Cheap tech gifts under £50

If you're shopping for a tech-obsessed loved one, but your Christmas present budget doesn't stretch to a new iPad Air, cast your eyes over our pick of the best tech gifts that cost less than £50.

Coding is all the rage these days. If your loved ones have developed a hankering to design their own games or want to use what they've learned at school, the Raspberry Pi low-cost computer is a great starting point. The credit card-sized Raspberry Pi is also at the heart of all kinds of fun DIY projects, from Spotify streamers disguised as tape cassette players to 3D-printed laptops, and it costs less than £25.

JBL's Flip 2 Bluetooth speaker packs an impressive punch of sound, comes in a range of colours and pairs to phones using NFC.

Whether it's for your kids to enjoy awful music in their bedrooms or for your significant other to rock out to something more tasteful while cooking in the kitchen, the Flip 2 is well worth its £50 price.

After munching through a tonne of turkey and a mountain of mince pies this Christmas, the whole family is likely to need to don the running shoes in order to get back into a healthy state.

Apple's iPod Shuffle is still among the best audio players for jogging, thanks to its small size and the fact it can easily clip onto a shirt sleeve, rather than bump around in your pocket.

It's on sale from the Apple store now for £40 for 2GB of storage -- enough for hundreds of songs.

Being able to hook your iPhone up to a computer -- or indeed a power socket -- anytime throughout the day can be extremely handy, but carrying a lightning cable around all day is a hassle.

Or at least, it was a hassle. The Nomad Charge key shrinks down the lightning cable to fit on a keyring, making it easy to always have your cable in your pocket.

As a stocking-filler for the iPhone owners in your family -- particularly those who travel often -- the Nomad Charge Key is a decent buy at £22.

Apple's iPad Air is arguably the best tablet money can buy. Typing out long emails on a touchscreen can still be a bit of a chore though.

For those in your family trying to use their iPad as a laptop replacement, Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard cover will be a critical addition. It not only provides physical keys to make typing more comfortable, it also acts as a protective case.

There's a new version that's more expensive, but you can pick up 2013's model on Amazon now for £42.

Okay, okay, a plug might not seem like the most exciting of things to unwrap on Christmas day, but this isn't any ordinary plug.

It's the Belkin WeMo Home Automation adapter -- it slots into a normal plug socket, letting you switch it on and off remotely using your iPhone.

Whether you want to switch the kettle on when you're nearly home or turn a lamp on and off when you're on holiday in Australia to scare off potential burglars, the WeMo is just the ticket.

Doesn't seem so dull now, does it? The WeMo can be had for £30 each, and you can add more and control them all at once.

"Batteries not included" is the phrase that haunts those of us who had our hopes of driving our new toy car down the street on Christmas evening dashed when Santa didn't also bring a pack of Duracells.

Batteries certainly aren't an issue for the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard as it uses good old sunlight for a power source. Better yet, it costs only £30 and will work with your your iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Smartphone cameras have come on in huge leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, with some phone cameras now rivalling a decent compact camera.

If you or your loved ones want to take your mobile photography to the next level, give the Joby GripTight GorillaPod a whirl.

It has a clamp to hold almost any smartphone and its legs can be bent into any angle you want, or even wrapped around a pole, keeping your phone stable for time-lapse or slow-shutter photography.

It's on sale now for only £17.

No music lover should ever have to endure the awful headphones that came bundled with their phone. For casual listening though, you needn't fork out hundreds of quid on high-end cans.

At £28, the Panasonic RP-HTX7 are a great first step up from the horrors of bundled earbuds, providing good sound, cool retro style and, crucially, an affordable price.

For loads more gift ideas, check out the rest of our Christmas Tech Gift Guide 2014.

"I said sell, you fool, you've lost me millions!"

Live the 80s dream with the Binatone Brick. This oversized beast of a phone accepts a SIM card to make calls or texts. It doesn't have 3G, 4G, Twitter access or a camera, but it does have a bulky style to make any retro fanatic jealous.

If you don't want to use it as your main phone, you can pair it to your normal smartphone over Bluetooth, letting you simply take calls through the Brick.

The Brick is available to buy now on Amazon for only £27. Bad haircuts and Depeche Mode CDs sold separately.