The accessories you need to keep holiday gadget gifts working like new
To keep them protected, charged, and clean.
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After ferociously tearing wrapping paper, mangling bows, and littering the floor with a rainbow of tissue, the merry season of gift giving is officially over. But while our arms and closets are now freshly filled with shiny high-tech presents, that booty leaves us with something new to think about: How do we keep all those toys in good shape and proper working order for as long as possible? Here’s a list of accessories you’ll probably need for all the gadgety goods you received.
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These extra-large microfiber cloths are great for cleaning the holiday ham fingerprint smudges off your new big-screen TV, eReader, or smartphone. They’re reusable, washable, and about the size of a hand towel. $10.
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Devices typically come with a single charging cable. If you frequent multiple locations—work, home, your car—it can be a pain to transport (or more likely, forget) your chargers. It’s probably worth it to pick up an extra cable or two. Grab Lightning cables for your Apple products or microUSB cords for practically everything else.
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Don’t walk on the wild side. Instead of telling yourself that you’ll get a case for your shiny new gizmo, then inevitably breaking your phone after weeks—or months—of procrastination, protect your gear now to avoid that sinking feeling. Keep your new devices safe from scratches, dings, and drops from the start with laptop sleeves, Kindle cases, or phone cases.
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Return your device(s) to full charge four times as fast with this 26,800 milliamp portable power pack. The brick has enough juice to charge a smartphone more than eight times. And there won’t be any fighting over who gets to plug in first: The charger has three USB ports in all. $83.
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If you’re like us, you spent the back-half of the holiday running around the house swiping batteries from old remotes to see if they’ve got enough juice to get your new toys to work. To stave off a repeat performance, grab some rechargeable batteries. This set comes with four AAAs and four AAs that each last 1,000 charges. $15.
Amazon
Put down the butter knife! Don’t spend the afternoon hunched over some electronic device wielding the wrong screwdriver or flat metal object trying to loosen tiny screws on toys and gadgets. This color-coded precision set comes with six sizes of rustproof screwdrivers—two Philips and four flathead—and a carrying case. $17.
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