You’re plugged in—and that’s probably why you’re here. You want to know the coffee maker that will brew a pour-over-worthy cup. You will not rest until you have a cell phone that will perform tireless tasks with ease. And yeah, you want a TV that gives a crisp, cinematic experience for sports and blockbusters alike. As everything in our lives is getting smarter, it’s about time we did as well—and with this sentiment, we present you the first-ever GQ Tech Awards.
In the past year, our editors have plugged in, powered up, and charged through a small factory’s worth of new, legendary, and legacy tech gadgets to find the best gear for nearly every situation. Do you really need an $800 smartwatch? Does red light therapy really turn back the clock on your face? We weren’t sure until we actually got this stuff to work for us—and now we want to share our findings with you. From tech to make your healthier lifestyle goals a reality to the stuff that’ll help you work smarter—not harder—we uncovered all the electronics that are worth your time and money. Now, Luddites, these gadgets might not be for you but for everyone else, happy scrolling.
The GQ Tech Awards Table of Contents
Work Tech
Armando Zaragoza
The Best Tablet: Apple M4 iPad Pro
Apple’s newest iPad Pro is the crème de la crème of tablets. It’s the first iPad to have an OLED display, delivering a brighter, bolder, and generally more stunning picture. It packs a super-powerful M4 chip, which Apple hasn’t yet integrated into any of its Macs. Most impressively, the larger 13-inch model is the brand’s thinnest device—not just iPad—ever. It’s expensive, but it’s the best tablet for creative professionals and those who’d rather not take their laptop abroad—provided they’re willing to buy the Apple Pencil Pro or Magic Keyboard accessories, of course.
The Best Laptop: Apple M3 MacBook Air
Released earlier this year, Apple’s M3 MacBook Airs are easy to recommend—and quite frankly, they’re probably the best laptops for most people. They’re thin, lightweight, and super portable. They have a similar look and many of the same features (including the Magic Keyboard, MagSafe charging port, and Touch ID button) as Apple’s significantly more expensive MacBook Pros. Thanks to their M3 chip, they’re more powerful than they have any right to be, and now you can choose between a big (15-inch) or more portable (13-inch) size.
The Best Keyboard: Lofree Flow84
If you’re going to spend your day hammering on a keyboard, you owe it to yourself to have a blast with it. Many mechanical keyboards can be big, flashy, loud, and generally unbecoming for an office setting, though people who love them will tell you they’re great for improving typing accuracy and overall comfort when banging out hundreds of thousands of words a week. Lofree’s Flow84 fits terrifically tactile goodness into a form that can pass for employer-issued at a glance, all without the clickety clackety that would instigate your office deskmate into banging that keyboard over their head. The keyboard’s hot-swap sockets let you swap smooth, tactile, or clicky switches based on your preferences for sound and feel without buying a whole new board. Its aluminum frame and tasteful LED lighting let you enjoy the experience of cranking through some emails without everyone in the office realizing you’re an irredeemable nerd.
The Best Task Light: Dyson Solarcycle Morph
Dyson’s Solarcycle is more than just a lamp; it’s a statement piece and a serious investment. With its slick and functional design, it can cast light on whatever you need and from whatever angle you could possibly desire, providing task lighting or ambient lighting as you need. And with its GPS and MyDyson app connectivity, the color of the light it shines will match your local conditions every 60 seconds. Overkill? Certainly. Worth it? We think so.
The Best Android Phone: Samsung Galaxy Flip 5
Today’s flip phones are both nostalgic and new age—and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 shows this off best. Its pocketable design and satisfying ability to snap shut remind us of the Motorola Razr phones we grew up with, while the gorgeous screen(s), fast processor, and high-quality camera match any of today’s “flat” flagship smartphones. Most of all, it’s just a fun smartphone to wield and use every day (and it might even be cheaper than your current iPhone, too).
