 This year, we've reviewed a lot of gadgets. Like, a lot. We've looked at new phones, new tablets, new speakers, new cars, new wearables. If you can name it, we've probably reviewed it. So for an end of the year roundup, instead of doing a best of list of categories, we decided to talk to a bunch of Verge staffers and ask them what's their favorite gadget of the year and tell us why. These aren't the best gadgets. These are the Verge's favorites. This is the Pokeball Plus, and this is my favorite gadget of the year, which I want to first say, I don't usually spring for the bells and whistles of most gadgets, but this is exactly the kind of kitschy bullshit I love. Because really, it doesn't do that much. It's a controller, but the thing is, you can also put a Pokemon in here and then walk around with it, and the ball makes cute little noises. It's not that this is especially impressive in terms of what it does, but I really do like the feeling of having a Pokemon in my hand, and as silly as it seems, this is exactly the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid. Is this useless 90% of the time? Absolutely. Is this the kind of thing that's very niche, totally? Is it also the kind of thing that's very nostalgia-driven and that I'm gonna pay 50 bucks for? Yes. Nintendo put a price on nostalgia, and I'm very willing to pay it. Hey, I'm Chris Welch, and my favorite gadget of 2018 is the Apple Watch Series 4. Now, I've owned a lot of smart watches, Android watches, Samsung watches, and this is the first watch I've actually kept. There are two reasons for that. One is the big screen. These small bezels make the Apple Watch Series 4 feel like a true computer on your wrist. That's something that no other watch has really done for me before. Thing I like most about this Apple Watch is speed. Every old Apple Watch felt slow. I would tap an app and wait 10 seconds, and then just pull out my phone because I was frustrated. This time, Apple nailed that. Apps are quick, you tap things, and they happen as you expect. That's a big deal for a smart watch. So this is my favorite gadget of the year. It's called the My Special Affleck Duck, and it's a weird pick because it isn't connected to the internet, you can't buy it, and it's made by Affleck, the insurance company. But here's why I love it. It's being built to give away to children in hospitals who are battling cancer and feel like they have a friend in the hospital to go through the experience with them. And I know it seems weird for an insurance company to be making toys for kids, but it doesn't have any Affleck branding on them, and it's being used for a really great cause. 2018 has been a really weird year, so to me, this is a really good feel-good gadget that proves to me tech can still do good. My favorite gadget this year is Google's little Home Hub. Now the Home Hub is a great smart speaker, though you maybe don't wanna use it for a lot of music listening. But it can answer facts, set timers and alarms, control smart home gadgets, and even watch videos on YouTube like this one. But the reason I love it so much is because I can link my Google Photos account to it. So whenever I look at the Home Hub, I see a picture of my kids, of the thousands of them that I've got stored in my account. And thanks to the auto-adjusting display on the Home Hub, the pictures really look great. They look like a printed photo in a frame. Now the Home Hub is not the biggest smart display you can get. It doesn't have the best sounding smart speaker either, but it's the one that makes me the happiest when I look at it. So it's my favorite. This is the Sony a7 III, and it's my favorite gadget this year. It's really fast, takes vivid photographs, and it has a really good battery. This is a balance of portability and specs and power that no other mirrorless camera has come across. When shooting in the city, I really appreciate the exposure dial. It makes adjusting settings like exposure really easy to do on the fly. Also, the a7 III is really well-suited for action and sports photographers. It has 693 autofocus points and shoots at up to 10 FPS. So it's a really fast camera. Hopefully though, next year, Sony will fix the menu system. And until then, it'll remain my favorite gadget. My favorite gadget this year is Sony's 1000X Mark III noise-canceling headphones. They're not like the biggest change over last year's Mark II model, but it's a lot of small and subtle things that just make them really, really great. The biggest is that they made them so much more comfy. They added like a ton of padding around the ear cups. They redesigned the band. They added more padding up there too. And you can just wear them forever. I wore them for like 15 hours straight on a flight to Germany, and they're just fantastic. My ears didn't hurt at all, even with these giant glasses. They're just great. And Sony made the noise-canceling better too. So everything sounds like a library now. Your train sounds like a library. Your plane sounds like a library. Your library sounds like a library. And the biggest thing, at least for me, is that they charge with USB-C. Take the same charger from your laptop, from your phone, from your Nintendo Switch, and you can use them to charge your headphones. It's wonderful. It's great. Do more of this, please, everyone. Please. So there you go. Those are some of our favorite gadgets and products of 2018, the year that felt like it was never going to end. Let us know what your faves are for 2018, what you're looking forward to in 2019. Maybe next time we'll have a 5G phone to talk about or one that folds in half. But until then, we'll see you next year. So what are we doing here? My least favorite gadget is definitely the Red Hydrogen phone. I can't believe that came out this year. But fortunately, Verge Science on YouTube also launched in 2018. So if you haven't checked it out, go to youtube.com slash Verge Science.
 This year, we've reviewed a lot of gadgets.
 Like, a lot.
 We've looked at new phones, new tablets, new speakers,
 new cars, new wearables.
 If you can name it, we've probably reviewed it.
 So for an end of the year roundup,
 instead of doing a best of list of categories,
 we decided to talk to a bunch of Verge staffers
 and ask them what's their favorite gadget of the year
 and tell us why.
 These aren't the best gadgets.
