HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2016: Readers' Choice Results

Recognizing the best brands and products

This year marks the 7th edition of the annual HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards, the tech industry's premier event where we recognize the best brands, products, and services. 37 Editor’s Choice and 40 Readers’ Choice awards are presented this year, in categories ranging from computers and consumer electronics to digital entertainment, communications, and services. Also presented are 4 Innovation awards (part of the Editor's Choice categories) to recognize innovative products and cutting-edge technologies that have emerged during the eligibility period.

For the Editor's Choice awards, more than 150 products spread across 33 categories introduced between January 2015 and December 2015 were shortlisted. After many months of evaluation by the HWM and HardwareZone.com editorial team, winners were chosen based on the performance, value, and quality of experience they brought to their users. In addition, voting for the 40 Readers’ Choice categories was opened to all readers of HWM and HardwareZone.com. With nearly 200 brand nominations, it remains one of the most comprehensive brand recognition surveys in the industry.

This year also sees the inclusion of video games merit categories, for the first time presented in collaboration with GameAxis.com. In addition to the Best Gaming Console Brand award introduced last year, a Best Gaming Publisher award was available for public voting among this year’s Readers’ Choice brand nominees. Four new video games categories were also considered for Editor’s Choice awards: Best PC Game, Best Console Game, Best Online Game, and Game of the Year.

Without further ado, in this first of three articles, let us first take a look at the detailed results of our Readers’ Choice polls.

Readers’ Choice Awards - Computing (Part 1)

Best CPU Brand - Intel

Mobile SoCs are getting faster every single day; but for desktops, Intel’s chips still rule the roost. In June last year, we saw the launch of chipzilla’s 5th-gen Core processors (Broadwell) based on a 14nm process, as well as the very power-efficient Core M line that has a thermal power envelope as low as 4.5W. But it wasn’t long (in August, actually) before we saw the arrival of the company's 6th-gen Core processor family (Skylake) that’s focused on increasing core performance output with a bigger, wider core. In fact, Skylake is designed to power a wide range of devices, from mobile devices all the way to desktops - which is smart, considering worldwide PC sales are expected to plummet further. That said, mindshare-wise, it’s hard to see Intel losing its grip in this Readers' Choice category though.

Best Graphics Card Brand - ASUS

With 48% of the votes, this is the seventh straight year ASUS has walked home with our Readers’ Choice award for Best Graphics Card Brand. Once again, we think ASUS’ popularity boils down to its ability to churn out a wide range of graphics cards for both NVIDIA and AMD fans. For example, we’ve seen Maxwell-based cards like the ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 960 2GB GDDR5, the Strix GeForce GTX 980 OC Edition, and of course, its own version of the GTX Titan X; as well as the Strix Radeon R9 370 and 380, and Strix Radeon R9 380X, for users who prefer AMD’s GPU offerings.

Best Motherboard Brand - ASUS

What most of our readers like about ASUS’ graphics cards (variety, performance, reliability) also apply to the company’s motherboards. For example, the company has an impressive line of Intel Z170 Skylake motherboards for high-end system builders, as well as a comprehensive line of H170 and B150 boards, with each of them further segmented into ASUS’ usual Signature, The Ultimate Force (TUF), and Pro Gaming lineups. With quick support for the latest features (e.g., DDR4, USB Type-C, USB 3.1), it’s no wonder why our readers love ASUS’ motherboards.

Best PC Memory Brand - Kingston

Another brand that has made an award its own is Kingston, who has won the Best PC Memory Brand award for the sixth consecutive year. In fact, its share of votes (42%) is the same as last year, and twice that of second-place Corsair (20%). If you’re looking for memory for your new Skylake machine, know that the company has recently released new high-speed, high-capacity Savage DDR4 and Predator DDR4 memory, as well as the cost-efficient Fury DDR4 kits with automatic overclocking up to 2,666MHz. And for low voltage memory or memory for notebooks and small form factor PCs, look no further than to Kington’s HyperX Fury DDR3L memory kits and Impact DDR4 SO-DIMMs respectively.

