The best new tech for entrepreneurs
From digital notebooks to computers in your pocket, here are the greatest gadgets for start-up businessmen
Words: Gentleman's Journal
Among the toughest challenges that present themselves to budding businessmen, finding enough hours in the day is followed closely by finding enough money and raising brand recognition. And, from budgeting and meetings to these equally tricky tasks of self-promoting and raising capital, entrepreneurs need all the help they can get.
Thankfully, if you equip yourself with the right arsenal of gadgets, everyday tasks will suddenly become considerably easier. Digital advancements – from crowdfunding to budgeting apps – have helped brands of late grow to an extent that start-ups of the past simply couldn’t have dreamed of.
So, if you’re looking to start up a business, or are in the first stages of establishing your brand, these are the gadgets and tech essentials that’ll best prepare you for a promising professional future.
After its much-heralded release last week, the Samsung S8 is still throwing out surprises. A gauntlet thrown at the feet of rival smartphone producers, this full screen, fully capable new offering from the South Korean tech conglomerate is smart, stylish, and guaranteed to make day-today life earlier.
Not only does the S8 – and its big brother, the S8+ – come with wireless charging, but it also contains the world’s first 10nm processor. This affords the phone speed, power and increases battery efficiency no end – all big ticks in important boxes for young entrepreneurs.
Waterproof, able to expand storage and with the soon-to-be released AI ‘Bixby’ all elevating the S8 even further, the best is yet to come. Security, a key concern for business, has been catered for handsomely – with iris scanning to unlock your phone one-upping the fingerprint security of other models.
And, of course, saving the best until last, the screen itself is unlike anything else on the market. Taking the past ‘Edge’, and replicating the curved screen on both sides of the handset, this is immersion like you’ve never seen – perfect for relaxing with a film on those late, late commutes back from your pop-up office or, equally, for giving your spreadsheets the cinematic treatment…
Even though Samsung may have the edge – literally – over Apple when it comes to the tech giants’ current crop of smartphones, Tim Cook has still ensured that the MacBook Pro dominates the laptop market.
Faster and more powerful than its predecessors, the MacBook Pro not only is thinner (better for meetings), faster (better for deadlines) and blessed with an improved battery life (better for hot-desking), but it also includes the revolutionary touch bar.
Replacing the function keys, and decluttering the laptop, the Touch Bar leaves you with a versatile and capable computer. Used to adjust volume, brightness, browse through content, intelligent type and even use emojis, this is a time saving device to rival all others – and indispensable for the ocean of start-up emails you’ll inevitably be wading through.
A true innovation, Montblanc Augmented Paper is the notebook of the future. Using the tech-enabled pad, written notes and even sketches can be transferred from paper to a model device with the simple press of a button.
Once on your device of choice, the content can be simply edited, shared with others or translated into digital text to increase productivity and performance. It brings together the digital and analogue worlds – and will make you look quite the professional in a meeting with potential investors.
Samsung’s second entry on this list, their pioneering DeX – simply put – turns your mobile phone into your desktop computer, with startlingly brilliant results.
Essentially a dock, which includes connections for a monitor, power, Ethernet and USB devices, just hook DeX up to a screen and you’re ready to go. Partner with a wireless mouse and keyboard and you can turn anywhere into your office – a definite bonus for entrepreneurs who may have different meetings, bases or points of call throughout the day.
And you may think that Windows have tried this in the past. It’s true. But Samsung’s new software has come on leaps and bounds, and is more than capable of handling multiple tabs, several windows and more than a few processes with no problems at all. And nobody can make a laptop bag look good…
This smart wallet is yet another game changer. Designed to protect your identity – and finances – and to replace your old wallet, you simply swipe and save your cards into the unit, and secure them with a pin and biometric voice print technology.
All of your cards are then imprinted onto your Wocket card, which is accepted anywhere a normal credit card would be. In a world of multiple pieces of plastic – especially for business owners – this is a godsend, revolutionising not only personal finance, but also personal space.
A brief, but honorary, mention should go out to the BlackBerry KEYone. Many thought the smartphone manufacturer was down-and-out, but what was once everybody’s favourite handset is making a comeback with the KEYone.
Once again making use of the quintessentially-BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard, this all-metal handset takes security very seriously. Advanced DTEK software, combined with encryption built into the device’s hardware, will ensure that your carefully-kept business secrets are protected as securely as they should be.
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