Best Smartphone
TagWhat – Curated stories about the location you’re standing in right now. Mobile Inspector – The car-selling app strikes again — and has the honor of being one of two apps nominated in two categories. Shopkick – This location-based shopping app offers users rewards just for walking into a store. Zaarly – A Craigslist-like marketplace where you name your price for second-hand products and pick it up from people nearby. Vlingo – This voice recognition app has a number of advantages over Siri: for example, it can update your Facebook status for you. Gravity Social Client for Symbian – Why should Symbian phone owners be left out of the social networking revolution? Gravity offers them access to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and more. Gigwalk – This iPhone app gives you access to a mobile workforce; you get to control when and where they do their jobs. Conversely, you can join the workforce instead.
This category honors the readers’ choice for the best current-generation smartphone model.
- iPhone 4S – It may have disappointed those who were looking for a redesigned iPhone 5, but the extra speed, powerful camera and Siri functionality helped the device sell like hot cakes anyway.
- Samsung Galaxy SII – The ultra-slim SII, complete with Gorilla Glass, could be the most iPhone-like Android device out there.
- HTC Thunderbolt – A superfast 4G phone with a capacious 4.3 inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera.
- HTC Sensation – Similar to the Thunderbolt, with a dual-core processor, available on T-Mobile.
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus Prime – The world’s first Android Ice Cream Sandwich device, much delayed, will now be launching in December.
- BlackBerry Bold 9900 – The thinnest, hippest RIM smartphone yet packs the next generation BlackBerry OS 7.
- Motorola Droid Razr – A supermodel of a smartphone, light and skinny with ultra-fast 4G LTE inside.
Best Mobile Game
This category honors the readers’ choice for the best game designed for play on either a smartphone or tablet.
- Super Junior Shake – A tap-to-the-beat-style music game, with an extra turntable scratch twist.
- Angry Birds – Unless you’ve been living smartphone-free on Mars, you’re probably familiar with Rovio’s pig-killing, bird-slinging physics game.
- Parallel Kingdom – An augmented reality game that overlays a fantasy world on top of the real one, using GPS.
- The Adventures of Timmy: Run Kitty Run – A 36-level platform game with delightful graphics, and a lead character in a catsuit.
- Cut the Rope – Cut rope, swing monster, get monster to candy. Simple, no? No.
- Pocket Legends – The world’s largest massively multiplayer mobile fantasy game.
- Cows vs Aliens – A fun tower defence-style game: herd your cattle into a barn before the UFOs get them.
Most Useful Mobile App
This category honors the readers’ choice for the most useful app designed for use on either a smartphone or tablet.
- IMO Instant Messenger – A supremely simple instant message app that supports Facebook Chat and Google Talk, among many others.
- Zocdoc – Find doctors and dentists, read their user reviews, and book appointments.
- eBuddy XMS – An alternative to texting that costs you nothing, Internet-based XMS messages also tell you when the receiver has read them.
- Trapster – Got a need for speed? This app tells you where the police speed traps are. Still, drivers, let’s be safe out there.
- Waze – A community-based GPS app that gives you turn-by-turn driving instructions — and makes it all look like a game of Pac Man.
- Mobile Inspector – Need to sell your car? Mobile Inspector takes care of the details — and puts a miniature showroom in your pocket.
- Wunderlist – A great-looking to-do list app that works across devices, and on the web.
Most Innovative Mobile App
This category honors the readers’ choice for the most innovative app designed for use on either a smartphone or tablet.
Most Useful Tablet-Based App
This category honors the readers’ choice for the best app designed for use on a tablet.
- IMO Instant Messenger – The IM app that supports Facebook Chat and Google Talk, among many others, gets a second nod.
- Trulia – If you’re looking for a deal in real estate, this app just became your new best friend.
- Slideshark – Put PowerPoint presentations on your iPad.
- Quickoffice – Create and edit Microsoft Office documents from anywhere.
- Tripadvisor – The traveler’s best friend: find out about hotels, tourist attractions, and your destination in general.
- Houzz – A comprehensive source of interior design ideas transfers from the web to the iPad.
- Flipboard – The iPad’s best looking social magazine isn’t just based on your Twitter feed or Facebook posts any more; it’s adding media sources at a rapid clip.
Best New Gadget
This category honors the readers’ choice for the best electronic gadget launched in 2011.
- iPad 2 – More than just an upgrade, the iPad’s slimmer, lighter, camera-enabled young brother increased Apple’s dominance of the tablet world.
- Nintendo 3DS – Despite problems with its short battery life, this handheld gaming device delivers true, adjustable 3-D without glasses.
- Sonos Play:3 – A small wireless speaker; you can put as many as you like all over the house and control them from your mobile device.
- Kindle Fire – Amazon’s touchscreen Android-based tablet gives the iPad a serious run for its money.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – Another strong contender in the Android tablet market.
- Sifteo – The Internet may be a series of tubes; this gaming system is a series of cubes that connect and play together.
- Logitech Fold Up Keyboard – Turn the iPad into a true notebook computer by adding this full-size keyboard; as the name suggests, it folds up and clips onto the back.
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