Readers' Choice Awards - Computing (Part 2)

Best SSD Brand - Samsung

While traditional spinning hard drives still hold the capacity per dollar advantage, there’s also no denying that when it comes to speed, solid-state drives totally mop the floor with HDDs. Better yet, prices are coming down, too. Samsung, which won our Readers’ Choice award for Best SSD Brand last year, managed to fend off SanDisk and retain its trophy with 35% of the votes this time round. Regular readers will know about the great performances of the 3D V-NAND-based SSD 850 Pro and SSD 850 Evo, which are now available in even larger 2TB capacities. But for high-end Skylake system builders, the new SSD 950 Pro, which is Samsung’s first M.2 SSD to use the PCIe interface and supports the new NVMe protocol, is arguably the king of consumer SSDs at the moment. Prefer an SSD that you can carry around with you instead? Then check out this Samsung Portable SSD T1.

Best External HDD Brand - WD

When it comes to HDDs, there’s no bigger brand than Seagate and Western Digital. In recent years, they’ve grown even bigger, with Seagate acquiring Samsung’s HDD business in 2011, and Western Digital acquiring Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in 2012. And more recently, WD has offered to buy SanDisk in a US$19 billion deal. With 33% of the votes, WD is once again the winner of this Best External HDD Brand category, with Seagate remaining in second place with 26%. For those who haven’t been keeping track, in mid-2015, WD redesigned its My Passport Ultra and My Passport for Mac series of portable HDDs, adding to them a 3TB option, and handful of color options for the former. And in October, the company rebranded its Green series HDDs to Blue, and added new capacities and models.

Best Removable Flash Storage Brand - SanDisk

Flash memory storage specialist SanDisk has once again strolled home with our Best Removable Flash Storage Brand award - this time with 58% of the votes. Recently, the company announced a 200GB version of its Connect Wireless Stick, expanded its portable SSD lineup with an all-terrain model, and unveiled the world’s thinnest 1TB M2. SSD. Oh, and in case you missed it, WD’s proposed acquisition of SanDisk has already been cleared by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS).

Best NAS Brand - Synology

Our NAS (network-attached storage) category has always been hotly contested, and this edition saw more than 14 brands competing. With 19% of the votes, Synology barely pip Seagate and D-Link (both with 18% each) to retain the award it won last year. In late 2015, we were introduced to some of the new NAS products that Synology will be selling through 2016, including the 2-bay DS216play that supports 4K video transcoding, and the powerful DS716+ that comes equipped with a quad-core processor and an AES-NI hardware encryption engine. Hardware aside, Synology’s NAS OS has also been revamped from the ground up; the new DiskStation Manager 6.0 now supports a 64-bit architecture and apps can be installed independently instead of being baked into the OS.

Readers’ Choice Awards - Computing (Part 3)

Best Inkjet Printer Brand - Canon

With 39% of the votes, Canon is once again our readers’ favorite inkjet printer brand. Last year, the maker of EOS cameras introduced a brand new Maxify inkjet printer series designed for businesses. When we reviewed the flagship MB5370, we were duly impressed by its good speeds and good mix of business features, like the single-pass duplex ADF and operation restrictions settings. And late last year, the company launched the Pixma G series, its first ink tank system printers to go head-on with Epson's. HP, which launched several budget printers last year, such as the DeskJet 3630, Envy 4520, 5540, and OfficeJet 4650 comes in second with 20%. Epson, which released several new ink tank system printers throughout the year, too, such as the L850 and L655, and new WorkForce series inkjet models, is third.

