The Perfect Thing 2020 (Premium)

At the end of every year, tech blogs lazily pump out “best of” lists culled from back-end site queries. And, yeah, we’ll get to that here soon enough. But in keeping with my description of the Xbox One S as “the perfect thing” four years ago, I’m wondering if we can advance the state of thinking on such things and hand-select the best of the best using more subjective criteria. Do any personal technology products from 2020 qualify as “the perfect thing,” even remotely?

Not exactly. But for all the terribleness of 2020, there were some products that I reviewed that came close. As with anything subjective, these choices, are of course, specific to me and my needs, and many will disagree. And that’s fine. Feel free to chime in with the choices you prefer.

My picks, in no particular order, are…

Xbox Series X|S

While there some real dubs—the Halo Infinite delay and Cyberpunk 2077 among them—-there also were many reasons for videogame fans to celebrate in 2020. Key among them, of course, is the side-by-side launches of new console generations from both Sony and Microsoft.

That each firm entered the market with two console models at the same time is unprecedented and thus fascinating, and we’ll be debating the relative strategies of each company for years to come. Sony launched the PlayStation 5 ($499) and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition ($399) with identical internal components, the only differentiator being the Blu-Ray drive in the former. And Microsoft launched the Xbox Series X ($499) and the Xbox Series S ($299) with different components (and thus performance profiles) and price points, which might help it attract more casual gamers for the lower-end console.

We’ll see. For now, there are three key things that make both consoles nearly perfect, and two are huge advantages over PlayStation. (With the disclosure that I’ve not experienced PlayStation 5 yet.)

First is the product design. Where Sony has created a bizarre and humongous Georgia O’Keeffe-looking hunk of plastic that won’t fit into any home décor, let alone any home entertainment space, Microsoft has created next-generation versions of the design it debuted with the Xbox One S, my first “perfect thing” choice. Both consoles are gorgeous and silent, and though each is it’s own thing, each also is clearly part of the same product family.

Second is the speed at which everything happens on both consoles, and here Microsoft has finally solved the problem that dogged its previous two generations of consoles. The Series X and S boot from a dead stop in just a few seconds and from there, everything—from Dashboard UIs to game loading times—happens even more quickly. They’re both Tesla-fast.

The third is how these products fit within a far-reaching ecosystem that respects both the past—your game library from OG Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One—and the future, in which we’ll be playing games on whatever devices we prefer, and not just on a console tethered to a TV in a specific room in the house. With Sony, you’re buying a console. With Xbox, you’re opening yourself up to a broader world of choices, and it’s one that will only keep growing in 2021 and beyond.

So what disqualifies these consoles from being truly perfect? All kinds of things. Neither is readily available to the customers that wish to buy them, a black mark that really ended the year on a down note. The different performance profiles of the two consoles are confusing to consumers, who are right to be worried about the long-term viability of the Series S, and to developers, who now have to develop for and support both. And by making the software experience identical to that of its predecessor Xbox One consoles, Microsoft has ruined some of the fun that we’ve come to expect when buying something truly new.

• Read my Xbox Series X review
• Read my Xbox Series S review

Runner-up: Game streaming services finally started to go mainstream in 2020, with the release of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Cloud Gaming, Google Stadia (which actually launched in late 2019, but improved mightily this past year), NVIDIA GeForce Now, and Amazon Luna (in limited preview), among others. But game streaming is still building momentum, and while it will likely seize the portion of the market now controlled by consoles in the future, that day has yet to come.

HP Spectre x360 14

Way back in early 2015, Microsoft assembled tech reviewers and bloggers in a loft in New York City to show off its then-new Spectre x360, a new kind of convertible PC that it had created in collaboration with Microsoft. The Spectre x360 solved a problem that had dogged the PC market since the release of the first Tablet PCs in 2002: It combined the traditional laptop form factor with that of a tablet and optimized it for the former use case, which is the much more common need for most users. In my review, I described it as “the near-perfect Ultrabook,” one that was more versatile than the MacBook Air. With this one machine, HP basically established a market for premium portable Windows PCs aimed at prosumers.

