Happy 2017, and Goodbye 2016

2016 was an eventful year. In gadget news, Google launched its’ Pixel line of phone and the Note 7 sure caused a heck lot of mayhem. Huawei seemed to benefit the most out of it with the Mate 9, while the rest of the manufacturers failed to capitalize on the opportunity. We are rebooting into 2017, and Samsung has a good chance to right their previous mistake. It’s their only chance really, so they better not screw this one up.

Xiaomi did well in 2016. They showed the world that they can build a super concept phone – the Mi Mix. Xiaomi’s ventures also into other product categories didn’t go unnoticed and they would be an exciting company to watch in 2017.

Smart home devices are increasingly becoming more popular. I expect home devices and gadgets to see a significant increase activity in 2017. That can only be good. The market is still too fragmented. I have not dabbled much with my home setup. I should focus more on this area in 2017.

Another area that seem to be doing well in Singapore is personal audio products, like earphones, headphones, etc. More shops specialising in audio products are sprouting in Singapore’s competitive retail market, and they carry rather expensive gear. Quite a number of people are browsing and trying them too. The personal audio market sure looks healthy.

If it had not struck you yet, cybersecurity in 2017 will be even bigger. From state sponsored attacks, to increase exploits of network-capable devices, we live in a scary world. Especially with our reliance on mobile devices. Secure your home network and try to be careful of the type of applications you install into your mobile devices. Malware-affected applications are quite common. While there is a tendency to install applications which can grant certain benefits, it might be wise to limit those on a secondary phone, and also, not using your primary Google account.

Would like to thank my fellow writers, Zhaolin and Yu Cheng for their help in 2016. Moving forward, in 2017, we hope to continue to be able to share our experiences with the latest in tech.

There will be other changes. Advertisements would be dropped, not like the money was anything good. Gadgetreactor will remain solely as a hobby.

To all readers, thank you! It is with your support that this site exists. Moving forward, I hope, together with the other writers, to bring you more useful and interesting content.

Cheers!