Best Laser/LED Printer Brand - Fuji Xerox

Last year, Fuji Xerox launched a lot of printers. It had mono single-function and multi-function models like the DocuPrint P115 w, M115 w, P225 d, P265 dw, M225 dw, M225 z, and M265 z using laser printing technology, as well as the CP115 w, CM115 w, CP225 w, CM225 fw using the company’s very own S-LED tech. With so many choices, perhaps it’s no surprise that Fuji Xerox managed to retain the award it also won last year; this time with 24% of the votes. But watch out, Canon, which has also launched several new laser models recently, is very close behind with 23%.

Best Wireless Networking Brand - ASUS

With 34% of the votes, this is the third straight year ASUS has won our Best Wireless Networking Brand award. Whether it’s a modest AC1900 router or an AC2400 or AC3200 router for households with many connected devices, you can bet that the Taiwanese manufacturer has one ready in stores. And if you need a tri-band router (1 x 2.4GHz and 2 x 5GHz networks) and lots of bandwidth for each stream, the new RT-AC5300 that uses Broadcom's latest 4x4 5G Xstream platform is top drawer. D-Link is now second (19%) and Linksys third (18%).

Best PC Components Retailer (Singapore) - Fuwell

Sim Lim Square has always been the go-to place for DIY enthusiasts building their own systems, as this is the mall that gathers numerous PC components retailers under the same roof. For the seventh time in a row, our readers have voted Fuwell their favorite PC components retailer. PC Themes, Best Bargain, and Bizgram followed behind, all very evenly matched in the polls.

Readers’ Choice Awards - Gaming

Best Gaming Graphics Processor Brand - NVIDIA

For NVIDIA, 2015 was about continuing the good work that’s its Maxwell graphics architecture. Enthusiasts and those with deep pockets will remember the crazy-fast GeForce GTX Titan X we saw in March, as well as the also-very-fast GeForce GTX 980 Ti that featured a GM200 GPU with eight billion transistors like the Titan X in June. But that wasn’t all. For those with more modest needs, the GeForce GTX 960 and GeForce GTX 950 also arrived last year, the latter specifically targeted at multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gamers. If your pride yourself on living on the edge, the current word on the street is that NVIDIA's next-gen Pascal-based Titan GPU will be unveiled in the first half of this year, maybe even early as April. With better performance per watt, and higher memory capacity and bandwidth of Maxwell expected in Pascal, 2016 looks to be another exciting year for NVIDIA fans.

Best Gaming Monitor Brand - ASUS

With 26% of the votes, ASUS is our readers’ favorite gaming monitor brand. The 2014 Swift ROG PG278Q, the world’s first 27-inch WQHD G-Sync monitor with rapid 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, was highly regarded; and the company followed that up in 2015 with the PG279Q, but this time with an IPS panel. And if curved monitors are your thing, the ROG Curved is a large 34-inch curved gaming monitor with a 3,440 x 1,440-pixel resolution that also supports G-Sync. For owners of AMD cards, ASUS didn’t forget you either. The TN-based MG278Q and IPS-based MG279Q are two 27-inch gaming monitors that support AMD’s FreeSync tech. In second place is Samsung with 21% of the votes.

Best Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Brand - Razer

The contest for our Best Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Brand award involves more than 20 brands, but the top three already garnered 70% of the votes. At the end of the day, the trophy goes to Razer, which received 41% of all votes cast. Late last year, Razer upgraded its Naga Chroma gaming mouse with a true 16,000 DPI 5G sensor with no interpolation, and a Chroma lighting with an iconic 12-button mechanical thumb grid. Alongside the new Orochi, the long-time crowd favorite Diamondback mouse also received an overhaul in 2015. And of course, the Blackwidow Ultimate mechanical keyboard got another upgrade, with the latest 2016 version now sporting individually backlit green LEDs that can each be customized through the Razer Synapse software.