 These are the Verge's favorites.
 This is the Pokeball Plus,
 and this is my favorite gadget of the year,
 which I want to first say,
 I don't usually spring for the bells and whistles
 of most gadgets,
 but this is exactly the kind of kitschy bullshit I love.
 Because really, it doesn't do that much.
 It's a controller, but the thing is,
 you can also put a Pokemon in here
 and then walk around with it,
 and the ball makes cute little noises.
 It's not that this is especially impressive
 in terms of what it does,
 but I really do like the feeling
 of having a Pokemon in my hand,
 and as silly as it seems,
 this is exactly the kind of thing
 I would have loved as a kid.
 Is this useless 90% of the time?
 Absolutely.
 Is this the kind of thing that's very niche, totally?
 Is it also the kind of thing
 that's very nostalgia-driven
 and that I'm gonna pay 50 bucks for?
 Yes.
 Nintendo put a price on nostalgia,
 and I'm very willing to pay it.
 Hey, I'm Chris Welch,
 and my favorite gadget of 2018
 is the Apple Watch Series 4.
 Now, I've owned a lot of smart watches,
 Android watches, Samsung watches,
 and this is the first watch I've actually kept.
 There are two reasons for that.
 One is the big screen.
 These small bezels make the Apple Watch Series 4
 feel like a true computer on your wrist.
 That's something that no other watch
 has really done for me before.
 Thing I like most about this Apple Watch is speed.
 Every old Apple Watch felt slow.
 I would tap an app and wait 10 seconds,
 and then just pull out my phone
 because I was frustrated.
 This time, Apple nailed that.
 Apps are quick, you tap things,
 and they happen as you expect.
 That's a big deal for a smart watch.
 So this is my favorite gadget of the year.
 It's called the My Special Affleck Duck,
 and it's a weird pick
 because it isn't connected to the internet,
 you can't buy it,
 and it's made by Affleck, the insurance company.
 But here's why I love it.
 It's being built to give away to children
 in hospitals who are battling cancer
 and feel like they have a friend in the hospital
 to go through the experience with them.
 And I know it seems weird for an insurance company
 to be making toys for kids,
 but it doesn't have any Affleck branding on them,
 and it's being used for a really great cause.
 2018 has been a really weird year,
 so to me, this is a really good feel-good gadget
 that proves to me tech can still do good.
 My favorite gadget this year is Google's little Home Hub.
 Now the Home Hub is a great smart speaker,
 though you maybe don't wanna use it
 for a lot of music listening.
 But it can answer facts, set timers and alarms,
 control smart home gadgets,
 and even watch videos on YouTube like this one.
 But the reason I love it so much
 is because I can link my Google Photos account to it.
 So whenever I look at the Home Hub,
 I see a picture of my kids,
 of the thousands of them that I've got stored in my account.
 And thanks to the auto-adjusting display on the Home Hub,
 the pictures really look great.
 They look like a printed photo in a frame.
 Now the Home Hub is not the biggest
 smart display you can get.
 It doesn't have the best sounding smart speaker either,
 but it's the one that makes me the happiest
 when I look at it.
 So it's my favorite.
 This is the Sony a7 III,
 and it's my favorite gadget this year.
 It's really fast, takes vivid photographs,
 and it has a really good battery.
 This is a balance of portability and specs and power
 that no other mirrorless camera has come across.
 When shooting in the city,
 I really appreciate the exposure dial.
 It makes adjusting settings like exposure
 really easy to do on the fly.
 Also, the a7 III is really well-suited for action
 and sports photographers.
 It has 693 autofocus points and shoots at up to 10 FPS.
 So it's a really fast camera.
 Hopefully though, next year,
 Sony will fix the menu system.
 And until then, it'll remain my favorite gadget.
 My favorite gadget this year is Sony's 1000X Mark III
 noise-canceling headphones.
 They're not like the biggest change
 over last year's Mark II model,
 but it's a lot of small and subtle things
 that just make them really, really great.
 The biggest is that they made them so much more comfy.
 They added like a ton of padding around the ear cups.
 They redesigned the band.
 They added more padding up there too.
 And you can just wear them forever.
 I wore them for like 15 hours straight
 on a flight to Germany, and they're just fantastic.
 My ears didn't hurt at all, even with these giant glasses.
 They're just great.
 And Sony made the noise-canceling better too.
 So everything sounds like a library now.
 Your train sounds like a library.
 Your plane sounds like a library.
 Your library sounds like a library.
 And the biggest thing, at least for me,
 is that they charge with USB-C.
 Take the same charger from your laptop, from your phone,
 from your Nintendo Switch,
 and you can use them to charge your headphones.
 It's wonderful. It's great.
 Do more of this, please, everyone.
 Please.
 So there you go.
 Those are some of our favorite gadgets
 and products of 2018,
 the year that felt like it was never going to end.
 Let us know what your faves are for 2018,
 what you're looking forward to in 2019.
 Maybe next time we'll have a 5G phone to talk about
 or one that folds in half.
 But until then, we'll see you next year.
 So what are we doing here?
 My least favorite gadget is definitely
 the Red Hydrogen phone.
 I can't believe that came out this year.
 But fortunately, Verge Science on YouTube
 also launched in 2018.
 So if you haven't checked it out,
 go to youtube.com slash Verge Science.