought after. To take back the scene, and the spaces in bags and backpacks, will compete “evergreen” such as portable consoles and 2in1 notebooks, trakers for sporting activities of all kinds and wireless earphones, the now indispensable kit (for “tech addicted”) of power banks, keys and Wifi mini-routers and perhaps even the much mistreated cameras. Shopping advice? Difficult to do, also due to the strong appeal of the summer promotions of large retailers. Often buying cheap is a great deal, in other cases it is less so. And even the fact of focusing on a well-known and cool brand or on a product of an unknown or almost unknown brand is completely questionable. Evaluating the functional characteristics of the product well in relation to one’s practical needs and the price / performance ratio (more complex operation) is a rule that never sets and that not even the pandemic has scratched.
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Computer first
Let’s try to fill our suitcase starting from the computer, which for obvious reasons must be an ultralight. The Surface Pro 7 (offered at a discount at 919 euros, keyboard excluded) is one of the best examples of versatility and productivity applied to mobile computing: great battery life (up to 11 hours), 12.3-inch touch screen and digital pen to write and draw like on a piece of paper, portability at the highest levels in terms of thickness and weight (about 800 grams) and Intel “Core i” processors in the engine. Technically it is a tablet, but it turns into a real ultralight notebook and when Microsoft baptized it years ago as a “creative studio” we believe it got it right. Spending much less (about $ 180), those who dabble in video games could get themselves a gift in view of the upcoming holidays with Panic’s Playdate (software house that has released cult titles of the indie genre such as Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game). The hand cranked mini console, as simple in features as it is innovative, will be in pre-order from July with its first accessory, the Stereo Dock, which will work as a charging station and as a Bluetooth speaker.
The wearables
Among the gadgets to consider for going on vacation there are wearables. We get out of balance on its two. Huawei Watch 3 is a concentrate of technology (expensive, in the order of 500 euros) to be worn on the wrist with HarmonyOS 2.0 on board, the operating system (with integrated App Gallery store) on which the Chinese giant has bet to overcome the American ban on Android and the services of the Google galaxy. Hammerhead True Wireless X (listed at 90 euros) is instead the trade name of the new earphones from Razer, a well-known brand among gaming enthusiasts. Their habit? The customizable LED touch controls backlit in green, which make them unique (or almost) of their kind, obviously without forgetting performance. Could the tech gadget par excellence (until a few years ago) for traveling, namely the digital camera, be missing in our suitcase? In the Lumix catalog there is a compact machine, the FT30 model, which is a candidate to undermine smartphones for shots at the sea, thanks to water resistance up to 8 meters deep. It costs 159.99 euros and has Wi-Fi connectivity to transfer photos to your mobile device in real time.