Best Gaming Desktop PC Brand - Aftershock

With 31% of the votes, Aftershock is our readers’ favorite gaming desktop PC brand. A surprise really considering that Aftershock is arguably more well known for its fine line of gaming notebooks, such as the Aftershock Titan v2.1 for enthusiasts, and the S-15 and M-15 v2 for gamers on a budget. That said, Aftershock’s custom desktops in the Tremor (small form factor) and the SLI-capable Hypergate (mid-tower) series are packed with the latest PC tech, too, such as 6th-gen Intel Core processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti or Titan X graphics, and tons of storage options, just to name a few.

Best Gaming Notebook Brand - Dell/Alienware

For those unaware, Alienware is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dell, Inc., and it specializes in putting together high-performance desktops and notebooks for professional and gaming purposes using third-party components and custom enclosures. In early 2015, we saw the thinner and lighter Alienware 15 and 17 that are powered by the Intel Haswell processors and the latest NVIDIA and AMD graphics; though later in the year, they’ve all (including the Alienware 13) been upgraded with new hardware, such as USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 support, and of course, Skylake chips. In second place behind Alienware (28%) is local outfit Aftershock (21%), maker of well-spec’d and well-priced gaming notebooks, such as the Aftershock Titan v2.1, S-15, and M-15 v2.

(Editor's note: This year also sees the inclusion of video games merit categories, for the first time presented in collaboration with GameAxis.com. In addition to the Best Gaming Console Brand award introduced last year, a Best Gaming Publisher award was available for public voting among this year’s Readers’ Choice brand nominees.)

Best Gaming Console Brand - Sony

Sony PlayStation 4 vs. Microsoft Xbox One. This is a battle that started before both consoles came to market, is still on-going at the moment, and is expected to continue for at least a couple more years. Once again, our readers have chosen Sony as their favorite gaming console maker. Not too long ago, we had Sony announcing a price drop for the PS4, as well as new console SKUs, a new firmware, and plenty of accessories and game titles. The Playstation VR headset is also due soon, so there's quite a bit of stuff to look forward to in 2016 if you're in Sony's camp.

Best Gaming Publisher - Activision Blizzard

Owner of multi-million dollar video game franchises like Call of Duty, StarCraft, and Warcraft, Activision Blizzard is our readers’ favorite games publisher, with 24% of the votes. In 2015, the company published the next iteration of the Skylanders franchise, Skylanders: SuperChargers; Bungie’s Destiny: The Taken King; as well as announced its intention to buy Candy Crush Saga maker, King Digital, in a US$5.9 billion deal. In second place is Electronic Arts, which is well known for its EA Sports titles like FIFA and NBA Live, with 22%.

Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 1)

Best Business Notebook Brand - Lenovo

With 24% of the votes, the Best Business Notebook Brand trophy remains in the hands of Lenovo, currently the world’s largest PC maker according to IDC. In September last year, the Chinese company refreshed its ThinkPad E series notebooks; and at this year’s CES, the company showed off several new ThinkPad X1 devices, such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2016 edition), ThinkPad X1 Yoga, and ThinkPad X1 Tablet. But Lenovo should be looking over its shoulders; Apple is getting very close with 23% of the votes.

Best 2-in-1 Notebook Brand - ASUS

Some call it notebook-tablet hybrids, some call it 2-in-1 notebooks. Whichever the case, such new form factor is only possible due to the multifaceted nature of Windows 8/8.1; and now, Windows 10. A new category we created last year to reflect the latest trend, the inaugural winner was ASUS. This year, our readers have once again voted for ASUS (30%), maker of fine machines like the Transformer Book T300 Chi, Transformer Book Flip TP200, and T100HA. Microsoft, which launched the Surface 3 last year, and more recently, the Skylake-based Surface Pro 4, is second with 26% of the votes. Lenovo, which launched the Ideapad Miix 700 and 300 last year, and new ThinkPad and Yoga models at this year’s CES, is third with 17%.

