Get over laptops, smart phones, flash drives and camera. Have a look at what other cool gadgets the students are looking at as they start college

"Don't tell me you are going to use 'that' phone in college. If you are, make sure you stand a feet away from me while using it," said my 17-year-old cousin to her friend, as I sat witnessing their conversation. To my surprise, the friend gave into the condescending comment.



This got me thinking ufffd is there more to a gadget than just its utility quotient? Is the nature of learning changing in today's world? Is convergent technology fundamental for Gen Y or does it only satisfy their inflated ego? The tossed coin balances itself on the edge! As the colleges reopen and fucchas make last minute preparations to live up to the DU standards, the electronics market is flooded with students adding fancy gadgets to their backpack. We bring you the top five picks which will not only attract eyeballs but also make your academic session fun and blotch-free.

The geek in you
Every student agrees that he/she can never get enough of reference material for projects and those 20kg books are simply too heavy to carry. That's why the Kindle is a good addition to the backpack of any university student. K Vaitheeswaran, Founder and CEO of Indiaplaza.com, the first e-commerce site of the country, says: "It lets you replace 10 books with one device. In the past three months we have sold more than 700 pieces of the Kindle and students form a large chunk of the customers. Priced at Rs 8,500, it is affordable and meets the everyday academic need of a student." The Kindle Book Store has plenty of relevant educational and reference titles such as business, science and medical and even material for preparation for tests such as GRE.

iBall Take Note A414 has also caught attention of many students. This digital notepad allows you to quickly scribble down notes during a class or draw flowcharts and diagrams. Being a dual-purpose device, you can use regular paper on top of it and voila! You have a handwritten copy as well as a digital copy that is stored on memory cards in the device. These notes can be easily edited, organised and shared using Windows.