T3 AWARDS 2022
Gadget of the year
NINTENDO SWITCH OLED
The Switch was a marvel; the Switch OLED is entirely more marvellous. Nintendo’s revised model is an upgrade that acknowledges and embraces the fact that the does-it-all Switch has attracted the same kind of broad audience that flocked to the Wii – and this time, Nintendo has everyone’s back, hardcore or not.
The OLED screen is a joy to behold, bigger and (naturally) brighter than before, and the battery is more than big enough to keep up with the increased demands of self-emissive pixels. The redesigned dock, now with an Ethernet port, gives serious gamers the chance to compete online at full speed; the much-improved kickstand makes casual out-and-about gaming a far less tenuous experience. There’s more storage, stronger speakers, and even secretly upgraded joycons that do more to reduce the potential impact of controller drift.
The Switch OLED is an impeccable package, but it’s not just the console that wins here: it’s the games. In an era where other consoles seem to struggle to even get a AAA title to market, let alone manufacture enough hardware for folks to play them, the Switch OLED gets to lean on the finest range of firstparty games we’ve seen.
All that, and the Switch OLED has everything that made the Switch great in the first place: portability, dockability, flexibility. This is the best console Nintendo has ever made. Even given the wobbly trajectory of Nintendo’s legacy consoles that’s an obscenely high mark to reach.
£309, nintendo.co.uk
Best gadget under £100
THERMAPEN ONE
Take the guessing out of food temperatures with this fine (and affordable) kitchen gadget: it’s accurate, it’s brilliantly engineered and designed, and it couldn’t be any easier to use. Stick this into whatever you’re cooking up and you’ll get its temperature back in a second or less, with the device able to measure a range from-19.9°C to 119.9°C (and with an accuracy level of ±0.3°C, not too shabby at all). If you’re still not convinced, the Thermapen One is waterproof and really simple to clean, it comes with a guarantee that’s good for five years, and it has a replaceable battery that lasts 2,000 hours. Oh, and did we mention it costs (significantly) less than £100?
£66, thermapen.co.uk
Brand of the year
APPLE
Apple’s phones, tablets and watches dominate. Its about-face on the creative desktop – culminating in the frankly incredible Mac Studio – has been more of a success than we could even have imagined. The content of Apple TV+ has earned the company a best picture Oscar (for the feel-good drama CODA). Apple is a powerhouse.
Everything tangible the company has produced this year, even if not a radical redesign like the new iMac, feels like a leaps-and-bounds upgrade. Apple’s increased focus on the guts of its gadgets – and their environmental impact – has made it stronger: by taking control of chip design, the Cupertino company has forged a path for its products like no
