Gadget Guru Awards 2011: Winners

Budget Phone of the year:

Nokia C3

The C3 is one of the cheapest QWERTY phones available today, which not only scores on build quality but also in performance. In comparison to the cheap Chinese alternatives, the Nokia C3 feels well built, has a nice matte finish and vibrant display running on Symbian Series 40 platform. The phone has superb sound output and a simple to use music player. The camera is a 2MP fixed focus one that takes average photos. However, the thing that stands out is that the phone boasts of WiFi connectivity at this price!

Application of the year:

Flipboard

Flipboard for iPad is an app that literally changes the way one interacts with these social networking sites. It presents the feeds in a magazine format and the user can just go through them by sliding the finger across the display. It might seem that this would limit the functionality of the app, but it does not. The app allows all functions on the social networks just like other apps.

Imaging Device of the year:

Sony NEX-5

With freedom of interchangeable lens and a SLR quality image this compact camera based on new mirrorless technique is quite stylish and feature rich. This camera also comes with one of the best UI on a DSLR and the only major drawback we were able to point out was unavailability of a viewfinder. The camera shoots images at 14MP resolution with up to 7FPS speed!

Computer Peripheral of the year:

HP ePrinter series

HP's ePrint technology keeps cloud as the core and follows a simple process of click, command and print — anytime, from anywhere in the world. Every HP web-connected printer has a unique yet simple email address that allows the sender to deliver a print the same way they would send an email message. Be it a smartphone, palm, tablet or a laptop, users can send the mail to the ePrint enabled printer and get their document printed.

Computing Device of the year/Gadget of the year Jury Choice

Apple iPad

The tablet runs on iOS operating system, which works seamlessly on the hardware. A user can install apps meant for the iPhone and iPod on the iPad, but they run best in a 3.5” display size best which feels too small on the iPad's large display. There is an option to zoom the apps by 2X, but that leads to the interface becoming pixelated. Other than that the iPad has a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 and runs on a 1GHz processor.

Conusmer Electronic device of the year

Bose Videowave Entertainment system

The Bose Videowave boasts of an Innovative design of the system that supports the largest Waveguide ever in a home product matched to 6 woofers behind the LCD panel delivering deep rich bass taking away the need of an external Bass module. The TV has a Unique Phaseguide technology providing a wider sound stage and delivering sound in areas where there are no physical speakers. The TV delivers a complete home theatre experience without a single speaker showing and comes with unique Clickpad remote that redefines simplicity. The video output is superb and the output has rich colors with sharp details.

Design of the year

Samsung UA55C9000 3D LED TV

The Samsung 3D LED TV has a 55-inch full HD display in a razor thin profile. The TV not just looks good, but offers splendid performance. Its loaded with features such as a 200 Hz panel with edge LED lighting, 3D playback with 2D-to-3D conversion, twin HDTV tuners, a diverse video-on-demand and applications service, DLNA network content sharing, It also boasts of an eco sensor which automatically adjusts the TV output as per surrounding light. Connectivity is also a focus with the TV offering both wired (via a small dongle) and wireless (via USB adapter) for the ease of configuration. The TV also features a touch-screen based remote control that not only allows navigation, but also even provides the option to watch content running on TV onto the remote's display itself!

Gaming hardware of the year/Innovation of the year/Gadget of the year Public Choice

Microsoft Kinect

Microsoft Kinect - What really makes the Kinect stands out is that it completely removes the requirement of using the controller. The players can control almost everything through gestures and voice recognition. With Titles available across genres for the Kinect and more on the way, its easy to see why Kinect already has over

2.5 million units sold worldwide. If you own an Xbox 360, the Kinect is

an accessory that you should definitely own.

Portable Audio product of the year

Apple iPod Nano

The new iPod Nano gets rid of the jog wheel and now comes with a bright 1.5” square color touch screen. The device still has an anodized aluminium body and comes in seven different colors. Shockingly, Apple has managed to provide multi-touch on this little display as well, smartly dismissing need for any extra buttons. The iPod also offers Voiceover, FM radio with live pause, and comes in 8/16GB variants and supports AAC, MP3, AIFF, Wave and Apple lossless formats only.

Smartphone of the year

Samsung Galaxy S

The galaxy S is a top-notch smartphone loaded with features. The phone sports top notch hardware and runs on Android 2.2. It has a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display, superb sound output, brilliant camera with HD recording and a great battery backup all in a 9.9mm slim profile. The Layar, which is an augmented location based reality browser, is one of the key features of the Galaxy S. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy S incorporates the Swype text input service, Social Hub, downloadable e-book, ThinkFree Office, All Share DLNA as well as Wireless Tethering.