These are the best products of the year: Mashable Choice Awards 2023

Read our full review of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3.

Our rating: 4.8/5

We try to avoid using the word "perfect" in our reviews here at Mashable, but contributor Timothy Beck Werth said that "perfect" was the word that repeatedly came to mind while testing out the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. He describes it as a phenomenal gimbal camera, and it boasts excellent face tracking, vertical video mode, motion stabilization, and wireless connectivity.

Read our full review of the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro.

Our rating: 4.5/5

According to Tech Editor Kimberly Gedeon, the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro doesn't have any staggering upgrades, but during her testing she did find that it has a significant performance jump over the M2. This laptop's battery lasted almost 17 hours on a single charge during Gedeon's trial, she said it's just the right size, and its speakers are arguably "the best set of speakers on the laptop market."

Read our full review of the HP Victus 16.

Our rating: 4.7/5

The HP Victus 16 was the best cheap gaming laptop Tech Editor Kimberly Gedeon tested in 2023. She was impressed by its ability to remain cool, its top-of-the-line gaming performance, and stylish look. Plus, it ran Cyberpunk 2077 (one of the most graphics-intensive games on the market) like a champ.

Read our full review of the Apple Pencil USB-C.

Our rating: 4.5/5

While testing the Apple Pencil USB-C, Tech Editor Kimberly Gedeon found that is has great battery life, glides easily across iPad screens, is awesome for note taking, and even helped with her animation skills. One downside: It doesn't come with a charging cable. Classic Apple.

Read our full review of the Acer Nitro V 15.

Our rating: 4.7/5

For less than $1,000, the Acer Nitro V 15 (formerly called Acer Nitro 5) is a budget-friendly gaming laptop that certainly makes some compromises to maintain an affordable price — its display could be brighter and more vivid. It's still one of our favorite cheap gaming laptops, though. Tech Editor Kimberly Gedeon wrote, "If you're just looking for a gaming laptop that ditches all the bells and whistles for impressive gaming performance, the Nitro V 15 is the one for you."

Read our full review of Peacock.

Our rating: 4.5/5

For The Office and Parks and Recreation fans, Peacock is a must-have streaming service. But that's not even close to all Peacock offers. The service features live sports, Bravo TV, new and old movies, original series, and plenty more. Film Editor Kristy Puchko wrote, "Whether you relish old TV shows, crave new movies, revel in reality TV binge-watching, or rally every game day, there are plenty of options to make this subscription worth your while."

Read our full review of the Viture One XR glasses.

Our rating: 4.8/5

The Viture One XR glasses connect to your phone, laptop, or gaming console to show you content on a 120-inch screen within the glasses lenses. No matter where you look, the "screen" is in sight, so you can game or watch TV while lying down in bed or sitting on an airplane. Tech Editor Kimberly Gedeon dubbed the Viture One glasses her favorite tech device she tested this year.

Read our full review of the TheraFace Mask.

Our rating: 4.6/5

Therabody's latest foray into the beauty space came in the form of an LED face mask that stands out against competition thanks to its red, infrared, and blue lights and massage features. Deputy Reviews Editor Miller Kern wrote, "If you’re a casual skincare user, I have a hard time telling you to buy a $600 device. But if you’re someone who’s been wanting an LED mask but hasn’t been able to decide which one to invest in, the TheraFace Mask is certainly a winner in my eyes."

Read our full review of the Oru Lake kayak.

Our rating: 4.5/5

The Oru Lake Kayak is the kayak for people with limited storage space. It folds down to roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase, but when unfolded is stable and durable enough to take on the water. The kayak is rated for up to 20,000 folds without weakening. Compared to kayak rental prices, Deputy Shopping Editor Jae Thomas says the Oru Lake is totally worth the investment if you plan to take it out on the water for at least 25 hours in its lifetime.

Read our full review of the Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet.

Our rating: 4.6/5

Obviously, iPads are top dog in the tablet world and Amazon is mostly known for making cheap tablets that aren't jam-packed with impressive features. But the Fire Max 11 is a little different from Amazon's norm. Contributor SaVanna Shoemaker called it the sleekest and largest Fire tablet yet, and it "packs some impressive specs behind the moderate price tag we’ve all come to expect." It's fast and ideal for entertainment, however; it's limited by the Amazon Appstore which has a small offering and lacks any Google apps.

