Every year there are tech gadgets that work and some that fail to meet the mark. According to accredited websites, there were devices in 2013 listed as more beneficial for college students than others. Websites have also made judgments on what they believe will be the “top dominating tech-trends of 2014.”
Many researchers nationwide have also conducted projects that lead to the conclusion that technology has been slipping through former educational barriers, such as traditional classroom settings, and is leaving behind impacts on the way that educators teach courses and how students learn each year.
Although various websites have claimed different products were the best devices for college students, individuals have found that some devices were mentioned more than others.
Consistently named devices on websites included smartphones for their ability to download apps, noise-cancelling headphones to block out unwanted distractions, external hard-drives to back-up important assignment files, E-readers to ease the strain and limitations of reading online-textbooks, and many more.
Since many students find themselves on stricter budgets than most, price and affordability were a big consideration in choosing last year’s top devices for students. Georgia State student Clayton Sullivan weighed in with his opinion on how new technology brings increasing prices.
“Every six months to a year, a new product is released. People are foolish enough to pay top dollar for it. It’s the same product with minor new features, but in reality nothing changes,” he said.
This senior political science major concentrating in international relations also said that he believes cheaper versions of products such as the iPad might have been more successful marketing to college students in 2013 due to affordability.
“We as college students can’t afford to buy new merchandise every six months. Also unless you come from a wealthy background, you’re typically on a limited budget,” Clayton said.
Jamie Rivera from Pocketnow, a website that provides users with information on technology, created a video titled, “Top 5 Best Priced Devices for 2013.” Jamie stated in the video that the rankings were based on affordability and use.
Ranked No. 5 were Amazon Kindle Fire Tablets. Rivera claimed the tablets to be “the most unbeatable deal,” appealing to consumers, such as college students, because of it’s low price of $139 dollars.
The Dell Venue 8 tablet ranked No. 3 on Rivera’s list at its price of $240 dollars and is equipped with all Windows 8 features.
Jamie also ranked the best smartphones throughout his video. Some of these phones included the Lumia 1020, Nokia 520, the Moto G, and Nexus 5 or Nexus 7.
Regine Amos, a junior journalism major minoring in film and video at Georgia State, said that her favorite device to use this school year was the iPad Air.
“I really like using the iPad Air for school because it has so many endless, useful, and great apps to download as a student. Another great feature for students is the ability to download textbooks for classes much cheaper than buying them in the university’s bookstore,” Regine said.
The student also said many other features she saw as beneficial for college students were the ability to take notes, record in-class lectures, set reminders and timers while studying, and connecting to the internet.
While many devices were seen as worth purchasing, many others were not. Websites such as Mashable warned students and parents of new college students about the devices that weren’t worth the money.
Some of the items mentioned were “pricey feature-saturated” computers and laptops. Yahoo Finance claimed the Macbook Pro was one of the computers not worth purchasing for the price.
These devices were also mentioned on other websites such as Mashable that claimed these items were too costly for students. Other examples Mashable gave included printers, blue-ray players, digital picture frames, echo smart-pens, and calculators, unless a specific math class required them.
Many websites are now making claims on what they believe will be the “top technology trends” this year.
Earlier in October of 2013, Forbes had began predicting the upcoming changes on their official website with an article titled, “The Top 7 Technology Trends that Will Dominate 2014.”
Forbes’ writer Jayson DeMers mentions in the article that there is a possibility for major growth within the Smart TV industry due to Apple TV in 2014, as well as consumers finding more interest in Smart Watches.
Although Google glasses have already been released to a segmented portion of the population, Jayson also states that there is a possibility of the glasses making more of a public debut in 2014 as well.
Consumers this year might also see the release of yet another iPhone by Apple, according to websites such as Value Walk.
“The 5-inch iPhone 6 would apparently be powered with the 20nm processor manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company [TSMC],” Aman Jain says in an article published on Value Walk’s official website.
Value walk also mentions rumors of Apple releasing a new 12.9-inch tablet, sometime in May of 2014, which is also when the iPhone 6 is expected to be sold to individuals. Other websites claim that the Apple tablet will also include 4,000 pixels.
