We’re celebrating the best tech available today, as our experts once again hand out the gongs to the groundbreaking gadgets making your life better
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
It’s not often that a design team is able to run through the entire list of product bugbears and cross each of them out, but Bose’s cabal of level 20 device wizards has done it. The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones succeed in every department, raising the bar in one of tech’s most competitive arenas.
A considered, calm and – most importantly – supremely comfortable design is the first winning move. These might be only two grams lighter than the Bose 700s, but an adjusted, extra-padded headband makes them feel much lighter without sacrificing any passive around-the-ear coddling. They fold flat and come with a compact carrying case, neatly ticking the box for travellers, and they’re so low-fatigue that you’ll have no problem wearing them all the way across the Atlantic. Bose’s app might be the best on the market, offering pinpoint control of EQ as well as the cans’ more advanced functions. And what a selection: absolutely top-class ANC, a three-dimensional Immersive Audio function that teaches Apple a few things about spatial processing, amplified passthrough and an enormous soundstage with big dollops of that signature Bose low-end combine for a serious experience.
The QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are a real achievement for Bose, even priced, as they are, close to the top of the market. In the street, on a plane or just at home, they manage to edge out every other option.
£450, bose.co.uk
BRAND OF THE YEAR
Christopher Ward doesn’t miss. The British/Swiss watchmaker, one of the first built around online sales, has spent the past year dropping intriguing variants on its top watches. It has introduced new price points to bring them to more wrists. It’s even innovated on bracelet design. But it’s the new products that have really made CW stand out. The mix of sporty and dressy in the supremely affordable The Twelve and the incredible C1 Moonphase, able to accurately track our astral neighbour for 128 years, have proven that Christopher Ward is still ready to innovate. And we see nothing but fine execution in its future, with the skeleton-dialed Twelve X appearing to be a promising new flagship.
RETAILER OF THE YEAR
If you’ve walked into a Decathlon store lately, then you’ll know all about the vast range of sporting, fitness and outdoors products on offer, as well as the competitive price points they’re available at – but it takes more than that to land the retailer of the year award. We’ve been impressed with the way Decathlon is busy modernising all aspects of its business, wanting to improve the experience for customers both i
