Top new wearables, tablets, and game gear: Put these on your Black Friday list

Tech gadgets always make great gifts during the Christmas season, but with prices higher than years past, every dollar needs to count. In part two of our Christmas wish list, we show you which hot new tablets, wearables, and other accessories are worth your time and your dime.Thanksgiving shopping season is upon us once again, and of course, that means sales running from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Some chains and outlets offer even more promotions. And with more varieties of gadgets, and more use cases across you, your friends, and your family, it's more important than ever to cut through the noise to tally up the best deals on things you'll actually want and need.Tell us what you plan to pick up this Black Friday.Here, we're digging into wearables, games and gaming gear, and, to kick things off, the surprisingly hot tablet market.TabletsThe tablet market hasn’t changed a lot in recent years. Like clockwork, Apple and Samsung launch slightly better versions of last year’s models, people buy them, and the cycle continues. Wash, rinse, repeat. Last month, though, a disturbance rumbled through the market. Something changed. The legacy of the long-established but often forgotten Amazon Fire Tablet flickered one last time before it was snuffed out, removed from Amazon’s product lineup without a warning. In its place, a new champion has emerged.The three new Amazon Alexa Tablets — all running Android with access to the Google Play Store — target very different price points and use cases.The 8.7-inch base model is the affordable option at $279.99. It’s great for reading, surfing the web, and handing off to a child for some tablet time.For those who need a larger canvas, the 11-inch Goldilocks version features a 2.5K display, up to 15 hours of battery life, and up to 128 GB of storage, making it great for watching movies, answering emails, and surfing the web for $379.99.Finally, the 12-inch Pro model bumps the specs up to a 4K display powered by a more performant chip that makes it great for multitasking, playing games, editing photos, and consuming content. Naturally, this model is the most expensive at $499.99, but it’s still a lot cheaper than a high-end iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablet.WearablesThis year was a good one for wearables, with Google and Apple both bringing some interesting additions to their ecosystems. Currently wearing two of the three on my wrists (that’s what two wrists are for, after all), I can’t recommend them enough.The breakout star that no one saw coming was the Fitbit Air. If you have followed my long-term review, you know what makes it great — a minimal, lightweight design, simple user interface, powerful health-tracking features, and a low-low price of just $99. Whether you want more insight into your heart rate, you plan to track your sleep, or you want to take advantage of the new limited Health Guardian features that can help detect dormant signs of insulin resistance and high blood pressure, Fitbit Air is a great, accessible gift.Apple Watch also surprised this year with a complete revamp to its heart sensor. Finally, after more than a decade, Apple Watch Series 12 measures heartbeats continuously throughout the day, marking beats every five seconds instead of five minutes. Pair this with a new daily readiness score, 24 hours of battery life per charge, and the upcoming Audio Intelligence features that I plan to review as soon as they’re available, and you have one of the most interesting Apple Watches in years, especially starting at $399.Sticking with health and fitness, the new Google Pixel Watch 5 that launched this fall received a serious holistic health upgrade. Packed with a new suite of features called Health Guardian, Pixel Watch 5 measures blood pressure, insulin resistance, and sleep breathing trends, and it has breathing emergency (i.e. choking) detection.These join its already existing irregular heart rate notifications, on-wrist ECG measurements, high/low heart rate alerts, and loss of pulse detection in the rare but dangerous event that your heart stops beating. Considering that this watch has enough tech to potentially save your life, the price isn’t bad at all, starting at $399.99.RELATED: Athletes are warning fans about the release of GTA VI — prepare for their performance to suffer L-R: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images; Timon Schneider/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images; Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1/Getty ImagesStocking stuffers and accessoriesA Christmas gift haul isn't complete without some solid stocking stuffers. Although these items are small, they're cool enough that they could make or break the Christmas season for anyone who puts them on the list.For smartphone users who miss the tactile keyboards of the lost-but-not-forgotten BlackBerry phones of yore, this one’s for you. Clicks Keyboards are cases that attach to your smartphone, adding a physical keyboard that lets you type more precisely than the one on your touch screen. Clicks Keyboards are available mostly for iPhone 18 models — starting at $139 for iPhone 18 Pro and $159 for iPhone 18 Pro Max — with a few exceptions for disparate older iPhones, Motorola Razrs, and Google Pixel models.It’s easier to play games on the go when your controller fits in your pocket. The new Xbox Nano Controller is a smaller version of the original, condensing its design down to something that you can slip into a jacket or bag with ease. It’s only half the size of a regular Xbox controller, yet it includes all the buttons and switches you would expect. The only thing it’s missing is haptic feedback, but if you don’t need your hands to rumble when you play, the Xbox Nano Controller is a great portable addition to your gaming gear at just $49.99.Lastly, two of the biggest games ever will be out by Black Friday. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake is a fresh take on what is arguably the best video game ever made (a hill I will die on). With reworked graphics, voice actors to carry cinematic cutscenes, and even some new surprises thrown in, the OOT Remake is a must for Zelda fans and newcomers alike at $59.99.For something a little more for adults, Grand Theft Auto VI is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Thirteen years after the last installment, GTA VI promises to take players on a crime-ridden adventure through a reimagined version of Florida called Leonida, complete with the classic Vice City and other new locations thrown in. The price is steep, starting at $79.99, but if the pre-launch trailers are any indication, GTA VI will be a visually stunning masterpiece worth talking about for another decade or more.What’s on your wish list?That concludes our two-part series on great gadgets and gifts to grab for Christmas. Which ones did you like? Is there something you’re looking for that wasn’t on our list? Leave your comments below and tell us what you plan to pick up this Black Friday.Like Blaze News? 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