Best Tablet Brand - Apple

Apple’s iPad remains our readers’ most beloved tablet with 58% of the votes. In fact, it was only in September 2015 that we had new iPads, namely the iPad Mini 4 and iPad Pro. The iPad Pro, in particular, is a big 12.9-inch tablet with nearly double the CPU performance of the iPad Air 2 and a refined multi‑touch technology; it also supports the Apple Pencil that lets you write and draw fluidly like a real pencil, thanks to its full pressure sensitivity and tilt control. Sure, iPad sales have fallen, but apparently, it still outsold Microsoft’s Surface tablets in the last quarter. For those who prefer the 10-inch iPad, Apple is expected to officially unveil the iPad Air 3 next month. Samsung, which announced the Windows 10-running TabPro S just last month, is second with 15%.

Best Compact Camera Brand - Canon

According to the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), digital camera shipments in the whole of 2015 declined 18.5% year on year to 35.4 million units. Of these, shipments of digital cameras with a built-in lens (i.e., compact digital cameras) continued to fall “dramatically”, down 24.5%. In short, this is a market that’s really tough to be in right now. For this Readers’ Choice category, our winner is once again Canon, which amassed 40% of the votes. In mid-2015, we saw the PowerShot G3 X and the limited edition SG50 PowerShot G7 X; and then later in the year, the PowerShot G5 X and G9 X, both sporting a 1-inch-type 20.2MP CMOS sensor. And just last month, the company took the wraps off the PowerShot SX420 IS, SX540 HS, and IXUS 285 HS, 180, and 175.

Best Interchangeable Lens Camera Brand - Canon

In a nutshell, interchangeable lens cameras refer to both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. After tabulating the votes, Canon emerges as the winner of our Best Interchangeable Lens Camera Brand category. To recap, in early 2015, we saw the entry-level EOS 750D and 760D, as well as the 50.6MP EOS 5DS and 5DSR. The compact mirrorless EOS M family also got a new member in the EOS M3; and this was followed up by the 18MP EOS M10 that sports a chic and casual design later in October. Thankfully, the DSLR maker hasn’t forgotten the pros, as we've just caught sight of the EOS-1D X Mark II, a pro body that features a new 61-point all points selectable AF system with 41-points cross type AF, along with support for 14fps shooting and 4K movie recording.

Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 2)

Best Smartwatch Brand - Apple

Last year, Samsung was our readers’ favorite smartwatch maker. But that was pre-Apple Watch days. Today, this award has landed in the hands of Apple, and with 54% of the votes, it’s a comfortable win. We can only posit that the Apple Watch’s tight integration with the iPhone, nice selection of apps, and of course, Apple’s strategy to have different collections and watch bands to satisfy as many types of customers (you know there’s an edition just for Chinese New Year, right?), as reasons for its success. For Samsung and Android smartphone users, we rate the Gear S2 very highly (now in 18k rose gold for the Classic version, too), and are happy to see that Samsung is going to make it work on iOS.

Best Activity Tracker Brand - Fitbit

You know what? The Apple Watch didn’t spell the death of fitness trackers. According to the NDP Group, annual 2015 dollar and unit sales of connected activity trackers experienced respective growth of 110% and 85% compared to 2014. For this newly created award, Fitbit is our runaway winner, with 43% of the votes. But while the San Francisco-based company’s Charge, Charge HR, and Surge activity trackers have seen good sales, it doesn’t mean Fitbit doesn’t care about the threat from smartwatches. In fact, just this past CES, Fitbit unveiled the Blaze, which is a super-advanced fitness tracker in the form of a smartwatch.

Best Consumer Electronics Chain Store (Singapore) - Challenger

With 36% of the votes, IT and CE chain store Challenger has now won the Best CE Chain Store award for the fourth straight year. Best Denki is second with 15%, and Harvey Norman, which just opened a giant flagship outlet at Millenia Walk, is third with 13%.

