The 25 best gadgets from 25 years of Stuff

12 Microsoft Xbox 360

This was the one console generation when Xbox beat PlayStation. A killer early line-up of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Gears of War and Project Gotham Racing 3 offered something for everyone. Meanwhile, the PS3 cost a fortune and started its life with all the pop of a rusty old banger.

That start mattered. All your friends owned an Xbox 360. They were all playing on Xbox Live, often with only recently acquired home broadband. And that meant more than just playing competitively online: you’d goad friends over SMS when you beat their leaderboard scores, Xbox Live Achievements became a joyful race to nowhere, and the weekly drops of demos and Inside Xbox content were events in themselves.

And let’s not forget Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade either. It not only gave us some of the console’s best titles, but opened up a million minds to the wonders of indie gaming.

RELEASED 2005

11 Apple iPad

It’s just a big iPhone! That was the main criticism levelled at the iPad on its 2010 debut. But detractors hadn’t realised how many people wanted a bigger canvas for all their favourite touchscreen apps: 15 million iPads were sold during its first year. It dominated the tablet market, ably aided by app creators making good on Apple’s promise of a device that would be better than phones and laptops at key tasks.

At first, the iPad was geared towards nothing more creative than lazing around on the sofa flicking through web pages, browsing your Phil Collins collection and dipping into the odd game. But over time, Apple’s tablet set its sights on replacing – rather than co-existing with – traditional computers. It’s not quite there yet,
but in 11 years we’ve gone from people rightly saying you can’t do proper work on an iPad to such critics sounding increasingly out of touch.

RELEASED 2010

10 Nintendo Switch

Nintendo was no stranger to gaming before the Switch. Because it was Nintendo. But while the Wii and the DS offered console and portable gaming respectively, how about a whole new type of console, one that could do both?

Taking the best parts of the DS and the Wii, the Switch offered a handheld gaming touchscreen with DS-like buttons on either side, which could then be docked and connected to a screen to offer a console experience with Wii-like controls. Ninty’s marketing showed the ease of flipping between the two modes, a key selling point of the device from the start.

Is the Switch as powerful as an Xbox or PlayStation? Course not. But it’s a capable console that can be played on planes, trains and toilets… and it also lets you enjoy your favourite Mario games. Classics like Mario Kart have been optimised for the machine, for hours of fresh silliness. Introducing a totally new gaming gadget is no easy feat, yet Nintendo managed it so well that the Switch was the world’s best-selling console for a couple of years until the PS5 swooshed past it this summer. It’s even followed up with a cheaper Lite version, a premium OLED model, and themed variants such as the Animal Crossing Edition.

With the Switch, Nintendo has played its way back into our hearts – and more importantly, back into the hands of a growing number of customers.

RELEASED 2017

09 Apple Watch

Of all the Apple product lines released during Stuff’s first quarter-century, the Watch took the longest to find its identity. At first it was marketed as a fashion accessory. It appeared in Vogue. A bling version with a gold case had the price tag of a small house.

Apple had always gone heavy on ‘premium’, but this felt off for a company that had long positioned itself
at the intersection of tech and the liberal arts – doubly so given the Watch’s chunky form factor. The utility part was questionable as well, with the main feature being an insistence on bugging you with notifications and nagging you to get up from your chair once an hour. Even as a timepiece it was sub-optimal, as you had to perform a comedy wrist-flick to get the screen to turn on.

But when Apple wants something to succeed, it iterates at speed. By the time watchOS 3 appeared, bling was out and fitness tracking was in. Software and hardware alike were refined, bringing ambitious new apps, larger displays with thinner bezels, and functionality that has saved lives after bad falls and heart anomalies. You could swipe at the tiny screen, but the Digital Crown was a more finger-friendly way to interact with your apps.

For charting a path from a frivolous accessory to a core piece of hardware for wellbeing and health, the Apple Watch deserves its place on this list – even if we’re still annoyed at the thing bugging us on the hour to get up when we’ve been using a standing desk all morning.

RELEASED 2015

08 Apple iPod

The idea of “a thousand songs in your pocket” – the slogan that drove the original iPod’s marketing – sounds quaint in a world of Spotify and Apple Music. But in 2001, the iPod reinvented the portable music player, becoming a Walkman for the 2000s.

People like to note that the iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player (mostly people who secretly regret buying other ones). But it was the first that mattered, marrying capacity and usability. Rival systems were clunky and fiddly; this one had a scroll wheel that accelerated the longer it span, plus blazing-fast connectivity and a nice big screen. at could store hundreds of songs were a pain, literally, as you prodded buttons to navigate songs. The iPod’s slick scroll wheel changed everything.

The iPod became a playground for Apple design. There were dalliances with HP and (unfortunately) U2; later, the ageing superstar changed its name to iPod Classic and gradually faded away. But its impact can’t be overstated, having helped make digital music mainstream.

RELEASED 2001

07 Amazon Echo

Even if the current Amazon Echo ruins everything by not looking like a Pringles tube, the original remains instantly recognisable. After all, this was the very first smart home assistant we invited into our houses.

With an Echo you could control lights, music and TVs without lifting a finger. Off to the recycling centre went alarm clocks, radios and notepads. It even offered easy integration with Prime Music, and allowed you to add more stuff you didn’t need to your Amazon basket. Thanks, Alexa! There’s a whole raft of Echo gadgets now – notably the highly popular Dot model, which can bring Alexa into your home without taking up so much room.

Although the speaker wasn’t much to listen to, and didn’t exactly blend into its surroundings (unless you lived in the snacks aisle of Asda), those were easy sacrifices to make for getting your hands on this futuristic device. Having inspired smart speakers from Nest and Apple plus countless other Alexa devices from Amazon itself, the Echo takes the crown for starting the smart home revolution.

RELEASED 2014