April's Must Have Gadgets

The Mobile World Congress tradeshow is traditionally the place where tech companies launch their flagship handsets into the European market. It’s telling, then, that one of the most talked-about products this year wasn’t a phone at all, but a smartwatch. Ahead of the arrival of Apple Watch, LG have nipped in with an all-metal design that’s closer in build to a traditional luxury timepiece. It’s kitted out with the usual range of apps and sensors, but it’s safe to say Apple will blow away all competition when their (inevitably more user-friendly) device finally becomes available.

When stuck on a plane or train carriage with zero entertainment, you may come to regret your decision to choose a cheaper iPad with smaller storage capacity. Help is at hand with the iBridge, a stylish, tactile mobile memory stick with USB at one end and Lightning connector at the other, enabling you to consume easily movies, music and photos you’ve transferred from your PC or Mac on to your Apple device, without impinging on your disk space.

It’s hard for pedestrians and cyclists to stay alert when wearing noise-insulating cans, but these Yorkshire-designed headphones don’t send sound signals down your ear canal at all. Instead, they transmit vibrations through the temporal bone in your skull, leaving your ears free to hear other things. It takes a while to get used to the tickling sensation, and bass-heavy music is literally a headache to listen to. But for podcasts, acoustic tunes and taking calls (there’s a built-in mic), they’re a novel way to keep listening and stay safe.

This rapid-fire quiz game is aptly named, and rather more practical than carrying round a pub-quiz machine in your pocket. Battling fellow users from around the world, you’re given questions from six diverse categories presented within a cutesy cartoon universe. You can even submit your own questions—2,000 new ones are added each day, so no two games are ever the same.

Microsoft released the mobile version of Word so late that many users had become accustomed to the free alternatives. Similarly, this version of their email software has made a late debut, but it’s well worth making the switch. An intuitive app combining multiple mail accounts, Outlook integrates your Calendars and filters out promo emails into a separate tab.

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