The Best Apple Phone: iPhone 15 Pro Max
If you’re looking for the best and biggest iPhone, allow us to direct you towards the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It has all the features that you’d want in a “Pro” model, including a huge, gorgeous, always-on display, the most advanced processor Apple has ever put in a smartphone, and an excellent camera system (with incredible zoom abilities). Plus, Apple has finally made the jump to USB-C charging and a lighter titanium body.
The Best Charging Stand: Belkin BoostCharge Pro
The Belkin BoostCharge Pro is a three-in-one wireless charging stand for your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. Yes, it’ll charge all three devices simultaneously and supports MagSafe charging, wirelessly blazing up your iPhone as fast as possible. (Fun fact: Apple actually sells the BoostCharge Pro, but you can save a good chunk of change if you buy from a third-party seller like Amazon or Best Buy.)
The Best Travel Mug: Ember Tumbler
Every caffeine addict knows that coffee works better when it’s at the optimal temperature. Ember’s new Tumbler is built on the same precise temperature tech as its more traditionally styled mugs, with portability in mind. The Tumbler’s 16-ounce capacity is ideal for anyone who scoffs at the notion of an eight-ounce serving size, but its charging pad has been redesigned with the smallest footprint to date, letting you keep your coffee at the perfect temperature all day on the desktop, or about three hours, out and about.
The Best Wireless Mouse: Razer Pro Click Mouse
Though it comes from a gaming company with a name synonymous with neon green highlights, Razor’s sleek and understated Pro Click mouse is the office upgrade you didn’t know you needed. Designed in partnership with the ergo experts at Humanscale, the Pro Click is sculpted to promote neutral arm positioning and virtually melt into your hand. You’ll be comfortable and productive with its eight programmable buttons, sensitive 16,000 DPI sensor, and hundreds of hours of battery life per charge.
Audio Visual Tech
Armando Zaragoza
The Best Affordable Wireless Headphones: Beats Solo 4
Over the years, Beats headphones have become as much about sound as they’ve been about style. The company’s newest on-ear wireless headphones, the Solo 4, share past Beats’ iconic (and colorful) design but add more comfy ear cups and a sensational 50-hour battery life. And even though Beats is owned by Apple, these bad boys sync up perfectly with both iPhone and Android handsets alike.
The Best Virtual Reality Headset: Apple Vision Pro
To truly appreciate the magic of the Vision Pro, you need to strap it on yourself and take it for a ride. The headset is essentially a computer you wear like goggles, controlled by your eyes and hands to cycle through multiple apps and the biggest floating TV screen you’ll ever own. Whether you liken it to living in The Jetsons or Black Mirror (depending on your tolerance for ultra-immersive tech) is up to you, but it’s an absolute trip when you’re strapped in. Sure, it’s expensive and VR/AR headsets aren’t for everybody, but this is undoubtedly the wildest device Apple has ever made. Just don’t go skateboarding with it strapped on.
The Best Noise-Cancelling Earbuds: Sony WF-1000XM5
These days, there are a lot of wireless earbuds to choose from. Most pairs seem to have some active noise-cancellation abilities, but you’ll have to spend at least $200 to nab one of the elite options on the market. Sony’s flagship models, the WF-1000XM5, combine wonderfully rich sound, powerful active noise cancellation and transparency models, and seemingly infinite customization options. Believe us when we say they’re standouts even in a crowded field.
The Best OLED TV: LG C4 OLED TV
If you know anything about TVs, you know that OLEDs are: chef’s kiss. They deliver a bolder and brighter picture with significantly more contrast than a traditional LED TV could ever hope to achieve. For those in the market for an OLED TV, we can’t recommend the LG C4 highly enough. It’s the best combination of picture, design, and price—and it’s available in basically any size you want, including a petite 42-inch model.
The Best High-End Noise-Cancelling Headphones: Master & Dynamic MW75
Want a pair of headphones that’s as much a fashion accessory as a way to jam out to raucous screamo tunes on your noisy subway commute? That’s Master & Dynamic’s MW75 noise-canceling headphones, which are one of the brand’s more premium devices, offering top-notch sound quality while tuning out the unwanted buzz of the outside world. With four built-in microphones, these over-ear headphones are great at picking up your voice when taking a call and perfectly adapt when not in noise-canceling mode, allowing you to hear the outside world—like honking cars, sneaky steps behind you, or which train stop is next.
