T3 AWARDS 2022

It's like the Oscars without the threat of violence. Join us for 41 incredible pages of excellence in tech - the very best products chosen by our team of seasoned experts

- Alex Cox, David Nield

Gadget of the year

NINTENDO SWITCH OLED

The Switch was a marvel; the Switch OLED is entirely more marvelous. Nintendo’s revised model is an upgrade that acknowledges and embraces the fact that the does-it-all Switch has attracted the same kind of broad audience that flocked to the Wii – and this time, Nintendo has everyone’s back, hardcore or not.

The OLED screen is a joy to behold, bigger and (naturally) brighter than before, and the battery is more than big enough to keep up with the increased demands of self-emissive pixels. The redesigned dock, now with an Ethernet port, gives serious gamers the chance to compete online at full speed; the much-improved kickstand makes casual out-and-about gaming a far less tenuous experience. There’s more storage, stronger speakers, and even secretly upgraded joycons that do more to reduce the potential impact of controller drift.

The Switch OLED is an impeccable package, but it’s not just the console that wins here: it’s the games. In an era where other consoles seem to struggle to even get a AAA title to market, let alone manufacture enough hardware for folks to play them, the Switch OLED gets to lean on the finest range of first-party games we’ve seen.

All that, and the Switch OLED has everything that made the Switch great in the first place: portability, dock ability, and flexibility. This is the best console Nintendo has ever made. Even given the wobbly trajectory of Nintendo’s legacy consoles that’s an obscenely high mark to reach.

£309, nintendo.co.uk