The 10 best smallest appliances and gadgets that will completely improve and elevate your life – Yanko Design

With time and innovation, humanity is able to shrink some amazing technologies down to size. See today’s TVs and 50 years ago. You can also look at storage from decades past and see how much outlandish storage today’s SSDs offer. The way this works is that innovation catches up with intention, enabling people to create better, more elegant and more efficient solutions. Today we took a look at 10 products that have benefited from a combination of innovation and intention. These ten tiny espresso machines (I’m a sucker for alliteration) aren’t just “small for small’s sake”… they’re also very functional, from the most compact and efficient espresso machine we’ve seen to 4K VR headsets the size of swimming goggles. The only thing that isn’t small here is this list!

1. The smallest EDC multi-tool – the KeyMaster Titanium multi-tool

The key unlocks the lock… KeyMaster unlocks life. Named expressly after the tiny key-shaped design that’s small enough to be placed on a keychain, the KeyMaster is a powerful pocket device. Made of extremely durable grade 5 titanium, it easily handles tasks from opening bottles to repairing your bike. Despite its versatile functionality, the KeyMaster’s unique design makes it incredibly lightweight – weighing just 29 grams (1 oz), it will remain a lifelong keychain companion. Despite its ridiculously small size, the KeyMaster holds as many as 14 tools, including a folding knife with a removable blade. Why a removable blade, you ask? To be easy to maintain and TSA friendly!

2. The smallest coffee machine – Wacaco Minipresso GR2

At an impressive 5 centimeters (2 inches) smaller than the original Minipresso, the Wacaco Minipresso GR2 is a smaller, yet more powerful espresso machine that delivers strong, fresh coffee on the fly. The new design has an adjustable basket that allows you to load 8 to 12 grams of coffee, and the double-wall container holds 80 ml of water. The way you use Minipresso remains the same. The hand pump allows you to manually create a pressure of 8 bar (the perfect amount for espresso), ensuring perfect extraction with zero electricity consumption. The entire device is as small as a beer can and has its own cup into which you can pour espresso. No more compromises on instant coffee on the go – Wacaco Minipresso GR2 allows you to brew fresh coffee anywhere… no questions asked.

3. The smallest device charger – MELLO 20W GaN charger

It looks like a keychain, but allows you to quickly charge your phone. Sounds magical, right? Well, MELLO holds the title of the smallest/slimest charger in the world. Built on GaN technology, the absurdly small charger has a power of 20W, so your phone can charge faster than a standard 15W charger. MELLO has a foldable design where the pins can be inserted into the unique frame. It is available in three types of plugs, and you can choose the variant depending on the type of socket you have in your country. What’s more, MELLO also comes with its own lanyard-shaped USB-C charging cable, so this little thing that clips to your keychain turns into a full-fledged charger for your phone or earbuds – adapter, cable and all!

4. The smallest Bluetooth speaker – Marshall Willen

Before you come for me, I would like to explain myself. The idea behind this collection of gadgets and equipment was to balance size with functionality. A pod of instant coffee may be smaller than the previously described Wacaco coffee machine, but it is not superior to freshly brewed coffee. Similarly, the Internet is full of tiny Bluetooth speakers that are a pathetic excuse for sound but are no match for Marshall Willen. Measuring just 4 inches tall, this palm-sized speaker features a 10W amplifier and passive radiator, delivering sound you wouldn’t believe could come from something so small. 15 hours of playtime, IP67 water and dust resistance, and the ability to stack or connect multiple Willen speakers together make this a true portable powerhouse with powerful sound.

5. The smallest Power Bank – Statik Snap-n-Charge (3000mAh)

Statik’s Snap-n-Charge is another example of a fairly good balance of size and capability. It’s a compact, pill-shaped charger that literally snaps onto the bottom of your phone, using an innovative magnetic charging port architecture to give your phone a 3,000 mAh battery boost. Sure, most will say that 3000 mAh is not much by today’s standards, but it will be enough for about a weekend. Most smartphones have batteries with a maximum capacity of 4,000 or 5,000 mAh, so Snap-n-Charge should go from 20% or battery saver mode to 100% in the blink of an eye. The power bank comes with its own snap-on adapter that plugs into your phone, allowing you to connect the power bank via a magnetic holder, similar to the MagSafe formerly found on MacBooks. Pretty impressive for a $29 power bank, right?

6. The smallest 4K camera – Insta360 GO 3S

You look at the Insta360 GO 3S and your first reaction is probably “It’s not that small.” The GO 3S looks like the size of a regular sports camera… but what you don’t realize at first is that the camera isn’t the whole device, it’s a small pill-shaped module that sits inside the device. Touted as the world’s smallest 4K action camera, the GO 3S weighs just 35 grams and is small enough to fit wherever you want. The magnetic design allows it to be attached to a variety of accessories for a unique point of view, and the larger housing itself provides the added benefit of increasing battery charge along with a tilting display that allows you to see what the camera sees. The camera records in 16:9 horizontal and vertical formats, as well as in 1:1 square ratio in gram. It records in 4K resolution, has a total recording time of 170 minutes (with the larger camera body), comes with stabilization and is IPX8 waterproof up to 5 meters. Content creation has never looked so compact.