The Best High-End TV: Sony Bravia 9 QLED TV
The choice between TV or movie theater no longer means sacrificing picture quality to watch Oppenheimer in your pajamas…on your couch…with microwave popcorn. Sony’s Bravia 9 offers some of the best high-res imagery we’ve seen and impressive quality surround sound that might convince you not to splurge on that audio setup you’ve been diligently researching in the subreddits. Suffice it to say that with the right streaming services and this buy, you might never remember that your microwave popcorn is far inferior to the stuff movie theaters make in mass.
The Best Innovative Headphones: Bose Ultra Open Earbuds
Open earbuds are a safe option for runners and cyclists who like to listen to music during their workouts, allowing athletes to hear their music and their surroundings simultaneously. Gripping the outer ear, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are unlike any other pair of open buds we’ve seen before. While many alternatives tend to disappoint with leaky, poor-quality audio, these Bose buds actually make us excited to use them in wide-ranging scenarios—from business class to burpees at the gym.
The Best Indoor/Outdoor Speaker: Sonos Move 2
If you could only buy one speaker for your home, the Sonos Move 2 (an update to the OG Move, boasting 24 hours of battery and improved sound quality) might be your best bet. It’s a portable speaker that supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so when in the house, you can bring the music with you from room to room and even request songs with your voice. And when you’re outside, you can use it like any other portable Bluetooth speaker without having to worry about a little dust or water getting in the way of playing “Espresso” on repeat.
The Best Hi-Fi Turntable: Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2
British hi-fi maker Cambridge Audio is probably best known for its super high-end amps and streamers, but in recent years, it has dove head first into turntables—and the Alva TT V2 is its magnum opus. It’s a gorgeous turntable that toes the line between vintage and modern. You can hook it to a traditional hi-fi system or, thanks to a Bluetooth module, it can stream high-resolution audio (up to 24bit/48kHz) to a wireless speaker system. It’s a turntable fit for the streaming age.
The Best Smart Speaker: Bose Smart Speaker 500
Not all smart speakers are the same. For example, the Bose Smart Speaker 500 is just a bit classier than the rest. It has a convenient little display for showing off album artwork while it’s playing, and you can set it up to work with either Alexa or Google Assistant, depending on your preference. Of course, it delivers Bose’s signature room-filling sound.
The Best Portable Turntable: Audio-Technica Sound Burger Portable Bluetooth Turntable
An updated reissue of an ’80s design classic, what Audio-Technica’s Sound Burger turntable lacks in practicality, it makes up for in an irrepressibly charming aesthetic. With modern creature comforts like Bluetooth connectivity and a USB-C rechargeable battery that boasts 12 hours of play for your favorite LPs, it’s significantly more convenient to use than the vintage model it’s based on. This isn’t a pick for the hi-fi snobs, but it’s a terrific conversation piece for vinyl lovers who really want to have some fun with their LPs.
The Best Soundbar: Sonos Arc
The magic of any Dolby Atmos soundbar is its ability to trick your ears into thinking they’re surrounded by a cinema-worthy audio setup. When you’re watching Dune, it really sounds like a sandworm is chasing you. And when you’re dipping back into a Lord of the Rings rewatch, you feel like you’re part of the Rohirrim. As for the best Dolby Atmos soundbar? You can’t go wrong with Sonos’ Arc, which elevates a night on the couch with blockbuster oomph. It’s super easy to set up by connecting to your TV via a single cable and groups effortlessly with your other Sonos speakers for one of the best all-out surround systems available.
The Best Affordable Wireless Earbuds: Sennheiser CX True Wireless
Finding the right headphones in a veritable ocean of options can be challenging, but Sennheiser’s CX True Wireless headphones land in a Goldilocks zone of sound quality, fit, and price. Complete with a set of four silicone ear tips for finding the best option for a sound-stopping feel, these sweatproof buds are sturdy and compact enough to take a bit of a beating while still providing Sennheiser-grade quality. And though the USB-C charging case is not the slimmest on offer, it adds a respectable 18 hours of playback to the buds’ eight-hour life. You may not get more advanced features like active noise cancellation, but the CX True Wireless’s price, durability, and style make them a great daily driver nonetheless.
