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HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2013: Readers' Choice Results

By Vijay Anand & Ng Chong Seng - 27 Feb 2013

Readers' Choice Awards - Communications

Best Mainstream Smartphone Brand - Samsung

 

According to Gartner, Samsung sold close to 385 million mobile phones worldwide in 2012, and about 206 million of them were smartphones. Indeed, with the Korean company commanding about 43% of the Android market, the Galaxy brand is becoming synonymous with Android. So it came as no surprise that when we asked our readers to vote for their favorite mainstream smartphone brand, a lot of them would vote for Samsung. With 68% of the votes, it's an easy win for Samsung. Much to our surprise though, Apple only manages about 1%. Perhaps all the iPhone users have voted for the Cupertino-based company in the premium smartphone brand category?

 

 

Best Premium Smartphone Brand - Samsung

The competition between Apple and Samsung is more evident when we come to the premium smartphone brand category. At the end of the day, Samsung emerges victorious with the slightest of margins, 44% versus Apple's 43%. Hopefully, with new devices from the likes of ASUS, BlackBerry, HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, and Sony, it won't be a two-horse race again next year. In the meanwhile, it's now confirmed that the Galaxy S IV will be unveiled in March.

 

 

Best Mobile Operator (Singapore) - SingTel

SingTel remains the market leader for mobile services in Singapore, and the votes reflected this with 44% choosing the red of SingTel over the other two telcos. However, it's worth pointing out that its 44% share is the lowest SingTel has achieved in the past four years. The telco that has benefited from it is M1, which sees its share of votes jumped to 32% (compared to 22% in 2012).

 

 

Best Fiber Broadband Service Provider (Singapore) - SingTel

With 32% of the votes, our readers have chosen SingTel Fiber Broadband as their favorite fiber broadband service. Together with StarHub (an RSP) and M1 (a fellow OpCo), they make up of about 80% of the votes. The largest share of votes beyond the top three ISPs goes to MyRepublic (15%), which just opened its first physical store earlier this month.

 

 

Best Mobile Broadband Service Provider (Singapore) - SingTel

For broadband on the go, the winner is again SingTel, which garnered 41% of the votes. The telco has both SIM-only plans and plans with USB modems, so you can enjoy Internet access on tablets as well as laptops. Of course, SingTel's Broadband on Mobile plans support 4G connectivity; for example, the Prestige 75 plan offers a maximum theoretical download speed of 75Mbps (though typical download speeds range anywhere between 3.4Mbps and 12Mbps). SingTel also offers Broadband on Mobile plans for mobile phones and BlackBerry devices.
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