Over the years, HP has significantly upgraded the Spectre x360, as you might expect. It added a 15-inch model—the original was 13.3-inches—and created Limited Edition models with cool color options that eventually became the norm, and it kept modernizing the internals while making each subsequent version smaller and lighter. And in 2017, it aggressively restyled the Spectre x360 with a new angular design that is, if anything, controversial. But it’s grown on me, and the usefulness of having an angled USB-C port, and thus an out-of-the-way power cable, is undeniable.

This past year, HP released its best-ever Spectre x360s, of course, and the 5th-generation 13.3-inch model was particularly impressive thanks to its tiny size and good looks. But as I observed of that device, the 13.3-inch Spectre x360 had become, if anything, a bit too small, while the 15-inch version, while smaller than previous versions, was still too big. If only there was a Goldilocks-like model that sat between those two.

Well, now there is. In 2020, HP also launched the Spectre x360 14, which, despite its name, features a 13.5-inch 3:2 display that is a better fit for the versatile form factor. A 3:2 display is better for traditional productivity when the PC is used in laptop (clamshell) mode, and it’s much better when the PC is used in tablet mode. Now, I’ve only had the Spectre x360 14 for a bit over a week, so I don’t yet have a formal review. But allow me to ruin that review now by stating that the HP Spectre x360 is as close to being perfect as any PC I’ve ever used, and it has instantly catapulted into the top spot in my personal list of favorite PCs and devices.

What might disqualify the Spectre x360 14 from being perfect? A few things. It doesn’t offer any form of cellular connectivity, even as an option. The design of HP’s excellent new premium keyboard necessitated moving the power button from the rear angled corner of the device, but HP didn’t stick another USB-C port there, which would have been useful. And … well, that’s about it. So far. It is early yet, so maybe this one comes with an asterisk. Just not in my heart. I love it.

• Read my first impressions of the HP Spectre x360 14

Runner-up: There were many (maybe too many) other excellent productivity-focused PCs released in 2020. My favorites include the HP Elite Dragonfly (which technically predates 2020), the AMD-based HP Envy x360 13, the HP Envy 15, the Dell XPS 13, the Dell XPS 15, and the AMD-based Lenovo ThinkPad X13.

Google Pixel 4a 5G

What a year it was for the Pixel family of products, which entered 2019 with its tail between its legs thanks to the Pixel 4 fiasco and then appeared to teeter unconvincingly with Google’s new and ever-delayed strategy of embracing the more affordable lower half of the smartphone market. But for all the hemming and hawing—and uncertainty, especially on my part—Google ultimately seemed to land in a good place.

I mean, it’s still confusing. There were three Pixel handsets—the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, and Pixel 5—and despite the obviousness of the names, subsequent models are not always supersets of the models that predated them. I reviewed the Pixel 4a and 4a 5G, but not the Pixel 5, and I won’t: Despite some minor niceties like the fun aluminum/resin exterior, faster refresh display, wireless charging, and IP rating, the Pixel 5 disappoints with its too-high pricing and small display. The sweet spot of this lineup is the Pixel 4a 5G, and that model is, not coincidentally the one I’ll exit 2020 still using.

I love the Pixel 4a 5G for its XL-class display, excellent camera system with a second ultra-wide sensor, durable polycarbonate body, minimalist design, and clean Android software image. And when you combine those strengths with its low $499 pricing, one arrives at what I described as the best smartphone value of 2020.

Is it perfect? Of course not. It’s missing a few features many would prefer, like a telephoto camera sensor, wireless charging, color options, and, perhaps most important, a high-end and thus future-proof processor. But the Pixel 4a 5G gets the job done, and it’s my favorite handset from 2020. That it costs one-third as much as the highest-end Samsung Note and iPhone Pro Max models is, of course, delightful.

• Read my Google Pixel 4a review
• Read my Google Pixel 4a 5G review

Runner-up: Apple fans will of course point to the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone SE as viable alternatives, and while each is more expensive—in some cases, much more expensive, than the 2020 Google offerings—there’s not much to say about platform wars and personal preferences. (I will point to the iPhone 12 that I reviewed as the obvious sweet spot of Apple’s 2020 lineup.) And on the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE makes a compelling case, albeit one that I did not experience or review.