Smartphones from LG (LG G2) and Nokia (Nokia 1020) emerged victorious at this year’s awards, beating hot handsets from Apple, Samsung and HTC to Gadget of the Year and the reader-voted Readers’ Gadget of the Year respectively. The LG G2, an Android smartphone, also took home the Smartphone of the Year award in the midst of stiff competition.
Now in its sixth year, the 2013 Stuff Gadget Awards are the largest to date with 23 awards up for grabs. The Awards celebrates the best tech from the past 12 months, and this year’s winners include products from Microsoft, Jaguar, Sony and Olympus.
Will Findlater, global online editor of Stuff, commented: “This year’s awards proves how quickly things change in consumer technology. LG has previously struggled to make an impact on the smartphone market, but the LG G2 is as good as smartphones get in 2013, and shows the established names how it should be done.
“It’s also been an exceptional year for innovation, with the rise of crowdfunding platforms that allow anyone with a great idea, some engineering experience and a little business nous bring new products to market. One such success story is the Pebble Smartwatch, which wins our Tech Accessory of the Year award, and is poster boy for the new wave of wearable technology that will make 2014 another year to remember.”
Apple walked away with two awards, winning Tablet of the Year for the new iPad Air and Laptop of the Year for the MacBook Air 13in. Apple’s products were nominated in a further four categories but were pipped to each post.
To reflect the evolving techosphere, Stuff incorporated new categories including Tweeter of the Year, which was won by the brilliantly observed Accidental Partridge (@AccidentalP) and Kickstart of the Year, which was awarded to 3Doodler, the world’s first 3D printing pen.
Apps continue to play a big part at this year’s awards with four dedicated categories. Essential App of the Year went to Citymapper, a transport app designed to help users navigate cities. Vine and New Star Soccer 1.5 won Creative App of the Year and Game App of the Year respectively, while subscription TV on demand service Netflix took Cloud App of the Year.
The Game of the Year gong went to Grand Theft Auto V, while the Xbox One’s Kinect sensor scooped the reader-voted Innovation of the Year award, beating the likes of Amazon, Google and Philips. Sony bagged TV of the Year for the second consecutive year with its 4K-enabled KDL-55X9005A TV, the Sonos Play:1 prevailed as Music Gadget of the Year, while Philips Hue + Ambilight, which provides ‘surround lighting’ for your TV-watching, took top honours as Home Gadget of the Year.
In a new category dominated by fitness monitors, the Fitbit Flex emerged victorious to claim Fitness Gadget of the Year, while the Car of the Year award went to Jaguar’s F-Type.
The winners of the Stuff Gadget Awards 2013 are:
Gadget of the Year – LG G2
Game of the Year – Grand Theft Auto V
Phone of the Year – LG G2
Tablet of the Year – Apple iPad Air
Cloud App of the Year – Netflix
Essential App of the Year – Citymapper
Tech Accessory of the Year – Pebble
Headphones of the Year – Sol Republic Master Tracks
Home Gadget of the Year – Philips Hue + Ambilight
TV of the Year – Sony KDL–55X9005A
Tech Toy of the Year – Evobike Bomber
Creative App of the Year – Vine
Game App of the Year – New Star Soccer 1.5
Fitness Tech of the Year – Fitbit Flex
Music Gadget of the Year – Sonos Play:1
Camera of the Year – Olympus EM-1
Tweeter of the Year – @AccidentalP
Kickstart of the Year – 3Doodler
Laptop of the Year – Apple MacBook Air
Car of the Year – Jaguar F-Type
Reader-voted categories:
Innovation of the Year – Xbox One Kinect
Tech Event of Year – Voyager 1 leaving the solar system
Readers’ Gadget of the Year – Nokia 1020
For further information on the Stuff Gadget Awards visit https://bit.ly/1beQCKO
