From smart lighting to speakers, here's the best consumer tech of 2019

Winner: iPhone 11

Backed up with good battery life, iPhone 11 runs iOS 13 and is powered by Apple A13 Bionic chipset. The dual-camera setup captures some of the best pictures. Priced aggressively at Rs 64,900 onwards, the cashback offer of Rs 6,000 with HDFC cards made it a sweet deal.

Runner up: Redmi K20 Pro

Apple Watch has always come across to be the best health and fitness wearable. With this year's Apple Watch Series 5, the 'Always-on' display was a welcome addition. The screen only dims and continues to display the time and other relevant information on the selected watch face all the time. Just by raising the hand or tapping on the watch screen will bring the screen back to full brightness. Designed only for Apple iPhones, it always leaves Android users longing for one.

The new top-of-the-line Amazon Echo Studio is a perfect amalgamation of great looks, smart functionality and impressive sound. With smart speakers predominantly used for playing music other than fetching information and controlled ecosystem devices, the Echo Studio addresses the pain point of average sound.

Depending upon the place where the Studio has been placed, it can automatically sense the acoustics of the space and fine-tune playback to deliver optimal sound. If on Amazon ecosystem, one can pair the Studio with the Fire TV for streaming movies with Dolby Atmos audio. The Studio measures 8.1-inch x 6.9-inch and weighs 3.86Kg.

Winner: Google Nest Hub

Elegant looking, the Google Nest Hub has a slightly tilted 7-inch display with thick displays on all the four sides and a speaker at the rear. Powered by Google Assistant, it shows a lot of information on the screen, including the controls for compatible devices such as smart lighting and appliances. While setting up the Nest Hub, I allowed it to access my pictures from Google Photos (selected faces and highlights) to display images I wanted to view on the small display.

Every minute it showed a new and different picture, transporting me back into my memories. The Ambient EQ sensor at the top of screen auto-adjusted brightness and colours to match the room's ambient light and temperature. All this worked like a charm.

Winner: Mi LED WiFi Smart Bulb

Xiaomi's Mi LED Wi-Fi Smart Bulb with 16 a million colours, 800 lumens brightness, close to 11 years of run time (claimed by Xiaomi) and impressive built-quality is a complete package. It seamlessly snuggles into your smart home set-up and is compatible with Alexa as well as Google Assistant. Pairing it with the Mi Home app, I could play around with colours and choose from the pre-set modes.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro

Focussing on the smallest of the details, Apple has added three sets of ear tips in the box for the comfortable fit. There is also a fit test for ensuring a good seal for noise cancellation. you can switch between active noise cancellation and transparency mode (to hear outside voices) for the earbuds as well as the iPhone. Most importantly, active noise cancellation works well - Apple has used an outward-facing and an inward-facing microphone for this. The former detects external sound and cancels it using equal anti-noise. The latter identifies unwanted sound inside the ear and eliminates the same. Apple says that noise cancellation is continuously adjusted at 200 times per second for truly immersive sound. And the AirPods Pro does not compromise on sound either.

Winner: BenQ W1700M

Breaking from the clutter of fitness bands and smartwatches, this wellness device focusses on having a correct posture. A small device that is attached to the back, it gives vibration alerts every time you slouch. It was a quick and good reminder to sit straight. Other than giving reminders to sit straight, it also has a coach mode that helps in improving the sitting posture. All the data - straight minutes and number of slouches - is accessible within the app.

Runner up: Dyson Hot+cool air purifier