HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2010 & Reader's Choice Results

A Brief Introduction to the Tech Awards 2010

3rd February 2010 saw the revival, and at the same time, the beginning of a new development that we at the team aim to see it through the years ahead: the HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards. To capture this swanky event, our own video team went overdrive to bring you the following video overview of the entire event. So check out the video before reading on for the detailed event proceedings.

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To give readers a little background on the history of our Tech Awards - our first one was held in 2001 and it was the first ever event to recognize the efforts of the tech industry in the entire region. The following year in 2002 saw the second such event, and between the eight years since then, we have been busy growing the HWM magazine and expanding it to regional markets as the premier IT magazine in South East Asia and still the oldest and only home-grown IT magazine in Singapore. Of course not to forget is the expansion of HardwareZone.com in services, content and reach as it setup portals within South East Asia and even Australia. HardwareZone.com is now Asia Pacific's leading online IT portal with the most encompassing set of services and information with the strongest tech community of over 350,000 members and still growing.

We have certainly come a long way from our humble beginnings, and this year's HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2010 is not only a culmination of that success and a collaborative effort between print and online but more importantly, an event - we are also proud to say that it is the only event of its scale in the region - that honors the best in tech products and services that were introduced between December 2008 and November 2009. The Tech Awards consists of two portions:- Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice awards and more on that right after this break.

During the qualification period, we ploughed through hundreds of products to qualify for the 32 Editor's Choice categories and eventually whittled these down to a finalized list of 150 products as Editor's Choice nominees that represent the best from each of the respective company's products that fit the test categories. These products were then meticulously put through a series of benchmarking tests in the HardwareZone labs, where we evaluated the results through a specific criteria consisting of performance, consumer benefits, value and technology advancements to finally decide the winners.

We also allowed our tech-savvy readers of HWM and HardwareZone.com to participate in a category called Reader's Choice in which they paid tribute to their favorite brands by voting online from a total of 28 award categories comprising of 80 brands, organizations and a small selection of favorite tech services and stores. This took place in the month of November 2009 and the poll garnered a total of about 80,000 votes from the members of the public; staggering indeed!

Now, onto the actual event coverage and details of the Reader's Choice results in this article. Editor's Choice results will follow suit shortly in two more dedicated articles for all the juicy details. Read on!

The HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2010

The HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2010 was held from 2.30pm to 5.30pm at Sheraton Hotel Ballrooms 1 and 2, with the actual commencement of the program at 3pm. Before that, guests were streaming in to the venue, mingling with the staff of SPH Magazines, while some stopped to take photos with our prominent event signage to remember this landmark event.

The hosts of the event, our very own Tech Writer and HWZ TV presenter Sutlej Soin, and Radio Presenter Cheryl Miles from Radio 91.3, kick started the event with a fun opening video that led to the official start of the HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2010.

Jimmy Tang, SPH Magazines' Group Editor (New Media) was then invited for a brief introduction.

The Awards Ceremony!

Next up, Sutlej Soin and Cheryl Miles proceeded to announce the winners of the awards for both the Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice segments. Here's a select few shots of those receiving the prestigious awards from Jimmy Tang, Group Editor (New Media), SPH Magazines and Eugene Low, Deputy Managing Director, SPH Magazines.

But hold your horses, the event has yet to end; more to come on the following page.

After the Tech Awards 2010 Event

Although the award ceremony ended at about 4pm, many guests stayed back at the lounge area for the tea reception and a light-hearted networking session. They had their pick from a wide selection that included Chinese finger food as well as Western desserts. Trust us, it was a good blend indeed!

While things were getting slightly busy outside, the video team worked hard as they went around and interviewed some guests about their afterthoughts about the event. Here's a couple of them:-

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The day ended with several happy winners taking photos, and notably, some with the editorial team.

Event Finale

All in all, the evening was not only a testament to the industry's best players, but also a symbolic badge of pride that reminded us how hard we worked to get so far. Till then, look out for the next Tech Awards!

For those interested to check out the details of the Reader's Choice results, we've compiled those over the next few pages, so do check out the interesting breakdown as voted by you!

