Gadget season is upon us again, that lovely stretch of fall when the shelves start filling up with things I both want and want to warn you about. A new roundup over at MSN highlights five devices that just launched or are arriving soon, and a few of them genuinely made me sit up straighter.

The theme this time seems to be rethinking stuff we already own. That's my favorite kind of gadget, I have to admit. I still remember when the iPod did that to the CD binder I'd lugged through three cars, the one with the cracked zipper... One good rethink can quietly retire a whole category, and it feels like a couple of these are aiming for exactly that.

So what have we got? One of the standouts takes on music listening, another reworks the smartphone formula we've all settled into, and the rest tinker with things you'd use every single day without thinking twice. The smartphone angle is the one I'll watch closest. After watching phones go from bricks to pocket computers since 1984, I've learned the interesting moments aren't the spec bumps. They're the years somebody asks whether the rectangle has to be a rectangle at all.

I won't rehash every spec here, because the numbers will shift a bit before these actually ship anyway, and you deserve better than a rundown of figures that go stale by Thanksgiving. What I will say is that none of the five appear to be solutions hunting for a problem, which is refreshingly rare. You know the type: the connected toaster, the app-controlled water bottle. My rule hasn't changed in decades and it applies here too. Useful wins every single time, so please don't spend money on technology that works against you.

If any of these catch your eye, read the full details in the source article before you open your wallet. And check back with me once they land in reviewers' hands, because promises made at launch events have a funny way of shrinking in the daylight.