This is it, folks: the home stretch of 2025. We’ve got one more month left to go in our rotation around the sun before a new year dawns, and CES 2026 hits us with a wave of new gadgets.
But before that happens, let’s look back at November, which was somehow full of gaming announcements. We reviewed a kickass 14-inch gaming laptop from Acer, a modernized version of the Nintendo 64, a pair of overkill $600 gaming headphones that connect to all your consoles, and got our first look at Valve’s Steam Machine, new Steam Controller, and Steam Frame VR headset. Sony even teased a new PlayStation Gaming Monitor with a built-in hook for charging up a PS5 DualSense controller.
As gaming-filled as November was, there were also lots of great gadgets that had nothing to do with gaming. And if you haven’t perused our Best Tech Gifts, Best Gaming Gifts, and Best Tech of 2025 Awards, you really should.
© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo
Nobody could have predicted that the original phone-sized Boox Palma would find such a cult following. Turns out there is a market—niche, as it is—for a phone-sized color E Ink device. the Boox Palma 2 Pro is too small to be a tablet, but it’s also more phone than previous models. This time around, the color E Ink device has a 6.13-inch backlit screen that can display a few shades of color, 5G connectivity, and supports a stylus, which is useful for notetaking. Is the limited, color E Ink display going to make all your comics and graphic novels truly pop like print? No, but even being able to see your book covers in color is progress.
See Boox Palma 2 Pro at Amazon
© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo
Got a pile of old Nintendo 64 games in the attic that need some dusting off? Analogue, makers of the Pocket and other limited edition and very premium retro consoles, has an Analogue 3D to sell you. Assuming you can buy one, the Analogue 3D is arguably the best way to play original N64 games with either original wired controllers (it also supports new wireless controllers like the 8BitDo 64). Those old games should look better than ever when plugged into a modern 4K TV via HDMI. The console includes a built-in upscaler and several “Analogue Original Display Modes” that replicate the look of an old CRT, softening the pixels so they appear smoother. Games can also be overclocked so that titles with virtually unplayable frame rates, like Superman 64, actually run.
© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo
Look, we didn’t want to believe it either, but as Gizmodo Senior Writer James Pero, who specializes in reviewing wireless earbuds, headphones, and speakers, assured us, the $70 Soundpeats Clip 1 open-style wireless earbuds really throw down with Bose’s $300 Ultra Open Earbuds. They’re not the most stylish-looking, but they’re very comfortable, the sound is excellent, and they’re damn affordable. More no-gimmick gadgets like this, please!
See Soundpeats Clip1 at Amazon
© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo
This is exactly how competition should work. Challenging the Whoop 5.0 is the Polar Loop, a health and fitness wearable that also has no screen. Our reviewer Claire Maldarelli praised its lack of a subscription (a rarity today), long battery life, and comfortable design. The data collected from the Polar Loop’s heart rate monitor may not be as comprehensive as the Whoop’s, but if you don’t want to be bombarded with too much info, the wearable provides just enough.
See Polar Loop at Amazon
© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo
Framework already proved it could make a modular laptop with swappable I/O ports and upgradable and repairable components. For the 2025 refresh of the Laptop 16, the company offers a new GPU module that’s actually beefy enough for playing games. Will you have to lower some settings to prevent this thing from taking off? Probably, but just the fact that you could play games (with the proper GPU module) in a laptop that is as configurable as this (you can move the keyboard to either side, add a trackpad, or even throw on some additional panels, including ones that light up) is the kind of whimsy that you won’t find on any other “portable” machine.
© Raymond Wong / Gizmodo
$600 is a lot of money for a gaming headset. You have to be very sure you will appreciate the living hell out of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite. Should you be that person, you’ll find a headset that sounds terrific. The retractable microphone is also crystal clear, according to Gizmodo staff writer Kyle Barr, who reviewed the headset. The materials are very high quality, and the ability to plug into multiple consoles and a PC is ultimately what might make the expensive headset worth the convenience.
See SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite at Amazon
© Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
It’s really nice to see more gaming laptops look… less like rainbow vomits of RGB. Acer’s Predator Triton 14 AI is a 14-inch gaming machine that screams for playing games. Pretty much everything is premium, including an OLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate, stylus support on the trackpad, mini-LED per-key, and decent battery life. The speakers are the only downside, but if you’ve got the money to splurge on a monster of a gaming laptop, the Predator Triton 14 AI is one of our favorites of the year.
See Acer Predator Triton 14 AI at Amazon
© DJI
DJI’s new products may no longer be available for purchase in the U.S. (because of unfounded fears of spying), but that isn’t stopping the drone maker from innovating with class-leading products. Case in point: the Osmo Action 6, which obliterates a GoPro with its “variable aperture” lens that can be adjusted from f/4.0 to a shallow f/2.0. The result is a rugged action camera that allows users to take even more creative footage, like photos and videos with more bokeh (background blur). The variable aperture also improves low-light capture. Somewhere, GoPro is shaking in its boots because it didn’t even bother updating the Hero 13 Black this year.
See DJI Osmo Action 6 at Amazon
© Valve
Valve looked at the Apple Vision Pro and said… nah, let’s just make the Steam Frame a VR headset that’s super light, super modular, and works perfectly for streaming games from Steam on a PC into a giant virtual 2D screen with no lag. No spatial computing or 3D-generated avatars of your own likeness or freaky eyes on the front of the headset. The Steam Frame is just a really simple way to get a massive virtual screen for PC gaming.
© Valve
Valve swooped in with what could potentially be a serious competitor to Sony and Xbox’s two-legged high-end console race. We don’t have any pricing for the roughly 6 x 6-inch Steam Machine yet, but based on the PC specs alone and what Valve has been suggesting, the console should have just under the power of a PS5 Pro and cost as much as a similarly specced PC. The Steam Machine is launching in “early 2026,” so expect to hear a lot more about it in just a few months.
© Sony Interactive Entertainment
Previewed for launch next year, the PlayStation Gaming Monitor is a 27-inch IPS LCD display with 1440p resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. It works with PS5 (though the console only maxes out at 120Hz) and comes with a charging hook to keep a DualSense controller juiced up and ready all the time. At first, it seems weird for Sony to make a PlayStation-branded gaming monitor, but when you consider all of the other PlayStation-branded hardware that’s coming next year, too (Pulse Elevate portable desktop speakers and FlexStrike fight stick), then you start to see that Sony is building up an ecosystem beyond its home console.
See Playstation at Amazon
© Anbernic
Anbernic is a company that has found its own niche, filling in the void with handhelds that Nintendo won’t. Its latest handheld is, of course, one for emulating DS games (legal ones that you own). The Anbernic RG DS looks almost identical to a Nintendo DS Lite, save for the two joysticks and larger dual screens. We can’t vouch for what performance is like emulating DS games, but if you’ve been dying to do so, this might be the closest thing.
© Shanling
In case you missed the memo, CD players are so back. Never heard of Shanling? Neither have we. Judging from the specs, this bad boy isn’t your grandpa’s Sony, Aiwa, or Panasonic. Yes, it plays CDs, but the EC Zero AKM also supports modern amenities like wireless audio (so you can plug in a pair of AirPods or connect it to a wireless speaker), two audio jacks (3.5mm and 4.4mm), a rechargeable battery, and a real-time CD-ripping feature. It’s pricey, but it seems to do it all.
See Shanling EC Zero AKM at Amazon