Reader's Choice Awards - Computing Pt 1

To recap, in November 2009, we asked you for your favorite products, brands and services in 28 categories spanning the tech industry trinity of communications, consumer electronics and computing. You have answered us overwhelmingly, with 80,000 votes cast in total for the HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2010 Reader's Choice. Here then are the results of this brand survey, as decided by our members and subscribers.

Best CPU Brand

When it comes to the processor that lies at the heart of every PC (and Mac), Intel is the clear favorite, capturing 88% of total votes. With its latest Nehalem micro-architecture spreading to the mainstream this year with dual-core variants, expect Intel to maintain and even expand its market share further. AMD for its part has staged a fine recovery

and with its foundry woes hopefully behind it, the firm can now focus on getting its 6-core processors out this year and keep Intel on its toes. In other words, it's all good for consumers.

Best Motherboard Brand

Reflecting its position as the largest motherboard manufacturer in the world, our survey found ASUS to be the top brand here, with almost twice the number of votes as its nearest competitor. ASUS' range of products, along with its reputation for reliability and quality has certainly made an impression on consumers.

Best Graphics Card Brand

The graphics card segment is more fragmented than the motherboard category but once again, ASUS topped our Reader's Choice with 33% of the votes. It's quite the achievement that's testimony to the ASUS brand name.

Best Graphics Chip

ATI may be riding high currently on its latest Radeon HD 5000 series graphics chip but it has some way to go towards changing the minds of our voters. A majority of 69% chose NVIDIA, which showed that consumers continue to trust the brand for all it has done to date. We'll have to see whether this faith is justified when NVIDIA's Fermi chip makes its debut sometime this year.

Reader's Choice Awards - Computing Pt 2

Best Desktop PC Brand

As expected from the world's top PC vendor, HP is the favorite Desktop PC brand among our voters. Its range of designs and competitive prices have contributed to this result, though Apple's 30% share here appears to show that it's doing better in terms of mind share than one would expect given Apple's actual market share.

Best Inkjet Printer Brand

Canon's wide range of models and marketing efforts seem to have paid off as it snags the favorite inkjet printer brand from our readers. With an almost 50% share of the votes, it leaves rivals HP and Epson fighting for the remainder of the pie.

Best Laser Printer Brand

It's a tight race in the laser printer arena, with SOHO and enterprise environments favoring three brands in particular - Fuji Xerox, HP and Canon. By a slim margin of 2%, Fuji Xerox took this category.

Best Networking Brand

Cisco's acquisition of Linksys in 2003 has created a powerhouse in networking, with the Linksys by Cisco brand taking almost half of all the votes in this category. Having Cisco's reputation for enterprise-class reliability has no doubt enhanced the standing of Linksys' consumer friendly products.

Best Antivirus/Internet Security Software Brand

Symantec's Norton antivirus and internet security software may have come under fire in the past for being too resource intensive but the latest versions have made great strides in improving that aspect while keeping the firm's edge in threat detection and protection. No wonder that it managed to get 33% of the votes. A relative newcomer on the local scene, Kaspersky has also made huge gains, taking 16% to finish three. Perhaps they have Jackie Chan's endorsement to thank for that.

Reader's Choice Awards - Computing Pt 3

Best Desktop Internal HDD Brand

The acquisition of Maxtor has only strengthened Seagate's grip on the internal HDD category, with almost 40% of the voters choosing the brand. Western Digital however seems to doing a good job of making it a two-horse race.

Best External HDD Brand

While Seagate has the advantage in the internal HDD segment, it was a very tight race when it came to the external HDD category. Seagate just about managed to fend off Western Digital by the slimmest of margins to take another honor.

Best Removable Flash Storage Brand

SanDisk has cultivated quite the name for itself when it comes to flash storage and it's no surprise that it takes more than half of the votes here. Its range of high-speed and large capacity flash products means that it is likely to maintain this lead for the near future.

Best LCD Monitor Brand

It's a big win for Samsung for LCD monitors, helped by its range of attractive designs that are competitively priced. The fact that Samsung makes its own panels is probably another reason why it has such an impressive lead over its rivals.

Best Components Retailer

There are many retailers dealing in PC components in Singapore, many of which are located at Sim Lim Square. Out of them, Fuwell was the favorite retailer and from the number of downloads for the company's price list at HardwareZone.com, this win was no surprise, especially for those who have experienced the quality service at Fuwell.