Health and Fitness Tech
Armando Zaragoza
The Best Hardcore Smartwatch: Apple Watch Ultra 2
Apple’s first “Ultra” watch took the company’s already iconic wearable to a new echelon of performance with a new design, underwater superpowers, and, of course, the Action Button. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 may look mostly the same, but its upgrades perfect the potential of its older brother. Its 3,000-nit screen is the brightest of any Apple device, making it legible in even the most sun-drenched environment. New running features like automatic stride length detection let the Ultra 2 go toe-to-toe with some of the most advanced fitness watches on the market. Of course, it also provides all the ring tracking and notification-related convenience you’d expect.
The Best Hardcore Smartwatch for Non-iOS Users: Garminx Fenix 7
If your idea of a great workout revolves around putting on some old sweats and stumbling around your locale for 5K, then Garmin’s Fenix 7 probably isn’t for you. You’ve got all the standard health and fitness metrics with this watch, of course, but the Fenix can also track things like how smoothly you take mountain bike trails, how well you’re recovering from jet lag, how much stamina you’ve got left at your current running or cycling pace, and even what your marathon time might be. It’s like having a (gently encouraging) Bill Belichick on your wrist.
The Best Recovery Tech: Normatec Elite
Normatec’s innovative air compression technology brought at-home muscle relief and massages to the masses so that athletes could more quickly warm up before activity and reduce inflammation during recovery. The Elites mark its most advanced model yet, eliminating any excess hoses and putting a control unit directly into the boots rather than needing to be a separate device. With seven levels of compression, easy-to-use controls, and four hours of battery life, Normatec’s top-tier boots ensure that you’re always just a leg massage away from being a better you.
The Best Exercise Bike: Peloton Bike+
Want to take workout classes from home? Peloton is still the GOAT. The enthusiastic instructors and gamified leaderboard create the kind of vibes that actually make you want to get your sweat on next to your sofa. Plus, the massive collection of live and prerecorded classes eliminates boredom as an excuse for skipping out instead. With the Bike+, you can do a muscle-building strength workout, have a chill yoga flow, or even let the instructor automatically adjust your resistance throughout a cycling class so you don’t limit your potential.
The Best Sleep Tracker: Oura Ring
There are plenty of wearables out there to track your biometrics, but none are as sleek as the Oura Ring. Top-of-the-line sensors in this titanium band track metrics like your sleep, steps, heart rate variability, temperature, and blood oxygen levels to give you personalized insights without cramping your style. Bonus: the battery lasts a full week before needing a recharge, making it the kind of tech you don’t feel like you need to babysit.
The Best Massage Gun: Theragun Relief
Recovery work doesn’t feel like another workout when you’re using the Theragun Relief. At a light 1.37 pounds, Therabody’s most wallet-friendly massage gun makes myofascial release simple and soothing. The head moves just 10 millimeters, not going quite as deep as the brand’s OG model, which means you can ease your aches without causing more pain. The foolproof design has just one button to press, though if you want to get fancy, you can follow step-by-step guided routines in the app.
The Best LED Light Mask: Solawave Wrinkle Retreat Light Therapy Mask
Wearing this light therapy mask around the house might freak out your roommates, but your face will thank you. Combining red and near-infrared light therapies, this FDA-cleared grooming tool stimulates collagen production to firm up wrinkles, brighten dark spots, and give you a decidedly youthful glow. Ten minutes spent looking like Scream’s Ghostface in his EDM era in order to slow the most visible signs of aging? We’ll take that tradeoff.