7. The smallest 4K projector – LG CineBeam Q

You can’t follow a 4K camera with a 1080p projector, right? In the spirit of big events or homecoming, here’s the LG CineBeam Q, a portable projector that comes with its own mount that doubles as a kickstand. Debuting at this year’s CES 2024, the CineBeam Q is a strangely attractive projector that combines a Braun-esque design language and an avant-garde functional approach. After positioning the projector and using the mount to prop it up at any angle, CineBeam Q projects up to 120 inches of 4K projection for a bona fide cinematic experience wherever you go. 500 ANSI lumens means a bright projection that’s good even in dimly lit places, and the thoughtful design allows you to enjoy all kinds of content without the need for an additional Chromecast or something else. The $1,299 price tag may be a bit prohibitive for the mid-range consumer, but if design, functionality, and compactness are important to you, the LG CineBeam Q will be a great choice.

8. The smallest VR headset – larger screen

Speaking of prohibitive prices, it makes sense that some products would become more expensive as they become more compact. Take the Bigscreen Beyond VR headset – currently the world’s smallest immersive virtual reality headset. No larger than a pair of swimming goggles, the Beyond may not look like much, but it is equipped with two 1-inch OLED microdisplays, each with a resolution of 5120×2560 and support for 75Hz and 90Hz refresh rates. You have 6DoF motion, giving you the most comfortable immersive VR experience in an ergonomic, small form factor. I say ergonomic because the Beyond Eye Shield is 3D printed to the dimensions of your face, ensuring a perfect fit. The entire device weighs a measly 127 grams (4.4 ounces), and given its small size, it doesn’t work on its own – so it must be connected to a device running VR software. The only caveat is that the Beyond is priced at $999 and enters Quest Pro territory (offering forwarding, hand tracking, and running on a standalone OS)… but like I said, if you want the smallest and most powerful VR headset money can buy, Bigscreen Beyond is wherever possible.

9. The smallest gaming device – Tiny Circuits Thumby

Let’s indulge in a moment of absurdity thanks to the thumb of Tiny Circuits. Literally the size of a miniature, Thumby holds the title of being the smallest game console publicly available to consumers. Small but mighty, you can play games on it even though it’s less than an inch tall and weighs about as much as a single AirPod. This keychain-sized console features a 72×40 monochrome OLED display and 2MB of memory, so you can play 5 pre-loaded games with the option to expand your library via MicroUSB. And yes, it can even run a version of Doom! The Thumba’s small frame belies its powerful core. The Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 processor brings games to life on a crisp 72×40 monochrome OLED display. Navigate through worlds and trigger actions using the intuitive 4-way D-pad and 2 buttons. With a surprisingly large memory of 2 MB, Thumby will keep you entertained for hours thanks to its 40 mAh battery.

10. The smallest outdoor flashlight – MiCoin battery flashlight

About the size of an AirTag, the MiCoin is a portable, powerful and durable flashlight that’s designed to sit on your keychain and dim the powerful glow of your smartphone’s flashlight. It has a titanium casing that makes it resistant to damage (you could literally run a car over it and MiCoin would ignore it) and houses a 300 lumen light that has an impressive range of 32 meters. For comparison, a smartphone flashlight emits no more than 10 lumens. This means that MiCoin illuminates the world around you much better than your phone, making it extremely useful outdoors and even indoors. It attaches to your keychain, has a USB-C charging port, has tritium ports that let you find your flashlight in the dark, and has a single button that allows you to switch between MiCoin’s 5 lighting modes – 4 brightness levels and 1 strobe mode in emergency situations. Pretty impressive for something that’s literally the size of a coin, right?

(Bonus) The smallest/thinnest mechanical keyboard – lofree EDGE

I would be remiss if I left out lofree EDGE from this treatment. Sure, it’s not the smallest keyboard on the market, but the lofree EDGE stands out for being the thinnest mechanical keyboard ever made. Weighing just one pound and measuring just 5.4 mm at its thinnest point, EDGE still maintains its mechanical keyboard status with a completely redesigned internal and external structure. The exterior features a magnesium frame and carbon fiber top plate, along with redesigned keycaps that are smooth but still ergonomic. Inside, redefined Kailh mechanical switches deliver the performance of a mechanical keyboard in something that looks as elegant as a laptop keyboard. It may seem trivial to the eye, but the amount of engineering that went into building EDGE is mind-boggling. Think about it – a mechanical keyboard that weighs less than half the competition and is roughly the size of two smartphones at its thickest point… and slightly larger than the new iPad M4 Pro at its thinnest point.