5 Gadgets That Didn't Live Up To Their Hype

A lot of iPhone 6 owners have been complaining this week that their new gadgets are becoming ‘bendy’ when they’ve been in their pockets for a long period of time.

With a lot of hype revolving around the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, this news is surely going to have a negative effect on the sales of the device, which experts were predicting would go through the roof. With this news, we thought it’d be good to look at four other gadgets that might not have lived up to their full potential.

The Segway

The Segway was one of the most anticipated gadgets of its time (2001) and had been called the ‘new-age scooter’ and although there are still a number of celebrities spotted on these around their homes, very few ‘normal’ people can afford the $5,000 price tag. Not only was the Segway overpriced, but when the President George Bush fell off one in 2004, it was the end of the road.

Blackberry Playbook

Blackberry were living the high-life for a few years with their mobile phones aimed at the business market, but as the years rolled on, more people opted for the iPhone and less for the Blackberry. So, when Blackberry introduced the Playbook in 2011, they thought this could be their way back to the top … they were wrong. They released this tablet but a lot of its features only worked if you owned a Blackberry phone, so its market was limited.

Nokia N-Gage

Nokia are another company that have fallen by the wayside recently, and although they dominated the mobile phone market for a few years before Apple got involved, one of their nails in the coffin was the Nokia N-Gage. This half phone, half game controller was released in 2003 and cost $299 at the time. They even ended up releasing an N-Gage 2, but that didn’t do too well either.

Google Nexus Q

Google make the list too. Usually, they’re a company that get things right, but when they introduced the Nexus Q in 2012, it was a bit of a disaster. Despite looking like something out of Star Wars, it was overpriced ($299) and wasn’t all that useful. The idea was to make media consumption more social, but in theory all it could access was Google’s content.

You Could Be Taking The Wheel Of Technology

As you know, we’re not one to shy away from some new gadgets in the office (in fact, we love our Google Glasses) and this new piece of technology could make getting around the office very interesting.

The AirWheel is a new personal transport vehicle that helps one person get from A to B on a single wheel. The vehicle is half Segway and half unicycle and it has definitely got us interested.

It uses a gyroscope and attitude control stabilisation in order to stay upright on its single wheel and doesn’t use any other support. It’s clever but it is going to set you back quite a bit. Priced at £799, the AirWheel Q3 will be at the top of the range, but if you can’t afford that, the cheapest will be around £510.

If that hasn’t quite convinced you to replace your bicycle yet, then maybe the 800w motor and the 340 battery that will help you travel 24 miles of about-town, will help change your mind? On a good downhill slope the AirWheel can also reach speeds of around 16kph, so it’s no slouch.

Similar to the Segway, it has a platform for you to stand on, only the AirWheel is on two separate platforms either side of the one wheel. This can affect the stableness of it though, and as there are no handlebars you will have to make sure you keep moving or you could end up falling off.

Learning to ride a bike is something you did when you were a child but now it seems you will have to restart a similar learning curve with this piece of kit, but that will all be part of the excitement. One thing that will definitely take time getting used to is the way you turn a corner – you do this by leaning to one side – as this is much different to the Segway.

These models are fairly bulky, weighing up to 13kg. But, if you’re looking for a quicker way to get to work and would rather carry the AirWheel with you inside the office instead of leaving your bike locked outside, then we could be seeing a lot of these around city centres very soon.