The Best Headphones for Working Out: Jabra Elite 8 Active
It’s legitimately hard to break Jabra’s waterproof, dustproof, sweatproof wireless earbuds. They’ve passed military tests for rugged electronics, and a silicone coating means they stay put in your ears no matter what the heck you get up to while wearing them. And they don’t skimp on sound quality. Advanced noise cancellation tech automatically optimizes to your environment to, say, cut out wind interference while making sure you still can hear that car behind you. With six microphones for super clear sound, you can even take a work call without anyone knowing you’re out on a bike ride.
The Best Golf Tech: Rapsodo MLM2PRO Golf Launch Monitor
If you want to level up your golf game, Rapsodo is your (relatively) budget-friendly ticket to the needed insights. The launch monitor captures 13 metrics on each swing, like spin rate and descent angle, to help you analyze your game. You can review your form in slow-mo from multiple angles with two cameras. What’s more, a stats history helps you track your progress long-term so you can justify how much time you spend trying to out-drive Bryson DeChambeau.
Outdoor Tech
Armando Zaragoza
The Best E-Bike: Cowboy Cross E-Bike
If you’re going to invest in an electric bike, odds are you’ll want one that can hold its own off the beaten path as well as it can on the streets and sidewalks. Designed with 60-millimeter tires and suspension in the front fork and seat post for a smooth ride, the Cross e-bike from Cowboy brings its 250W rear hub to bear for pedal assist up to 15 miles per hour. There’s also GPS-theft protection to warn you if your bike starts moving without you on it, an essential perk to give you some peace of mind when you park your $3,500 bike.
The Best Portable Bluetooth Speaker: Ultimate Ears Epicboom
Shopping for a good portable Bluetooth speaker? Make sure it’s easy to fit in a bag, durable enough to deal with a little water and sand, and easy to use (no one’s here to read a damn manual). The Epicboom checks all those boxes—it’s the best portable speaker UE has ever made.
The Best Smart Glasses: Ray-Ban Meta
The (extremely brief) heyday of Google Glass ended a whole decade ago, but smart glasses have snuck right back onto the scene in a form factor so subtle you’d be hard-pressed to notice them. A collaboration between two juggernaut brands, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses put a camera, speakers, a microphone, and AI capabilities into the classic Wayfarer silhouette (among other styles). The result? Discreet frames that can live stream video, play music, take calls, and put a voice assistant right at your fingertips or temples, as the case may be.
The Best Automatic Lawn Mower: Stihl iMOW 5
Anyone who has ever pushed a mower for pocket money has daydreamed about having a Roomba for the lawn, and Stihl’s latest iMOW 5 robotic mower is that dream realized. Capable of tackling yards about a third of an acre in size and negotiating grades of 40 percent, the iMOW 5 takes direct via your Wi-Fi, using the MY iMOW where you can tell it to get to work, choose the length of the cut, send it home to its dock, and more. Like many of its contemporaries, the iMOW 5 relies on a thin wire you’ll have to bury in your yard to relay the nuances of your property’s borders and obstacles. But good luck finding any other landscaping chore that pays you back in precious free time.
The Best Affordable Bluetooth Speaker: JBL Flip 6
A good Bluetooth speaker has two primary jobs: Get loud and be able to take a beating. JBL’s Flip 6 excels at both. The Flip 6’s racetrack-shaped driver and separate tweeter team up to provide volume and clarity from the low to high range, while 12-hour battery life and IP67 waterproof rating means it can comfortably survive a minute or two (or thirty) submerged in the cooler next to all your drinks. With a wealth of options for custom colorways, you can design a perfect weekend warrior that will hold up its end of the party.
The Best Outdoor Project: Anker Nebula Mars 3
Nothing kicks movie night up a notch like transporting it into the great outdoors. With Anker’s Nebula Mars 3, you only need to find somewhere to point this outdoor projector before you can get busy cracking on with the s’mores. Featuring a 185Wh battery, the Mars 3 can handle up to 5 hours of runtime and project a 200-inch image at 1080p, thanks partly to its AI-powered ability to fine-tune its 1,000 lumens of brightness to whatever the moment demands. Add in a Dolby Digital Plus-capable speaker and IPX3 water resistance, and the Mars 3 is a one-piece outdoor theater that can stare down drizzle and shrug off spills with equal ease.