Read our full review of the Death Lens Fisheye.

Our rating: 4.5/5

Contributor Kenneth Bachor said that the quality of the Death Lens is superior to any iPhone fisheye lenses he's bought in the past and that so many cheaper versions are unsuccessful in recreating the '90s aesthetic it accomplishes. It comes with a phone case into which you screw the lens so it stays secure on your phone. The accompanying app mimics the interface of an OG camcorder and is super easy to use. Bachor wrote that for under $50, the Death Lens is "a great timeless accessory that’s small and easy to throw in your pocket."

Read our full review of the Bowflex Treadmill 22.

Our rating: 4.8/5

In her review, Contributor SaVanna Shoemaker wrote, "The Bowflex Treadmill 22 is the biggest treadmill I’ve ever laid eyes on… and I love it." The treadmill takes up a good chunk of space even when folded up, but the performance is highly impressive. Its 22-inch screen is beautiful for watching TV or movies or for following along with workouts from the included JRNY app membership. The treadmill also has nice built-in safety features that provide peace of mind for homes with children. With the price and size, this treadmill is certainly not for everyone, but Shoemaker says it's a great investment for serious runners and for people who enjoy connected fitness.

Read our full review of the Beautiful 9-quart TriZone air fryer.

Our rating: 4.6/5

This air fryer from Drew Barrymore's collection demands counter space. But while it is large, it's also powerful. Contributor Michelle Rostamian cooked her meals in this air fryer when her oven died on her, and it adequately took the place of a full-on oven. The dual baskets set this air fryer apart from others, allowing you to chef up two separate dishes using different cooking methods at the same time. It doesn't hurt that the Beautiful air fryer lives up to its name with a sleek look you'll want to show off in your kitchen.

Read our full review of the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker.

Our rating: 4.6/5

The Zojirushi breadmaker takes a lot of the grunt work out of baking. It has presets for different types of bread, but it's also good for making cake, jam, and pasta. This is a versatile machine that our beginner baker was able to master. Contributor Mallory Minich noted that she doesn't have the patience to knead bread, let it rise, and repeat the cycle until it's ready to bake, so she loved that the Virtuoso Plus did all the steps for her — she just had to toss in the ingredients.

Read our full review of the Lomi countertop composter.

Our rating: 4.6/5

The Lomi countertop composter brings a new level of accessibility to composting at home. It's compact and runs an electrical cycle that churns compost out so much faster than traditional methods. Lomi makes different types of compost depending on what you throw into it, with the cycles ranging from three to 20 hours to complete. Senior Shopping Reporter Leah Stodart noted that one of the composter's main draws is the variety of food and non-food items you can compost with this device. In addition to raw foods that would stink up your fridge, you can also toss paper products and bioplastics into the Lomi.

Read our full review of the BioFace Facial Mask Machine.

Our rating: 4.6/5

BioFace is a device that allows you to create customized face masks using ingredients such as real fruits and vegetables. You just have to liquify your choice of ingredients and pour them into the machine, then it'll dispense a jelly-texture sheet mask. Contributor Michelle Rostamian found that this machine is great for those leaning into simpler skincare routines and it helps reduce waste in both your beauty routine and kitchen. As for the actual benefits of the masks, Rostamian said her skin felt rejuvenated, fresh, and hydrated after each use.

Read our full review of the Tempur-Ergo smart base.

Our rating: 4.6/5

While Deputy Reviews Editor Miller Kern doesn't think the Tempur-Ergo smart bed frame is a necessity, it is a really cool sleep tech gadget that's worth the money if you have it. It comes with a remote that lets you control its position, activate massage features, and turn on the under-bed lights. But the coolest part is that it tracks your sleep. Kern wrote, "Like with most widely-available, non-medical grade sleep trackers, I’m not accepting all of these metrics at face value. But they do seem impressively accurate for something that’s not even touching my skin while I sleep." There's also a sleep coach within the Tempur-Pedic Sleeptracker app that provides tips for actually improving sleep. Overall, this thing is a pretty dope bed.

