The year 2022 will also be remembered for weird gadgets and strange ideas in technology, among other things. They were bold, risky and, well, really original. Not only smaller brands but also established tech brands have come up with the idea that edgy and bizarre is the new cool. Weird tech was the craze for 2022. Here are some of the weirdest gadgets we’ve seen this year, from the Snap Pixy drone to Samsung’s Odyssey Ark curved monitor to the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio.
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snap pixy
It was designed as a drone-powered camera that can fly around and capture videos and photos to share on the Snapchat app. The idea was to have a lightweight, toy-like selfie drone that creates great-looking pictures and videos. It was indeed an odd looking product with several good ideas. However, it was far from perfect.
The drone could only fly for five minutes on a single charge, and its image and video quality was hit-and-miss depending on the lighting conditions. As a first generation product, the Pixy was a polished device but had several shortcomings. Less than four months after launch, Snapchat shut down its drone-powered camera and halted development as part of a reprioritization of corporate resources.
Nothing phone (1)
It might not live up to the iPhone 14, but Nothing’s debut phone was anything but funky, fun, and a little buggy. From the front, the Nothing Phone (1) looked like a traditional Android flagship. However, if you turn the phone over, you’ll find a series of white LED strips on a transparent glass back to create light patterns that Nothing calls “glyphs”.
It was a well-executed attempt at making a distinctive looking smartphone that doesn’t cost a lot. In a way, Nothing represented something light-hearted and even silly when smartphone designs have gone flat. So yeah, love it or hate it, there’s no doubt that Nothing Phone (1) has proved hugely popular and has been causing quite a stir since its initial reveal.
Dyson Zone
More than the amazing $950 price tag, Dyson’s Zone headphones will make you sit down and command attention. The combination of headphones and air purifiers is not only unique, but also tests people’s imaginations to achieve things that often seem impossible. The odd device doubles as a personal air purifier for your nose and mouth, securing you in an attachable mouthpiece, free from air pollution while delivering clean sound with active noise cancellation.
The Zone is the result of six years of development as the company wanted to create a wearable iteration of its existing air purification technology. The zone may look fancy, but that’s the beauty of a product.
Samsung Odyssey Ark
The Odyssey Ark wasn’t just another monitor. The 55-inch Odyssey Ark, which retailed for $3500, brought to the world a curved-screen gaming monitor that felt like you were in a virtual game. While most monitors were intended to be used horizontally, the Odyssey Ark featured a cockpit mode that allowed you to rotate it 90 degrees. Everything about the Ark was bizarre. The multi-view feature is designed to show you four screens at once on Ark. From the specs to the design, Ark was built to please nerds.
Nokia 5710 XpressAudio
The Nokia 5710 XpressAudio was nothing more than a path to “escapism” in a smartphone-obsessed world. The message from HMD Global, the Finnish company that licensed the rights to manufacture Nokia phones, was actually pretty profound: have fun with a device. The Nokia 5710 XpressAudio was unquestionably different, a feature phone with true wireless earbuds built right in. The device was designed from an unconventional board, and the reason it promised a twist on “boring” phone designs was because we’re so used to it.
HidrateSpark Pro Steel
The coolest and weirdest thing we’ve seen this year was HidrateSpark’s $80 smart water bottle. The smart water bottle came with both chug and straw caps and an LED puck at the base that lights up in customizable colors, reminding you to keep drinking water throughout the day. The 32-ounce HidrateSpark Pro supports Bluetooth technology and connects to the HidrateSpark app and also provides real-time data to the Apple Health app and Apple Watch. Little did we know we needed a smart bottle in our lives.