The Best Outdoor Fire Pit: Solo Stove Lloyd
For those who’ve always dreamed of adding a mid-century-modern-style fireplace to their home, the Lloyd Modern Gel Fuel Fireplace by Terraflame (now owned by Solo Stove) is an option that’s not only sleek and smokeless—it’s portable. The Lloyd uses smokeless gel canisters for the living room or patio to emit up to 9,000 BTUs of radiant heat with seven-inch flames that flicker and crackle like wood without the fumes. Available in five colors, including a bold burnt orange, it’s a handsome design that will light up whatever room it’s in, with or without flames.
Kitchen Tech
Armando Zaragoza
The Best Robot Vacuum: Dyson 360 Viz Nav
Robot vacuums have come a long way since the heyday of outfitting them with knives for living room brawls, and Dyson’s unmistakably blue 360 Viz Nav is a case in point. Like most of its contemporaries, the redesigned Viz Nav can create its own map of your abode and take instruction about where and where not to clean, but its suction power is leagues above, especially in its high-powered “Boost” mode designed for demanding spot cleaning. Though it’s missing a wet mopping mode, despite its very premium price, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any Robovac that provides half as much grunt as Dyson’s. We hope you’re as big a fan of blue as its designers are.
The Best Pizza Oven: Ooni Koda 2
This massive outdoor pizza oven has 24 inches of cooking space so you can make multiple pies at a time. Gas-powered, it even has independent left and right burners so you can simultaneously cook them at two different temps (which you can remotely monitor on an app while you grab a beer). Even better: Those temps soar up to a whopping 950 degrees Fahrenheit to deliver the kind of crust that seriously impresses the neighbors.
The Best Smoker Oven: GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker
You used to need a backyard (and decent weather) to get that mouth-watering, wood-smoked BBQ flavor at home. No longer. GE’s electric indoor smoker sits right on your kitchen counter—and won’t set off your fire alarm. With the same wood pellets you’d use in a traditional outdoor smoker, it creates smoke that it then converts into warm air to cook meats and veggies. Even if you have no smoking experience, the machine has plenty of presets that let you pull it off like a pitmaster.
The Best Air Fryer: Ninja DoubleStack XL
Our favorite part of Ninja’s stacked air fryer isn’t its small footprint (it’s less than 20 inches wide) or the extra racks that let you cook four dishes simultaneously. The smart finish setting schedules everything to be ready simultaneously so nothing gets cold by the time dinner is served. Though, we’ll admit that the easy cleanup—thanks to dishwasher-safe racks and baskets—is a pretty close second.
The Best Coffee Maker: Fellow Aiden
Head up, coffee nerds: You can now have control of a pour-over without the hassle. The Aiden lets you adjust the water temp to the exact degree you’re after, or even change it mid-brew for a cooler finish. It can even make a mean cold brew. Don’t worry—if you aren’t an expert roaster but still want a good cup of coffee, you can let the presets adjust for you. We simply suggest that you schedule your brew from bed via the connected app so that you can wake up with a cup or 10 ready and waiting for you.
The Best Espresso Machine: KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine with Burr Grinder
It admittedly takes a little trial and error to master the right settings on this machine. But the rich, flavorful espresso and perfectly steamed milk you’ll eventually get is worth the learning curve. We especially appreciate how speedy the whole process is. The grinder is quick (and shockingly quiet), and the water and steam wand heat up fast. Even the cleanup afterward takes minimal time.
The Best Blender: Beast Health Beastmode Blender
Despite its name, the Beastmode is surprisingly small, weighing under seven pounds. A collab with football player Marshawn Lynch—aka Beast Mode—this blender earns the “beast” moniker not because of its size but its power. As long as you add enough liquid, the 1200-watt motor grinds through ice and frozen fruit like nothing, making you the smoothest smoothies.
CONTRIBUTORS:
Tucker Bowe, Tyler Chin, Jennifer Heimlich, Eric Limer, Rob Leedham
Read the full article here
