Travelling soon? Here are the best travel gadgets to take with you

Best travel gadgets (Part 1)

Note: This feature was first published on 27 May 2022.

It's been a long time since many of us has stepped outside Singapore borders. But with restrictions easing, travel is resuming in many parts of the world. If you are going to step on a plane or boat soon, here are the best gadgets to bring along with you on the trip.

Also, be sure to check out this handy guide by the Straits Times to find out the rules and restrictions of your travel destination. Not using the TraceTogther app these days to show vaccination status? No worries. Here's how to add your vaccination status on Apple Wallet and Apple Health apps.

Bose QuietComfort 45

The QuietComfort 45 delivers exactly what it says in its name: supreme comfort and silence. At first glance, it’s hard to tell what’s new. After all, it looks just like its predecessors. However, Bose has made small tweaks to the design and materials so it’s comfortable to wear, even for hours on end. Most of all, Bose has completely re-engineered its active noise cancellation technology. The result is that the QuietComfort 45 is the most effective wireless ANC headphone the company has made to date. It’s so good at nullifying unwanted noises that it messes with your mind because it often can’t compute what it sees with what it hears. In addition, it sounds good and can easily last over 20 hours on a single charge. With travel resuming in many places, I can’t think of another headphone that I want to bring with me.

The Bose QuietComfort 45 is priced at S$499 and is available from the Bose Flagship Store on Lazada and the Bose Official Store on Shopee.

Find out why it won our Tech Awards here.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G

Very few things can top vacationing in style. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 maxes out on fashion points (and also clinched a win in one of our Tech Awards 2022 categories) while remaining highly practical for trips. Its clam-type foldable display with outward-facing main cameras paired with the 1.9-inch Cover Screen makes quick work of any important selfies you need to take while on a trip, without requiring a gimbal or stand. 

Similarly, the Cover Screen lets you literally screen for important messages (i.e. ignore non-urgent work stuff) before unfolding the device for the full smartphone experience. If anything, the Z Flip3 almost embodies a holiday in your pocket, while retaining everything you’d expect from a premium phone.

Originally at S$1,398, you can get it from the Samsung Online Store, Lazada, Shopee, and Amazon at prices between 11% to 27% off the launch RRP. 

Read our review here.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Carbon (2021)

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Carbon is an ideal travelling notebook because it combines performance and features in a wonderfully slim and light body. Thanks to a chassis made from magnesium alloy and carbon fibre, this notebook only weighs a smidge over one kilogram. And despite its weight – or lack there of, rather – it packs a brilliant 14-inch 90Hz refresh rate OLED display, AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series processors, and a fairly large 61Wh battery. You’d think a notebook with the above-mentioned qualities would cost an arm and a leg, but the opposite is true. The Yoga Slim 7 Carbon is actually surprisingly affordable for it is, and represents terrific value for money. In fact, it’s so good and we love so much, we decided to award it the Best Ultraportable Notebook in our last Tech Awards.

Prices of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Carbon start at S$1,699 and you can find it on Lenovo web store, the Lenovo Flagship Store on Lazada, or the Lenovo Official Store on Shopee.

Read our review here and find out why it won our Tech Awards here.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max

If you’re looking for laser-assisted autofocusing for your 4K60FPS holiday footage, look no further than the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max. 

Apple’s iPhones need no introduction. It has an extremely well-supported mobile ecosystem in the form of an App Store, amazing overseas compatibility with networks and digital keys (like offline vaccination cards). That’s not even including the fact that iPhones are generally easy and great to use.

Why did we lump the 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max together? That’s because both Pro models are functionally similar when looking at the features and offerings. The only real differences between the two are their display and battery sizes. So, you pick what you prefer.

The Apple iPhone 13 Pro starts at S$1,649 while the iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at S$1,799. If you’re really lucky, you might be able to catch them with some discounts over at the Apple Online Store, Lazada, and Amazon.

Read our review here.

Apple AirTag

The AirTag is a small Bluetooth tracker that leverages the power and coverage of Apple’s Find My network to help you find items that you’ve attached it to. The actual mechanics require a lengthier explanation it’s fair to think of it as crowdsourced finding but with the power of a billion devices – that's the number of devices Apple claims is on its Find My network. In fact, its effectiveness at tracking items is so good that people are becoming worried that AirTags might be used for stalking purposes. At any rate, it goes without saying that AirTags are an invaluable tool for keeping track of your travel essentials, particularly items like your luggage, bag, and perhaps even your wallet and handbags. 

Find out more in our review here and you'll see why it was very close to being awarded our Innovation Award at Tech Awards 2022.

A single AirTag is S$45 and a pack of 4 is S$149. You can find it on the Apple Online Store or the Apple Flagship Store on Lazada.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8

Whether you need something to reply to an urgent work email or entertainment for the kids on a long drive, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 has your back. Doubling up as a tablet, or notebook at a moment's notice, the Surface Pro is one of the very few capable detachable notebook options on the market.

The 13-inch PixelSense display still uses the 3:2 aspect ratio meaning a resolution of 2,880 x 1,920 pixels. It also has a high 120Hz refresh rate. Plus, the new Adaptive Colour feature automatically adjusts the colour profile depending on your environment.

The Surface Pro 8 comes powered by Intel’s 11th Gen Core (Tiger Lake) processor giving users the option of going with a Core i5 or Core i7 variant. It doesn't boast the latest processor tech, but because of its unique and signature design, it doesn't have to be. This notebook can also be configured with up to 32GB of memory and up to 1TB of SSD storage, so it's no slouch even with huge workloads.

Based on material and specs, you can expect to pay S$1,649 up to S$3,563. Check out their official stores on Lazada and Shopee for possible discounts.

Where does it stand among other regular notebooks? Read our review of it here for all the details.