Gadgets We Bought and Reviewed in 2014

Delivering fresh and relevant contents have always been the life and blood of YugaTech. As such, we strive to be the first to review gadgets both here and abroad which, sometimes, require us to invest our own money to buy devices, so we can review them early and share them with you before you decide to buy them yourselves. In this post, we list down all of the gadgets that we bought and reviewed last year.

Smartphones

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus – Sourcing the latest model of the iPhone abroad every year has become a must for us primarily because it’s not immediately available locally. And by the time that it’s available through the local telcos, we feel that it’ll be too little too late to release a full review. [Read our full review of the iPhone 6 here and the iPhone 6 Plus here]

ASUS ZenFone 5 – as soon as this handset became available abroad, we knew we had to purchase and review it immediately because a lot our readers are interested to see what it has to offer apart from its enticing price tag. True enough, the 5-inch variant of the ZenFone lineup was a huge success locally, and has made its way to the number one spot on our Top 50 Gadget Reviews of 2014. [Read our full review of the ASUS ZenFone 5 here]

HTC One M8 – we’ve not been ashamed of admitting that we’re a fan of the way HTC designs their flagship handsets. This compels us to purchase their latest flagship offerings every year despite of the relatively-low readership compared to other note-worthy flagship smartphones. [Read our full review of the HTC One (M8) here]

LG G3 – Even though this handset was launched locally just a month after its official debut, we still went ahead and purchased this bad boy. [Read our full review of the LG G3 here]

LG/Google Nexus 5 – Like the Apple iPhone, Nexus devices are a little hard to come by locally unless we opt to buy it from online resellers. Good thing our contributor, Bob Freking, bought one and had it shipped from the US. [Read our full review of the Nexus 5 here]

Motorola Moto G – This budget-centric handset is one of our first purchases last year. The combination of its competitive price tag and decent specs made this a must-have for us. [Read our full review of the Moto G here]

Starmobile Diamond X1 – For a locally-available device, one would assume that the company will lend us a unit for review. Nope, not the case with the Starmobile Diamond X1 and our dear friend Hector even had to buy one out of his own pocket just so we can write about it. [Read our full review of the SM Diamond X1 here]

Xiaomi Mi3 – It’s affordable. It has a flagship-caliber specs. How can Louie resist this smartphone? [Read our full review of the Xiaomi Mi3 here]

Xiaomi Redmi Note – This device is one of many “souvenirs” that we brought home from one of our trips to Hong Kong. Like the Mi3, (or any Xiaomi devices for that matter) the RedMi Note features decent specs and affordable price tag. [Read our full review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note here]

Laptop, PC and Peripherals

AMD A10-7850K – Our contributor, Ron, bought this processor and built a budget gaming rig around it. [Read our full review of the AMD A10-7850K here]

ASUS N550JV – Along with the Nexus 5, Bob also bought an ASUS N550JV from the US and had to ship it here. He (still) uses it for study, work and bad-ass renders. [Read our full review of the ASUS N550JV here]

G.Skill Ripjaws X – To fully maximize the capability of the 7850k, we paired it with a high-frequency memory module. It’s by far, the most expensive part on Ron’s Poorman’s Gaming Rig. [Read our full review of the Ripjaws X here]

Logitech G700S – Ron’s late Christmas gift to himself. He’s still trying to get the review out though.

Noctua NH-L12 – Not originally part of the Poorman’s Gaming Rig that Ron was building, but it’s near-silent performance and low profile design makes it a must-have for him.

Sony Vaio Pro 13 – Before Sony decided to pull the plug on the Vaio product line, the Japanese company released what is to us the best-looking ultrabook at that time, the Vaio Pro 13. Obviously we succumbed to our desire and spent a pretty penny for this ultrabook which serves us to this day. [Read our full review of the Vaio Pro 13 here]

Other Gadgets

Cherry Mobile G1 Watch Phone – Cherry Mobile was the first local company to enter the wearable scene and they’ve done so with the G1. [Read our full review of the CM G1 Watch Phone here]

DJI Panthom – Flying the AR Drone 2.0 was fun, but we needed something that could effortlessly carry a small load, say a GoPro. So we bought a DJI Phantom from Galleon PH and have so far been happy with it. [Check out the DJI Phantom in action here]

GoPro Hero 3+ – This action camera, which we bought from the US, was a necessary upgrade to our ageing Hero 3. [Read our full review of the GoPro Hero 3+ here]

Jawbone UP and UP24 – The Jawbone UP is one of our first encounter with wearables and we grew fond of using it. In fact, we were so happy with the first model that we had to buy its successor, the Jawbone UP24.

Parrot Zik – We don’t intend of investing on a Php21k-worth wireless headset, but the technology behind the Parrot Zik, not to mention the sweet offer we got from the distributor, gave us reason to splurge a little bit on this stylish and geeked-out headset. [Read our full review of the Parrot Zik by Starck here]

Sony PlayStation 4 – We originally intended to get a PlayStation 4 in Kuala Lumpur, but it was cheaper to get it locally. Luckily, it didn’t suffer the same fate of the Xbox One that we purchased in November 2013 and we were able to share with you our full review.

Like last year, we probably spent a little over half-a-million pesos on all of the gadgets that we purchased and reviewed in the course of 2014 (although some of the reviews are not yet out). We think that it’s money well spent, though, considering that we were able to fulfill our promise to our readers.

What about you, what gadgets did you buy last year? Do share with us in the comments field below.