Reader's Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics, Pt 1

Best Notebook Brand

Apple has emerged as the favorite brand for notebooks, due to its user-friendly Mac OS X and its clean, unibody aluminum designs. The ability to dual and triple-boot other operating systems on a Mac notebook is likely another pull factor for developers and professionals. Meanwhile, the PC notebook market appears quite fragmented, with four major vendors, ASUS, HP, Sony and Fujitsu having similar percentage of the votes.

Best Gaming Notebook Brand

Gaming and notebooks are generally not the best of pals, though gaming notebooks are increasingly common and available from vendors. Dell's Alienware brand comes with legit gaming street cred and it's no surprise that this helps Dell secure the top brand for gaming notebooks.

Best Netbook Brand

Another extremely competitive segment with many vendors jousting, the netbook category was won by ASUS, which has a significant 9% lead over its many competitors. The company's first mover status in this segment is likely the reason that its Eee PC name finds most favor with our readers.

Best Point & Shoot Digital Camera Brand

Canon's IXUS range of digital cameras is certainly striking a chord with our readers, taking a massive 48% of this category for point and shoot digital cameras. An attractive price for these cameras together with their good performance are the likely reasons for this result, along with a dollop of successful marketing of course.

Best DSLR Camera Brand

When it comes to the instrument of choice for those with more demanding standards and taste, Nikon's DSLR was voted the favorite after a close tussle with rival Canon. Nikon's long line of award-winning cameras and compatibility with a very wide range of lenses from older cameras to maximize investments are certainly popular among professionals and amateurs here and our poll reflected this.

Reader's Choice Awards - Consumer Electronics, Pt 2

Best LCD TV Brand

The top LCD TV brand among our readers goes to Samsung, which has grown rapidly in the LCD TV segment over the past few years. Leading the market with innovations like LED backlit LCD TVs as well as a range of attractive designs, Samsung looks to be in the driver's seat in this category. With its status as a leader in LCD panel manufacturing, we expect Samsung to remain strong in the near future.

Best Projector Brand

Our voters preferred quite a variety of brands when it comes to projectors and NEC edged past Canon to garner our Best Projector Brand award.

Best Home-Theater-in-a-Box (HTIB) Brand

Pioneer has always fared well in the home entertainment segment and its popularity is undiminished as it takes the favorite brand award over Sony. It's a well-deserved win for Pioneer in a market filled with plenty of choices.

Best Pay TV Service

SingTel's mio is relatively new to the Pay TV scene, which explains why an overwhelming majority of the votes went to StarHub Cable. However, now that SingTel has won upcoming season's broadcast rights for the popular Barclays English Premier League, we have to wonder if things will be a lot closer next year.

Best Consumer Electronics Megastore

It seems that the local population prefers getting their CE fix at Harvey Norman. The retailer's catchy radio jingle may be a reason for its slim lead over second-placed Best Denki.

Reader's Choice Awards - Communications

Best Business Smartphone

The rise of RIM is evident in Singapore with 40% of correspondents choosing the firm's ubiquitous BlackBerry range of smartphones over other brands. HTC's second spot ahead of Nokia's Eseries smartphones is another sign that the Android craze is raging among our mobile consumers.

Best Lifestyle Mobile Phone Brand

When it comes to the mobile lifestyle, Apple has a huge 44% chunk of the votes, thanks to its popular iPhone. With all three mobile service providers now offering the iPhone to their subscribers, expect the numbers to spike even higher unless the competition has anything to say about it. It's still early days yet and we're seeing quite a bit of interesting devices like the Google Nexus One and Samsung's Galaxy Spica as of recent times with much more coming our way in the pipeline.

Best Mobile Operator

SingTel remains the market leader for mobile service in Singapore and our votes reflected this with 57% choosing the red of SingTel over the other two telcos.

Best Internet Service Provider

It's much closer when it comes to the best ISP but this was narrowly won by SingNet, whose ADSL service beat StarHub's cable offerings. The lower latency associated with the technology and the fact that it uses your plain, old telephone lines are all probable reasons for its win.

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