5 tech products everyone should own in 2018 (AAPL, GOOGL, AMZN)

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Every single year, technology keeps getting demonstrably better and more powerful.

More and more tech products are having a profound impact on the way we live our lives.

But with so many gadgets on the market, which ones do you really need to own? Here are five we rate as essential in the year 2018:

DON'T MISS: I've owned an Amazon Echo for over a year now — here are my 19 favorite features

1. A smartphone of your choosing

Smartphones are the most personal, powerful devices we have right now. They're tiny computers that fit in our pockets.

But despite the sheer number of phones that exist in 2018, choosing the one for you usually boils down to one question: "iOS or Android?"

Many people will tell you Apple provides the most reliable smartphone experience with the best security and the fastest updates. Others prefer the openness of Android, which gives you more control over how your phone works. Android phones also come in a wider variety of designs.

Whichever system you pick, you'll have plenty of excellent hardware options to choose from:

For iOS fans

Apple now sells phones in a range of sizes, prices and capabilities, from the $350 iPhone SE to the $1,000 iPhone X. You can learn more about every iPhone now available right here.

iPhone X

For Android fans

If you're considering Android, you should first consider a phone from the company that makes Android: Google.

Google's Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are the search giant's newest phones, and they're incredible devices. They use artificial intelligence in various clever ways, from passively telling you what music is playing in the background to making your photos look better.

Google Pixel 2 2

Most critics love the Pixel devices, but you have plenty of other gorgeous-looking Android phones to choose from: The Essential Phone, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8, the first-generation Razer Phone, and the OnePlus 5T are all standout devices. You can check out our list of top smartphones here.

2. An Amazon Echo or Google Home smart speaker

When Amazon released the Echo three years ago, it became the first company to offer a truly great product that married a smart voice-assistant with a smart-home device. Since then, lots of other tech companies and appliance makers have been trying to follow its lead. Google has come the closest with its "Home" family of Google Assistant-powered smart speakers: the Google Home Mini, the Google Home, and the Google Home Max.

Apple's own HomePod, powered by Siri, won't be available until sometime in "early 2018"; Apple initially promised it would arrive by the 2017 holiday season, but delayed its launch in November, saying "we need a little more time before it's ready for our customers."

That means for right now, if you want a top-notch smart speaker, the decision comes down to Amazon or Google. Which company do you feel more comfortable letting into your home?

For me, the answer here is the Amazon Echo, because it’s simple, beautiful, easy to use, and extremely useful. The Echo can hear you from one room to another, thanks to its seven omni-directional microphones, and can respond to you quickly and naturally. And the Echo can do all sorts of amazing things, like call an Uber for you or read you the day’s news. But it’s great at the simple stuff, including setting cooking timers and playing music. Having owned an Echo for two years now, I honestly can’t imagine life without it.

3. The Nintendo Switch

The $300 Nintendo Switch has been on the market for less than a year, but it's already gotten off to an incredible start, becoming the fastest selling video-game console in US history.

The Switch offers simple but compelling propositions: Play games on your TV, or on the go. Play by yourself, or with friends. Compete in your living room, or over the internet.

I’m pleased to say the Switch is even better in use.

Being able to play console-quality games that you can take with you wherever you go is a profound advance in the world of video games. It will change your expectations for what a video-game console should do, and what it should be.

Super Mario Odyssey

The Switch also proves that nobody makes better video games than the master game maker itself, Nintendo.

"Zelda: Breath of the Wild," which launched with the console, is one of the best games ever created — it even brought my fiancée and me closer together.

Nintendo's other big Switch game from last year, "Super Mario Odyssey," is perhaps the best Mario game ever made, which is saying quite a lot, considering the franchise's incredible history. Like "Breath of the Wild," "Super Mario Odyssey" was another game I played to completion with my fiancée, where we handed the controller back and forth until we couldn't possibly collect any more power moons.

With so many great-looking games on the horizon, the Switch is an absolute must-have gadget in 2018.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider