TELUS Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Give Your Loved Ones the Gift of Technology This Holiday Season! There’s Something for Everyone! #HolidayGiftGuide

TELUS Holiday Gift Guide 2013.

The season of giving is here!

Shopping for friends and family doesn’t have to be a daunting task, in fact, it can be super easy. Enter TELUS’ Holiday Gift Guide, a list compiled to suit every person in the family or perfect for any friends who love their gadgets.

What can you expect from TELUS this year?

An array of the biggest and best devices for everyone on your list, including the Nokia Lumia 1020, Samsung GALAXY Note 3, Samsung GALAXY S4, and SONY Xperia Z1, to name a few. We’ll introduce you to some of TELUS’ hottest accessories this season: the Fitbit Flex, MiPow Power Tube 2600M and Beats by Dre. You’ll also find plans and programs designed to help TELUS customers get the most out of their new devices; like TELUS’ Learning Centres, SharePlus plans and roaming and travel offerings.

TELUS is all “geared” up for the holidays and whether you are an early-bird shopper, mid-way planner or last-minute shopper–TELUS has the perfect gifts for every type of person on your list!

Meet the Family.

I know that I am a little bit of each type of shopper.

To be honest, there are people that I bought for very early, people I bought for mid-way through and there’s always people who I shop last-minute for.

Everyone in your life is unique, why not get them gifts that they will love and that are just unique as they are? There are gifts for the Mom on-the-go multi-tasker, Dad the businessman, the social high school son and the gadget-hungry young daughter. I’ll even list some of TELUS’ hottest devices and accessories for each of them.

Of course, I found everything on this list interchangeable because they are all pretty awesome. I really have my eye on the Nokia Lumia 1020 and the grip. Oh and the Beats by Dre are pretty wicked too. Santa, I’ve been a good girl this year!

For the Mom on The Go!

The following gifts are perfect for any Mom who’s always on-the-go and needs to take work and life with her. When she’s not juggling her business and running from meeting to meeting, she’s on the road taking the kids to hockey practice and making sure the family is where they need to be, when they need to be there. Every once in a while she gets a chance to simply spend time with the family and when she does, she likes to capture it on camera.

I think I can relate to this perfectly and it describes most moms to a tee. I don’t know what I’d do without my phone and the organization that I’m able to maintain with my Galaxy Note 8.

For the mom on the go, the Samsung GALAXY Note 8 makes her a multi-tasking ninja, fits perfectly in her purse and is great for entertaining the kids when she’s not busy on it. The Nokia Lumia 1020 gives her the full Microsoft Office suite for all her business needs and an incredible 41-megapixel camera for capturing times with family.

Gosh, can you imagine a 41-megapixel camera and phone that fits in your pocket. Forget the DSLR! It has optical image stabilization and a high-resolution zoom and you can even add a Grip accessory to make it feel like a real camera.

And with so much running around, the Fitbit Flex she can track her activity and motivates her to squeeze in some quality workout time! You can even track your goals, keep track of how much sleep you get and compete with friends.

For the Gadget Loving Man on The Go!

Do you have a dude in your life that’s always keen to get his hands on the latest technology and be the envy of his friends?

But with back-to-back meetings, business trips and multiple projects to manage, he needs a device that’s not just the cool new thing, but can also handle everything that work – and life – throws at him. Devices that can keep up and help him stay connected to his work, family and friends!

Well, TELUS has designed devices for work and play.

The BlackBerry Z30 is built to keep him moving with a large screen, premium audio and 17-hour battery life, while the Samsung GALAXY Note 3 and GALAXY Gear are the ultimate productivity combo, helping him stay on top of every email, multi-task effortlessly and keep up-to-date with the day’s news. When his device needs an extra boost, the ultra-portable MiPow Power Tube is there to easily charge wherever he may be.

Know a Social Butterfly?

If you have a teenage boy or girl at home who spends a lot of time on his phone, texting with friends, posting pictures to Facebook and playing games.

When they’re not busy doing homework or working at a part-time job, they enjoy sports and activities with their friends, like snowboarding or even just a good ol’ snowball fight. To keep up with their growing demands in a device, the teen in your life needs a smartphone with all the bells and whistles.

Bring on the goodies.

The Samsung GALAXY S4 is the ultimate in Android smartphone technology, with its 13-megapixel camera, large, bright full HD display and LTE connectivity. I have the Samsung Galaxy S3 and it’s awesome, I can only imagine how amazing the S4 is!

The SONY Xperia Z1 is also a great fit, as it is the first truly waterproof smartphone built to handle any weather – rain or snow – that any teen puts it through, and has a powerful 20.7 MP camera to boot. And what teen is satisfied without some awesome tunes? Beats by Dre headphones work with any smartphone and make any music sound crystal-clear – plus your teen looks pretty cool wearing them!

There’s even something for your tween who we all knows that she loves to snap endless “selfies” with her friends, surf the Internet, play games and, of course, chat through text messaging.

TELUS has something that you’d think was designed specifically for the gadget-hungry youngster – not to mention it comes with a budget friendly price tag. The Samsung GALAXY S4 mini, with its 8MP camera and compact design, beautiful and responsive display, and all the bells and whistles that the mini’s big brother the GALAXY S4 is known for, is just what any tween wants. She’ll get the Samsung GALAXY S4 experience (like her older siblings) with a budget-friendly price tag!

Rest Easy.

Since your tween is new to the world of smartphones, you can rest assured that she’ll know all about internet and smartphone safety and security thanks to TELUS’ new WISE (Wise Internet and Smartphone Education) program, which provides youth and their parents with free educational resources.

You can remember that I wrote about TELUS WISE, the amazing service,  a little earlier this year. You can read about how helpful it is for tweens, teens or anyone just starting to get into the world of smartphones and online safety, here.

TELUS SharePlus Plans

Getting the whole family together for the holidays is easier with TELUS’ SharePlus plans! Featuring unlimited nationwide talk and text, TELUS customers can talk to family and friends all over the country without worrying about overages or long distance charges.

Where this plan really shines, though, is through data sharing. With TELUS SharePlus, customers can share data across multiple devices – one data plan for the whole family!  Best of all, additional smartphones and tablets can be added without having to add additional data – as the name suggests, they just share it! So, the more devices customers add, the bigger the savings. More time with family and fewer bills to manage? Yes, please!

TELUS works closely with hundreds of mobile partners around the world to negotiate the best possible roaming rates for customers. Because of this, TELUS has reduced roaming rates by more than 60 per cent since 2010, and is always looking for opportunities to further reduce rates and continue to offer better value to customers.

Here are some tips for keeping costs down while travelling over the holidays:

• US Travel Pass: TELUS’ newly-simplified US travel combo passes now provide even more value to customers, with savings of up to 55 per cent, depending on the package. For example, with TELUS’ previous US combo travel pass, customers would pay $100 for 150 airtime minutes, unlimited SMS and 100MB of data. Now customers pay only $45! When customers travel to the US, they also have the option to add a pay per use roaming pass, which enables them to receive the lowest roaming rates every time they call, text or access data using their TELUS device.

• Data usage notifications: TELUS will send customers text message alerts to their device, notifying them of their data usage. To avoid unexpected charges, TELUS will also block a customer’s data usage after a certain amount.

• Device unlock: TELUS offers an easy and affordable device unlocking service to postpaid wireless customers, making it possible for them to use their devices on foreign networks while travelling. The service is available to customers who have been on the TELUS network for a minimum of 90 days and are using one of the eligible SIM-based devices. There is a one-time $35 fee to unlock a device.

Want to Save Money for The Holidays?

TELUS has a couple of ways to help you save money for the holidays and to give back to our furry friends this year. You can see all about Give Where We Live program and the cutest stuffed friends that go towards preserving their habitats, here.

Want a Tablet?

TELUS’ new Easy Tablet program is just one of the many ways that TELUS can help keep those holiday bills in check this season. With Easy Tablet, customers can pick up a brand new tablet from any TELUS store across the country at a low upfront cost, paying off the remaining balance over a set term in equal monthly payments (over one or two-year terms). For example, customers can get their hands on the new Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 at TELUS for $0 upfront + $20/month over two years. Thanks to these financing options, TELUS customers will get unmatched flexibility to purchase the coolest tablets this holiday season!

Ah, Tis the Season.

Many of you know that I have an insatiable thirst for gadgets and technology. Actually, everything on this list kinda makes me salivate a little.

Truth be told!

As always, you can check out telus.com for all the up to date information on the latest gadgets, services and programs that can make life much easier. You can like TELUS on Facebook and follow @TELUS on Twitter for up to date info and promos!

What is on your Christmas list this year, any of the these items?

Let me know, til then–cheers m’deres!