Best Electronics Shopping Portal (Singapore) - Qoo10

Do you know that Qoo10 is by Giosis, a joint venture company formed with eBay? The Giosis Group now operates seven localized online marketplaces in five countries, including Japan and Singapore, and has plans to expand into more Asian countries in the near future. With 36% of the votes, Qoo10 is the inaugural winner of our new Best Electronics Shopping Portal (Singapore) award. Not far behind is Lazada, with 23%. With several overseas e-commerce sites now shipping to Singapore and the thriving business of goods forwarders, it'll be interesting to see how both rise to the challenge in 2016.

Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 3)

Best TV Brand - Samsung

Having dominated the market for the past 10 years, we aren’t at all surprised that our readers have chosen Samsung (46%) as their favorite TV maker. If you think the Korean company has already made the best 4K LCD TVs in the JS9500 and JS9000, wait till you lay your eyes on the KS9500 that’s recently announced at CES. Featuring a cadmium-free, 10-bit quantum dot display, this beauty is also Ultra HD Premium-certified, which means it has more than 1,000 nits of peak brightness for proper HDR rendering. LG, which introduced new WebOS 3.0-based LCD and OLED models recently, too, is second with 21% of the votes.

Best Pay TV Service (Singapore) - StarHub TV

Mostly known for its cable TV services, StarHub also has something called StarHub TV on Fiber, which is its Internet TV service. Just last month, StarHub announced that it’ll be bringing Netflix to its fiber TV customers through their set-top boxes in 2Q 2016. Through the Netflix app, StarHub TV homes will be able to access a wide variety of documentaries, feature films, and Netflix original series such as Master of None, Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, and Orange is the New Black. StarHub is also joining the Netflix Open Connect program to provide the highest-quality viewing experience possible to its mobile and broadband customers. For football fans, know that StarHub has recently gotten the rights to broadcast the Spanish La Liga. Wakuwaku Japan, Asianet Movies that focus on Malayalam programs, and BBC Earth are some of the many other channels launched on StarHub TV in recent months.

Best Business Projector Brand - Epson

The world’s number one selling projector brand for the last 14 years (according to Futuresource Consulting), this is the third year in a row that our readers have voted Epson (24%) as their favorite business projector brand. In August last year, the company launched several affordable business-oriented models, including the EB-U04, which is a WUXGA 3LCD projector that costs just S$1,299. On the home theater front, we were impressed by the EH-LS10000 dual laser 3LCD-R projector; if that’s too high-end for you, the EH-TW5350 is a value-for-money option. Canon is second with 14%, and NEC third with 10%.

Best Home Theater Projector Brand - Sony

While Epson has released several good home theater projectors in 2015, our readers have once again chosen Sony (30%) as their favorite home theater projector brand. The awesome Sony VPL-VW5000ES, a 4K HDR home cinema projector using SXRD tech and a laser light source, is slated to arrive in Singapore soon, and can be yours if you can spare S$85,000. Of course, that's not your only choice; the VPL-VW1100ES, and VPL-VW520ES/500ES are top notch, too.

Readers' Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics (Part 4)

Best Headphones Brand - Sennheiser

Featuring more 30 brands, the headphones category is another hotly contested Readers’ Choice category. After tallying the votes, German audio specialist Sennheiser has retained the award for the fifth time in a row with 18% of the votes. If you’re looking for some Sennheiser headphones, know that the company has refreshed the popular Momentum wired headphones in early 2015, and added new wireless Momentum models towards the middle of the year. Then late last year, a new generation of Orpheus, the HE1060/HEV1060, was unveiled for audiophiles with very, very deep pockets. And just last month, Sennheiser had us drooling once again with the HD 800 S, which now comes with a 6.3mm connector and a XLR-4 balanced cable to offer even better quality sound from sources with balanced outputs.

Best In-Ear Earphones Brand - Klipsch

This is the third straight year Klipsch has won our Best In-ear Earphones Brand award, this time with 19% of the votes. In August last year, the company released the Pro-Sport series for fitness enthusiasts, and in November, a new X series that includes the flagship X20i and XR8i. If you prefer to go wireless, Klipsch has just announced the R6 in-ear Bluetooth monitors last month. Bose comes in second with 12% of the votes, and Sennheiser completes the top three with 11%.

