Cell phone contracts have drawn the ire of many Canadians over the years, who cite them as unfair and restrictive, but they have become a convenient way for consumers to get their hands on the best handsets on the market. While it might seem cost prohibitive to buy a phone outright, it’s a far more economical option than signing up for two years.

Buying a smartphone outright is usually an expensive proposition, but there may be signs that cheaper handsets are pushing up in performance while driving the price down. Google’s Nexus devices surely come to mind, though Motorola’s Moto G raises and lowers the bar at the same time.

Wireless charging has gone through a slow evolution, partly because of the lack of a true standard to unite the various consumer tech categories together to support it. Qi Wireless may be finally turning a corner as the horse to bet on for uniting vendors together to make it the de facto industry standard, now that compatibility is starting to gain traction with automakers and accessory makers.

2The future of connecting devices together has long been considered to go completely wireless, but a tech startup from Vaughan, ON called Nano Magnetics thinks that connecting them together physically is still a viable way to share content, transfer files or even charge one device’s battery from another.

With Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch interfacing directly with BMW’s all-electric i3 compact car, and Mercedes unveiling its unique integration with the Pebble, the notion of integrating wearable devices into vehicles conjures up throwback scenes of Knight Rider.

It’s a grim statistic, but distracted driving is now the number one cause of death for teenagers in the U.S. And in Canada, three provinces, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Ontario, noted that accidents from distracted driving surpassed those caused by impaired drivers in 2013. The fact that texting and driving is a problem isn’t lost on anyone, given the campaigns against it, but there may be a technical way to help turn the tide.

CES attracts thousands of Canadians to Las Vegas for the world’s biggest electronics trade show, and dozens of Canadian companies showing off their latest and greatest innovations, products or services. While we couldn’t see them all, there were a bunch that stood out.

Wearable technology isn’t new, and its increasing presence at CES over the last few years fully symbolizes that, but this year’s show may be the last one that relegates it to just a current trend. Not only are the number of products growing but the innovation involved indicates that this is more than just a passing fad.

Unsurprisingly, 4K Ultra HD televisions have figured prominently in the buzz and conversation on the show floor at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, though the focus has largely been on where the content will come from and how to best deliver it.

Home surveillance has come a long way in a short time, and the Dropcam Pro is a reason why, improving the optics and overall performance in such a way that you can get a very clear picture of what’s going on in your home no matter where you might be.

It wasn’t long ago that creating a website required a great deal of time and know-how, usually coupled with associated costs to get it up and running. Blogs and personal pages have blossomed in the last five years because of tools that simplify their birth, though a full website, with e-commerce included for selling product or services, has also become an easier project to take on.

Nokia has always been known for making quality hardware and their smartphones certainly carry that kind of consistency. When the company went all in with Windows Phone, it was a gamble whose results are still ongoing, and despite the solid design, getting consumers to buy into the Windows Phone platform was another hurdle altogether. And then came the Lumia 1020 and its 41-megapixel camera — a pixel count  (at least on paper) that smokes any competing phone on the market. That alone makes it an intriguing device, especially since some people take more photos than actually talking on the phone.

Despite rumours of an impending death, BlackBerry seems far from being gone, and its newest device, the Z30, may be the best it’s ever made. It offers some of the same things you expect to find in a flagship handset in 2013, though missing others that have become standard. BlackBerry 10.2 undoubtedly improves the software experience, and the hardware is a noticeable step up, which will almost certainly please current BlackBerry users. But is there enough here to win over converts?

Microsoft says it’s serious about tablets, so much so that the company thinks it has something enticing and prolific with the Surface 2, an update on the previous model that failed to resonate with a lot of consumers. With a bump up in specs and performance, the Surface 2 remains an enigmatic device, though its ultimate value will largely depend on what you want to use it for. The fact that this runs on the RT version of Windows 8.1 is the elephant in the room that you’ll have to work with.

Google’s Nexus devices are some of the most interesting Android devices because they have good prices and don’t skimp out on specs and features. The real bonus, however, is that they have the purest Android experience you can find. Neither bloated with preloaded apps, nor overlaid with a different user interface, the new Nexus 5 is one of the most unique Android smartphones to launch this year. Its combination of feature set and price make it undeniably attractive, and if you can manage a couple of its shortcomings, you may have the right fit here.

It wasn’t that long ago that mentioning Android to the average person was met with a raised eyebrow and a look of confusion. The mobile operating system has risen meteorically because of all the smartphone manufacturers that have embraced it, and the competition between them and against Apple’s iPhone has pushed the boundaries on quality further. The bevy of choice within Android is great, but it also makes it challenging to find what you think will be the best fit. If your mind is set on a flagship Android device, here’s some insight to help you make a more informed decision.

It’s only been recently that Kobo has tried its hand at making tablet eReaders to go along with its impressive line of standard eReaders. That might seem like a misnomer, especially since tablets have been forecasted by some to make eReaders irrelevant. But they haven’t, and instead, Kobo figures that the market that prefers to have a tablet experience can do so using one of its own. The Arc 10HD is the company’s prime tablet eReader, thanks to a high-res 10-inch IPS display and some good processing power under the hood. Is it a worthy alternative to the iPad and other Android tablets?

Smartphones tend to be expensive products when you factor in all the costs associated with them, whether or not you buy them outright or on contract. The Moto G is very much an exception to that rule, offering a quality design and feature set that delivers solid performance and a serious bang for your buck. It does this with some trade-offs, mind you, but if your needs don’t necessarily require those things, you may find that this is the right phone to go with when you’re on a budget or new to smartphones.

The 8-inch tablet race isn’t one with a lot of players, but it may be the one to watch moving forward into 2014. Dell seems to think so, too, and has entered the fray with a Windows 8 tablet that runs a full version of the operating system and includes a pre-installed copy of Office Home and Student. It’s an intriguing combination of PC software mixed with the portability of a tablet, but how does a more unhindered Windows 8 look and feel on an 8-inch display?