Read our full review of the Shark FlexStyle.

Our rating: 4.5/5

The Shark FlexStyle is easily our favorite Dyson Airwrap dupe. It uses the same Coanda technology to wrap your hair around curlers using air for minimal heat damage. Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard wrote, "The resemblances aren't just in its appearance. I've throughly tested both products, and at the end of the day, the performance is nearly indistinguishable. If anything, the Shark offers a few new features that make me reach for it more."

Read our full review of the Mill food recycler.

Our rating: 4.8/5

Unlike most at-home composter, the Mill doesn't sit on the countertop — it's also not technically a composter. It's a trashcan-sized food recycler that dehydrates food scraps and turns them into chicken food that you can mail back to the company. The Mill app lets you know what can and can't go into the recycler, so there's no confusion resulting in you just tossing your compostables in the garbage. Senior Shopping Reporter Leah Stodart loved the Mill so much she spent her own money to purchase the unit she tested for her review.

Read our full review of the GoPro Hero 12 Black.

Our rating: 4.7/5

Compared to its predecessors, the GoPro Hero 12 promises drastically better battery life, improved video stabilization, a new wide-angle lens accessory, and new tools for content creators. Contributor Timothy Beck Werth declared that GoPro has overdelivered with its latest action camera.

Read our full review of the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 robot vacuum.

Our rating: 4.6/5

The Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 is not a high-end flagship robot vacuum, so Contributor Timothy Beck Werth wasn't sure what to expect while testing the vac. However, he concluded that it's "absolutely one of the best robot vacuums for sale in 2023." The budget robovac was able to hold its own in terms of suction and cleaning power compared to more expensive robot vacuums.

It’s normal for smartphones that get refreshed annually to occasionally have years where not much changes. It’s a lot less normal for those devices to be surprisingly exceptional despite their modest enhancements.

Samsung has pulled that off with the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which starts at the kingly sum of $1,800. Last year’s model didn’t have much to apologize for thanks to an incredible unfolding display that turned the phone into a tablet, and Samsung stuck with a winning formula for the 2023 refresh. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 5’s seemingly unimportant enhancements (a flatter hinge, a thinner and lighter form factor, and a new processor) all add up to produce probably the best foldable on the market right now. If the Galaxy Z Fold 5 doesn’t at least convince you that foldables have a real place in the market, then nothing will.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

$1,799.99 at Amazon

Buy On Amazon↗

Slimmed down

For starters, the Z Fold 5 comes in three colors: Phantom Black, Cream, and Icy Blue. That’s one of the biggest changes that you can actuall

An Apple product that works seamlessly with Android devices…what will they think of next?

There’s a lot to like about the Beats Studio Pro, Apple's latest $350 over-ear wireless headphones from its Beats subsidiary, but the ease with which it works across operating systems might be the most impressive thing. From instant pairing to Find My support, the Beats Studio Pro has something close to true parity across Android and iOS — which, normally, you wouldn’t expect to see out of an Apple device.

Of course, that’s not all these headphones can do. High audio quality meets very long battery life in a portable form factor that makes the Beats Studio Pro work equally well at home or on the road. Sure, the price isn’t what I would call “low,” but anyone looking for a pair of noise-canceling over-ear headphones could do a heck of a lot worse than Beats Studio Pro.

Don’t fix what isn’t broken

As the follow-up to 2017’s Beats Studio3 Wireless headphones, you’d think the Beats Studio Pro would look or feel drastically different in some way from its nearly six-year-old predecessor. However, Beats chose to more or less retain the same appearance as last time, relegating all improvements to the innards of the Beats Studio Pro.

That is to say, these are still pretty standard-looking over-ear headphones with a metallic texture on the exterior, rubber on the part that touches the top of your head, and foam ear cups.

Each ear cup looks the same at a glance, but both have a few distinguishing features. On the left side, the signature lowercase B logo you see on every Beats product is secretly a button you can press once to play or pause music, twice to skip ahead, and thrice to go back a track. The outer ring around that button acts as the volume control; press above the B to raise the volume and below to lower it. Simple enough!

