John Kanellakos' 5 favorite things of 2024

Summary

2024 was an exciting year, filled with tech products both innovative and unique.
As with every year, some gadgets stood out to me more than others.
These 5 items are my favorites of the year — even if some of them have been around for a while.

Whether you’ve come to grips with it or not, we’re fast approaching the very final days of 2024. With another year around the sun secured, there’s no better time to look back and reflect on the very best gizmos, gadgets, and software products of the year. There’s plenty of tech that has come out over the course of 2024, and some of it has been truly excellent.

Pocket-lint has crafted an all-encompassing best-of list, divvying out awards based on votes cast by our team of experts. Even with all the flashy new gear being released on a regular basis, however, I find myself sticking to some tried-and-true products from years gone by. Here’s my own personal list of top tech — these are the devices and software products that I got the most leverage out of in 2024.

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1 PopSockets PopGrip for MagSafe

I wasn’t originally a believer, but now I can’t go anywhere without my handy PopSocket

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PopSockets Phone Grip Compatible with MagSafe

A Popsocket designed specifically for MagSafe-compatible iPhones. This accessory makes it easy to maintain a strong grip on your phone, and utilizes a novel telescoping design.

I know, I know: PopSockets has already had its moment in the spotlight, having exploded onto the scene as far back as 2014. I was once a strong PopSocket skeptic, never truly appreciating the appeal of the popular phone peripheral. That is, until earlier this very month, when I finally snagged a unit on discount.

It took me less than an hour to absolutely fall in love with the product; it’s proven to be the ideal solution to my longstanding gripe of oversized and difficult to operate handsets. The product’s double duty as a kickstand is ingenious, and its magnetic MagSafe compatibility makes it so it doesn’t interfere with wireless charging.

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2 Hollyland Lark M2 Wireless Mini Microphone

This button-sized lavalier microphone is so convenient, I don’t know how I ever went without it

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Hollyland Lark M2 Wireless Mini Microphone

$113 $140 Save $27

The Hollyland Lark M2 is a button-sized lavalier microphone that punches well above its weight. Despite its tiny form factor, the unit provides excellent audio and plug-and-play compatibility.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not much of an audio expert, let alone an audiophile. Even still, I know all too well that the microphone built into my iPhone is confined by the laws of physics — no matter how much Apple tries to sell me the idea that its devices ship with ‘studio-quality’ mics.

After conducting some research, I settled on the Hollyland Lark M2 portable microphone for all my mobile audio recording needs. In retrospect, I’m so glad I did: The Lark M2 is downright miniature, with a clever button-style design and a magnetic latching system that’s both intuitive and fun to use. Better yet, the audio captured by the device is surprisingly clear and rich, which is a triumph for its size and price point.

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3 Mark O’Travel

This app brings together two of my favorite things: traveling, and a love for well-designed software

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Mark O’Travel

The essential tool for a traveler. Create your own travel map marking states and regions where you’ve been! The Mark O’Travel app is well crafted and a joy to navigate through.

I’m a big fan of traveling, and one of my overarching goals is to explore and immerse myself in cultures both near and far. Luckily, throughout 2024, I was able to scratch a couple of new nations off my (admittedly ambitious) bucket list.

The Mark O’Travel app — which is available on both iOS and Android — is the sort of traveling companion that genuinely speaks to me. It provides an intuitive birds’-eye view of the world map, making it easy to log the nations and states I’ve traveled to over the years. The app is beautifully crafted, with loving attention to detail. Whenever I’m making travel plans, Mark O’Travel is one of the first travel-themed apps I have ready to go on my phone.

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4 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Even with Echoes of Wisdom now out, I still can’t get enough of ‘open air’ Zelda

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

In this sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the player once again explores the Kingdom of Hyrule as Link — the same ‘open air’ gameplay is mixed with all new ideas and concepts in this installment.

Nintendo’s big action-adventure Zelda title for 2024 came in the form of Echoes of Wisdom, and it’s an excellent video game. While I certainly love a good top-down Zelda experience, I’m personally still riding high on Link’s recent 3D ‘open air’ adventures. Tears of the Kingdom serves as the sequel to the well-received Breath of the Wild on Switch, and if Nintendo’s year-in review stats are to be believed, it remains my most played game of 2024.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes all the open world innovations of its predecessor, and drives it up a notch in every way imaginable. The ability to seamlessly transition from the Sky Islands, to mainland Hyrule, and then finally into the eerie Depths, is both a technical and an artistic achievement that continues to leave me in awe.

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5 Google Pixel 5

The Pixel 9 series is selling gangbusters, but my soft spot for the Pixel 5 remains stronger than ever in 2024

Third-party apps on a Pixel 5 home screen

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Google Pixel 5

The Pixel 5 serves as Google’s flagship smartphone model for 2020, releasing just before the major Pixel reboot and the in-house Tensor chip series. At 6-inches, the Pixel 5 remains a compact and enjoyable handset to use.

If you’re confused as to why I have a smartphone that’s over four years old on my list of favorite 2024 things, hear me out: the Google Pixel 5 remains my trusty Swiss army knife of mobile computing. The device is often dismissed as an awkward stop-gap product, lacking the gravitas of earlier Pixel phones, and launching on the eve of Google’s big Pixel 6 hardware reset.

And while I certainly enjoy using my Pixel 9 Pro and all the modern niceties that come with a contemporary, competitive 2024 flagship, I still hold the Pixel 5 near and dear to my heart. With its 6-inch display panel, the Pixel 5 represents my personal golden mean of handset dimensions. Its rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is capacitive, and it happens to be located in the ideal location. The Pixel 5 has never let me down, and I don’t plan to cut ties with it anytime soon.