Best Wireless Speakers Brand - Bose

The advent of mobile devices greatly contributes to the exploding growth of wireless speakers in recent years. Not only can you enjoy higher-quality sound than the device’s tiny built-in speaker, being able to not tether to another hardware means that you can keep hold of your device, move about, and still control music playback. For the fourth year running, our readers have voted Bose (26%) their favorite wireless speakers brand. We took a look at the company’s expanded SoundTouch Wi-Fi system early last year; and late last year, a new generation of Bluetooth-capable SoundTouch speakers, including the SoundTouch 10, 20, and 30 series, was announced. For those into ultra-compact wireless speakers, there’s also a new SoundLink Mini II Bluetooth speaker, which now gains a built-in speakerphone function. Sonos, which unveiled the new Play:5 speaker recently, is second with 16%. Creative, maker of the new iRoar and Sound Blaster Roar Pro, is a close third with 15% of the votes.

Best Home Theater System Brand - Bose

For the sixth consecutive year, our readers have chosen Bose as their favorite home theater system brand. It's the only brand to attain a double-digit share of votes (32%), which is impressive considering more than 20 brands were recorded in the polls.

Readers' Choice Awards - Communications

Best Mainstream Smartphone Brand - Samsung

Samsung’s smartphone sales may be slowing, but the Korean company is still the biggest smartphone vendor, with a market share of 22.7% in 2015 according to IDC. The Galaxy E7, Galaxy J1, Galaxy A3, A5, and A7 were all entry and midrange smartphones launched in early 2015. The Galaxy A8 arrived in the middle of the 2015; and just a month into 2016, we’re already expecting three new Galaxy A series phones. For this Readers’ Choice award, Samsung manages to retain the trophy it has won in the past three years with 45% of the votes. Coming in second is Xiaomi, purveyor of value-for-money smartphones like the Mi 4i and Redmi Note 2, with 12%.

Best Premium Smartphone Brand - Apple

The second biggest smartphone vendor in the world is Apple, which according to IDC, moved 231.5 million units in the whole of 2015. Which is remarkable really, when you consider the bulk of them were the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (the 6S and 6S Plus only came in September, remember?). Interestingly, for this Readers’ Choice award, Apple has managed to increase its share of votes from 53% last year to 60% this year, which is three times of Samsung’s share. Does this mean people really like the iPhone 6S/6S Plus (3D Touch, Live Photos, and all), or are consumers just dissatisfied with what they saw on the Galaxy S6 and Note 5 models?

Best Telco (Singapore) - Singtel

Singtel is still our readers’ favorite telco this year, garnering half of all the votes. A few announcements made headlines last year, such as Singtel’s contract-free and data-centric SIM-only plan announced last September; and Singtel Circle, which is a plan to reward loyal customers with free mobile data and other perks. Wireless coverage mapping company OpenSignal also recently rated Singtel as the fastest LTE operator in the world. Besides working on speed and coverage, Singtel is also working on the content front. Like StarHub, it has announced a partnership with Netflix, and is giving away up to nine months of complimentary standard Netflix subscription when they recontract or sign up for its mobile, fiber Internet, and/or television services.

Best Fiber Broadband Service Provider (Singapore) - Singtel

Compared to fixed line and mobile telephone services, the fiber broadband market in Singapore is a lot more competitive due to the presence of more providers. Still, Singtel has retained the award that it has won for the past four years with 32% of the votes. In fact, just two weeks ago, Singtel announced a crazy-fast, S$189/month 10Gbps fiber broadband plan for hardcore users ready to make the jump. Along with SuperInternet’s Optical Ethernet-based 10Gbps plan, these are the fastest home broadband plans currently available in Singapore. Would StarHub and ViewQwest come out with 10Gbps plans, too? We shall see.