Four practical gadget resolutions

Monday 03 January

Stay in touch with family using your iPhone

We’ve already asked you about your gadget resolutions for the year, but if you’re still having trouble, we thought we’d lend you a bit of a hand.

When it comes to the latest gadgets, we all make a big deal about features, but more important of course is how you use those features. Take a look at our suggestions for how the latest tech can improve your quality of life – and give us some ideas of your own at the end!

Resolution: Keep in better touch with far-flung relatives

Gadget: iPhone 4

Most of us have at least a couple of relatives or close friends abroad or in far-flung corners of the country. If so, you probably already use the likes of Skype, but on the iPhone mobile video chat has reached all new levels of quality and convenience. Not only have you got FaceTime for nattering away to your Apple-loving chums, but Skype itself now fully supports free video calling to other Skype contacts, just as if you were on the PC.

Resolution: To spend more time together as a couple

Gadget: Kinect for Xbox 360

Gadgets like the Kinect have truly shattered the notion of gamers as anti-social recluses once and for all. The latest wave of motion-sensing add-ons have revolutionised gaming, and if you’re the kind of couple that spends every evening locked away on a laptop or console of your own, we’d strongly advise joining the Kinect revolution. It’s clever, gets you up off the sofa and doing things together, but most of all it’s good clean fun.

Resolution: To enjoy more music

Gadget: Sonos multi-room system

We just don’t get tired of recommending the Sonos system. You have to pay a bit to get up and running, and there are certainly more and more alternative systems popping up all the time, but for a combination of features, elegance and simplicity we’d still give Sonos the edge. If you want to give your entire music-listening universe an upgrade, look no further.

Resolution: To keep the house tidier

Gadget: iRobot Roomba 700 Series

We were happy to recommend the Roomba anyway, but conveniently enough iRobot has just updated it and the self-contained hardwood cleaning wonder is now even better than ever. Let it get to know your home and you can look forward to spotless floors every time you come home without ever having to worry about how they got that way. Or invite some mates over and just watch it shuffling about doing its thing. It’s more fun than you might think!