If you’re guilty of leaving your silly season shopping to the last minute, the good news is that there’s plenty of tech gifts on offer this Christmas. 

If you get sucked into the Christmas consumerism trap every year, you might want to consider whether piles of presents even makes you, your family, your friends or the environment happy. Instead of waiting until the week before Christmas, one effective way to combat this is to actually have the time to put some thought into the types of presents you opt for. 

As such, the best tech gifts are unique and actually useful. While nobody is expecting you to fork out for the latest iPhone, buying electronics as a Christmas present is one to ensure that the recipient will actually use it – so what are your options?

Our Christmas Tech Gift Guide For 2022

Did you know that new research has indicated that two-thirds of Australians planned to complete their Christmas gift purchases by the end of October, amid fears of supply chain disruption? 

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales often incentivise Christmas shoppers to grab their presents online, the reality is that there are no guarantees that the gifts will make it in time via postal services. In turn, the alternative is to shop local and physically collect the items in person. 

Whatever your preference, people specifically hunting for tech gifts can always benefit from the advice of a professional. As such, we’ve made a quick shopping list of our favourite products on the market just in time for Christmas. 

Magsafe Charger – Most of us already have all the gadgets but what about the accessories? If you’re looking for tech gifts for an iPhone lover but don’t want to break the bank, you can’t go past Apple’s Magsafe wireless charger. The perfectly aligned magnets attach to your iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, and provide faster wireless charging up to 15W.

Notpods – Speaking of Apple fans, how many of us love the idea of AirPods but aren’t such big fans of the $300 price tag? As a worthy alternative for a fraction of the price, we’ve tried and tested Notpods and have happily issued our tick of approval. As far as wireless headphones go, quality can vary significantly between products – as does the price. Coming in at just $90, it’s a hefty saving when compared to the originals.

GoPro Hero Mini – For shoppers looking for something special for their significant other, family member or extremely good friend, the freshly launched GoPro Hero 11 is having its moment in the spotlight, but there is another alternative that most people aren’t even aware of. With the same video performance in a smaller, lighter, simpler design, the Hero Mini is significantly more affordable and portable than its bigger counterparts. 

Ember Mug – Designed for at home or the office, the Ember Mug and its companion app on your iPhone or Apple Watch allows you to set your precise drinking temperature for hot beverages, track caffeine consumption, save presets for your favourite drinks, customise the LED colour and more. Ember also maintains your chosen temperature for approximately 1.5 hours, so your hot beverage stays perfect from the first sip to the last drop.

Fitbit Sense 2 – If you’re after a device that offers basic smartwatch functionality but tracks activity accurately, offers excellent sleep tracking and has a range of health features like superb stress tracking, the Fitbit Sense 2 is fantastic and in a world of its own. As one of the few tech gifts designed to get you moving and live a healthier lifestyle, Sense 2 is considered to be one of the most advanced smart watches on the market today. 

The thing about tech gifts is that they need to be working at their best in order to make the most of them. What’s more is that the nature of the item can make them tricky to operate for those unfamiliar with their basic functionality. For advice on choosing the right product or even finding them in the first place, it’s always a good idea to pop into your nearest SOS Phone Repairs store. 

Talk Christmas Tech Gifts With The Professionals

SOS Phone Repairs are specialists in high-quality, cost-effective phone repairs, tablet repairs, and PC repairs, all backed with a six month warranty. Founded in 2015 in Coffs Harbour and now with over sixteen outlets located all over Australia, our primary driving factors remain the same: people and phones. 

Whether it’s to get a few more years out of your trusted iPhone, to fix one up to sell, or to repurpose an old one as a gift, repairing a smartphone or recycling your old one might just be easier and cheaper than you think. For those in the market for a new smartphone, SOS Phone Repairs also stocks a wide variety of refurbished handsets at a fraction of the cost of a brand new one. 

If you are on the hunt for a quote, diagnostic, or even just some good old fashioned, friendly advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or give us a call today at SOS Phone Repairs.

Once your favourite communication device hits the blink, most of us don’t give it much after thought. In reality, phone recycling is a must for the environment. 

Did you know that there are roughly twenty-three million unused mobile phones hiding in draws, cupboards and office cabinets all over Australia? Of those, over five million are broken or no longer working, with most of their owners understandably believing that they can be of no further use. 

In reality, this isn’t actually the case. Mobile phones are made up of plastics and metals that aren’t biodegradable, but they can still be reused as a means to create something new, without the need for cultivating new materials. If you’re guilty of hanging onto an old device, getting familiar with why phone recycling matters might just motivate you to do something with it. 

Three Easy Options For Phone Recycling 

When mobile phones are thrown away in standard bins and sent to landfill, we miss an opportunity to reuse valuable materials. Recycling these materials prevents ‘virgin’ or new resources from being extracted from the ground, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. 

In fact, recycling 50,000 mobiles has been proven to save close to one hundred tonnes of mineral resources, and twenty tonnes of CO2 emissions from entering our atmosphere. If saving the planet isn’t motivation enough, examples of how these materials are redistributed include the following. 

Glass – Phone recycling breathes new life into the glass used for touch screens, as it is melted, crushed and used to produce other products that need similar amounts of glass. In some cases, it’s even used for jewellery or as a replacement material when repairing or constructing roads. 

Aluminium – As a highly durable metal, aluminium is 100% recyclable and can be recycled regularly without degrading its inherent value – that is, if it’s not thrown away. Phone recycling enables the aluminium to be melted down and remade into new phones and other items.

Precious Metals – A small amount of valuable metals like gold, silver, palladium, platinum and copper can be extracted from a mobile phone as they are usually found on its circuit board. In addition, lithium batteries are processed to recover valuable materials like steel and nickel. 

Plastic – Plastic sticks around in the environment for ages, threatening wildlife and spreading toxins. While it’s also one of the most unsustainable materials to produce, recycled plastic from phone recycling can be used to create new products without coal or fossil fuels. 

What’s more is that phone recycling is actually easier than you might think. Although it’s not an option that most people would even consider on their own, fixing an old phone up and selling it is the very epitome of recycling – you’re reusing something old, instead of sourcing a new alternative. 

If you can’t be bothered to sell or fix your phone to sell to a friend, family member or even a stranger, another alternative is to leave it to the professionals. Many phone repair stores, such as your nearest SOS Phone Repairs, are always on the lookout for devices that need a little bit of love as they already have a wide customer base looking to purchase second hand items from reputable outlets. 

In the event that the phone has reached the absolute end of it’s lifespan and there’s no way to resuscitate it, throwing your old phone in the bin is still not the answer. In fact, a growing number of telecommunications stores like Optus, Telstra and individually owned phone stores will often have bins for customers to place their old devices in, before the bin gets sent off for professional phone recycling. Either way, the phone will live to see another day.

Explore Phone Recycling Methods With The Professionals

SOS Phone Repairs are specialists in high-quality, cost-effective phone repairs, tablet repairs, and PC repairs, all backed with a six month warranty. Founded in 2015 in Coffs Harbour and now with over sixteen outlets located all over Australia, our primary driving factors remain the same: people and phones. 

Whether it’s to get a few more years out of your trusted iPhone, to fix one up to sell, or to repurpose an old one as a gift, repairing a smartphone or recycling your old one might just be easier and cheaper than you think. For those in the market for a new smartphone, SOS Phone Repairs also stocks a wide variety of refurbished handsets at a fraction of the cost of a brand new one. 

If you are on the hunt for a quote, diagnostic, or even just some good old fashioned, friendly advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or give us a call today at SOS Phone Repairs.