Gadget Show Live at Christmas 2013 Review
Gadget Show Live @ Christmas 2013
Earls Court, London
1-3 November 2013
Reviewed by David Savage
The Gadget Show Live @ Christmas 2013 is back and this year it is at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London from 1-3 November with probably the biggest attractions on show being the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One games consoles, on show weeks before general release.
The Gadget Show Live @ Christmas is a must for tech geeks. The show has everything from games consoles, electric bikes and unicycles, TV’s in mirrors, smartphones, tablets, DJ audio equipment, sound systems and toys including RC cars, planes, helicopters, boats, inflatable robots. There is something for everything.
There is plenty to do within the different zones:
The Game Zone has plenty of activities including special guests and top players and YouTube commentators. Here you will find the new Playstation 4 where you can enter the Gran Turismo 6 competition to see who can get the fastest lap where you can have the chance to win a Silverstone Track Day. Also from Plantronics there are game tournaments such as Minecraft and Fifa 14 (the tournaments are every 30 minutes so check the times).
The Toy Zone is fun not just for children but adults as well. There are great tech toys including robots, magic pens, Tekstra – an emotionally intelligent robotic dog that uses your hand gestures to get it walking and sniffing and with the use of an app can make it do more tricks. Nerfguns and a whole lot more, including lots of competitions to win some great prizes.
There are also some great educational gadgets like the Kurio tablet that is great for childrens learning.
We also visited the Combat Ops: UK where you have a laser gun to shot Santa elves to see who gets the highest score.
Microsoft were present with demonstrations and showing off the new Surface 2 tablet.
There is also the Alpine e-Bike test track where you tack and electric bike around a track (over 18’s only).
Top Gear had a simulator which seats up to 18 people (you have to buy tokens for this) for a driving experience around the Top Gear rack.
If all the gadgets on display are not enough then there is always the Super Theatre (tickets need to be purchased separately for this) where for an hour you can watch Jason Bradbury, Pollyanna Woodward, Jon Bentley and a variety of special guests including Twist and Pulse and Michael Winslow (the noise man from Police Academy) introducing some great tech gadgets and giving you the chance to win them all.
Overall we loved the whole show. There is plenty to do and get involved with, you can try out new gadgets, enter tournaments and win prizes as well as see some great demonstrations. It’s best to get there early as there is so much to do and see. We got to become a DJ using the Beamz audio device to create your own sounds and mixes using pre-recorded tunes, ride electric unicycles, watch robots fighting and lots more.
There are also plenty of food outlets around the exhibition but do be prepared for a long wait especially at the beginning of lunchtime (we had to wait 1 hour 10 minutes for our food to arrive order being seated and our order taken, and that was just for pizza).
The highlight of the day for me was the Super Theatre, if you can get tickets it’s great fun.
A great day for out for anyone that loves toys, computers or gadgets with some of the world’s biggest names on display.
Rating: 5/5 
For more information of the gadgets that you can find at the show, exhibitors or to book tickets for the show and the Super Theatre visit www.gadgetshowlive.net.
Tickets are also available to buy for the Gadget Show Live at the NEC Birmingham (9-13 April 2013) so get booking now.