On the right side, a multi-function button sits just below where the volume-lowering button would be — if the right side had those buttons, anyway. I sort of wish that both ear cups had playback controls, but alas, that was not to be. Anyway, the multi-function button turns the headphones on and off with a one-second hold, switches be

Buying a new phone will likely have you thinking about two types of features: On one hand are the details that people around you will notice, such as new design or color. On the other is the stuff that you, the user, will notice.

Apple’s updates of the first variety have over the last couple of years become increasingly subtle. The biggest visual change to the iPhone Pro line was the introduction of the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro, which replaced the notch and made Apple’s flagship phones instantly recognisable from the front. On the back, the Pro hasn’t really changed all that much.

On this year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, you won’t find anything that screams “new iPhone” from afar. I’m happy to report, however, that the subtle changes to the 15 Pro’s design are something that you will feel and appreciate as you start using it.

Lighter than ever

Titanium, a strong, durable, but light metal has replaced stainless steel on the iPhone Pro’s chassis. The brushed titanium frame, alongside the textured matte glass on the phone’s back, give it an air of refinement and luxury. It’s much nicer than steel, though it’s not something that people will notice from afar. But here’s what you definitely will notice: These new Pros are light. Very light.

To be precise, the iPhone 15 Pro weighs 6.60 ounces, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 7.81 ounces. Compare that to the weight of the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max (7.27 and 8.47 ounces). Or you can even compare it to the weight of the first-ever Pro models, the 11 Pro and the 11 Pro Max, which weighed 6.63 and 7.97 ounces. Yes, the iPhone Pro was never this light - even when it was way smaller.

This difference in weight is very noticeable in everyday usage. My daily driver is an iPhone 14 Pro Max and it can get heavy after longer sessions (not to mention the dreaded falling-on-your-face-in-bed incidents). This is even more pronounced when you use a leather case and Apple Wallet with a few cards inside. But Apple is replacing all of its leather accessories with eco-friendly materials, including the new FineWoven case and Wallet. I don’t have official specs for them, but they are quite light, and the overall result is that a fully decked out iPhone 15 Pro is like a featherweight compared to my old phone.

Apple iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

The good

Dynamic Island Significantly upgraded cameras Pink! USB-C!

The Bad

Display refresh rate is still just 60Hz USB-C doesn't have fast data transfer No always-on display, making StandBy a lot less usable No Action Button

The Bottomline

Apple's new iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are probably the best new iPhones for most people. The only significant flaw is the display, which should've been upgraded to a 120Hz refresh rate. But the improved cameras, nice design and choice of colors, and the introduction of the Dynamic Island, will make you wonder whether you really need to dish out the extra cash for the Pro models.

Buying a new iPhone, but not sure which one you should get? This year, Apple decided to make that choice harder than ever.

Yes, the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are better than ever, and if money is no object, go for those phones. But if you’re just a little cost-conscious, you simply have to consider Apple’s “regular” new phones, the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus.

In a way, the cheaper iPhones are the opposite of the Pro models. The new iPhone 15 Pro hasn’t seen any major improvements, but it’s been tweaked in so many little ways that it feels like Apple’s most-refined phone ever. On the other hand, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have gotten two major new features: The Dynamic Island and the 48-megapixel camera, and this brings them a lot closer to the Pro phones than last year’s models.

Colors on the back, Dynamic Island in the front

On the rear, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus still have the dual cameras in the top left, though the back of the phone is now color-infused glass with a choice of very soft colors including blue, pink (yay!), yellow, green, and black. The chassis is still made of aluminum, but it’s now a little rounder on the edges, making the phone nicer to hold. On the front, however, there’s a big difference: The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus now have the Dynamic Island, inherited from the Pro models which received it last year.

The Dynamic Island itself hasn’t received any massive upgrades, but it’s still gives the phone a unique look (compared to non-iPhone smartphones), and is a useful, situational reminder that something is happening in the background - be it a timer, some music playing, or the Uber app letting you know when the driver’s arriving.

The customizable Action Button from the Pro models is sadly absent; iPhone 15 users will have to make do with