Best devices for Work: Tech Awards 2020 Editor's Choice Results (Part 3)

Note: This article was first published on 24 Feb 2020.

The very best devices for work (Tech Awards 2020)

For better or worse, we spend a lot of our lives at work. Work is a big part of many people’s lives and so it is imperative that we have the best tools for the job. Nobody wants to lug around a behemoth of a notebook just so that you can check your spreadsheets, and certainly, no one wants to find themselves stuck with a printer that takes ages to scan a document. Fortunately, for Tech Awards 2020, we have gathered and tested all the major devices that you need to help you do your best work. These are the award categories that the editors have assessed for this segment:-

• Best Ultraportable Notebook
• Best Workgroup Office Printer
• Best  SOHO Printer
• Best Smartphone
• Innovation Awards

Other segments include the Best devices for Home, Mobility devices, Work (this article) and Gaming. Not to forget, our Readers' Choice results for the Best Tech Brands.

Read on and find out who the winners are in each category! For this segment, we begin with the most indispensable tool in every mobile worker’s arsenal – the ultraportable notebook.

Best Ultraportable Notebook

Ultraportable notebooks are one of the most exciting categories in computing today. Thanks to advances in processor technology and materials, they have never been more compact, more portable, and more suited to life on the road. Today's thin and light notebooks are just over a kilogram heavy and can easily run for hours. Support for new technologies like Thunderbolt 3 also means they can be docked when users get home, which improves performance and functionality. These attributes make ultraportable notebooks the weapon of choice for many users today.

To make the cut for this year’s awards, the notebook must be among the slimmest and lightest in the brand's lineup, and it must have been announced last year. It can be a traditional notebook or a convertible or detachable. Finally, it must be powered by a full Intel Core processor (no ultra-low-voltage variants).

Nominees:

• Acer Swift 5
• ASUS ZenBook 14 UX434
• Dell XPS 13 2-in-1
• HP Spectre X360 13
• Lenovo Yoga S940
• LG gram 14
• Microsoft Surface Pro 7
• Razer Blade Stealth (Late 2019)

And the winner is...

This year saw the release of many seriously competent notebooks. Many were thoughtful, some offered good value of money, a couple were downright beautiful, but there could only be one winner and it is the HP Spectre x360 13.

The Spectre x360 13 won because it does a lot of things right. To begin, the design is fantastic. And because it is a convertible, it's versatile too. It has an edgy, angular look that has become a signature of the brand and it is really compact. The display is brilliant and has really small bezels. Usually, a compact design means trading off some ports, but the Spectre has just about all the ports you could want from an ultraportable notebook – two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and even a full-size USB-A port. Finally, another thing that it does really well is its battery life. In our tests, we found that it lasts considerably longer than its rivals. Really, its only glaring faults were its below-average graphics performance and its tiny trackpad. Overall, the Spectre x360 13 is the best ultraportable notebook at the point of publishing this article.

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed in the References section below.

References

• Acer Swift 5 review coming soon
• ASUS ZenBook 14 UX434 review
• Dell XPS 13 2-in-1
• HP Spectre x360 13 review
• Lenovo Yoga S940 review coming soon
• LG gram 14 (2019)  review coming soon
• Microsoft Surface Pro 7 review
• Razer Blade Stealth 13 review

Best Workgroup Office Printer

Office and workgroup printers have usually been laser-based due to their high workload, document print quality and speed. However technological improvements and lower production costs have helped bring down the prices of laser/LED printers have fallen due to technological improvements and lower production costs. Surprisingly, the quest to drive down cost per print also see the inkjet printer options among this class, thanks to ink tank printer evolution.

In this category, size and footprint are less of a concern compared to SOHO/home needs. Features, options and connectivity remain important but print load and size of prints also became factors to consider. The workload, cost of printing, speed and quality were still key criteria with the price/value being the final decision-maker. To keep things comparable, we decided to shortlist printers that were around the S$1,000 price point.

Nominees:

• HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw
• Epson WorkForce Pro WF-C579R
• Canon imageCLASS MF746Cx
• Brother MFC-L8690CDW

And the winner is...

A laser-based printer, the HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw is of fairly standard size and weight for office deployment, which means it does take up space so it’s less suitable for those with small offices. One of its highlight features is the 4-inch LCD touch display. The screen was large enough to have a QWERTY keyboard on it. The menus are also straightforward and can be easily navigated.

We also liked the Wi-Fi connectivity options offered. It was one of the few tested that had 5GHz connectivity with no problems detecting our wireless networks in the test lab (as opposed to some of the contenders that could only latch on to the 2.4GHz network). It can print in full colour or monochrome at close to the stated 30 pages per minute and can auto-scan two-sided documents, thanks to its auto-document feeder.

We liked the speed of the printer, with the HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw being the fastest printers we tested. It was the fastest to print the first page and also our test document set. It was easily the fastest we tested and the results were not lacking in any way. The text prints were crisp and sharp. Serifs had no bleeding. The test images within the document also had the closest to true colours as seen on our screen and were sharp and clear with no colour saturation or bleeding.

But, while it could print pictures in documents very well, if you wanted to print actual photos it would be better to use an actual photo printer. That said, this is, after all, an office workhorse unit, so that's to be expected.

References

• Brother MFC-L8690CDW review
• Canon imageCLASS MF746Cx review
• Epson WorkForce Pro WF-C579R review
• HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw review

Best SOHO printer

Once All-In-One printers became mainstream solutions from manufacturers, they steadily made their way into offices as essential productivity tools, easily replacing single-function printers.

Able to print, copy, scan and fax, the divide between these and their higher-end brethren usually lies in the fact that the majority are still using inkjet technology. Indeed, two of the printers tested here are inkjet-based.

For this category, we tested printers from Brother, Canon, and HP that cost around S$500 and placed no restrictions in the type of print engine used. We looked at the size and footprint as space could be at a premium in a SOHO setup, along with the features and connectivity options. While ease of use was important, the overall price of the printer, print quality, and cost of printing were key winning criteria. 

Nominees:

• Brother DCP-L3551CDW
• Canon Pixma G7070
• HP OfficeJet Pro 9020

And the winner is...

Canon launched the Pixma G7070 recently with added productivity features such as automatic two-sided printing, massive paper feeding capacity, large document automatic document feeder, and full network compatibility. Besides network printing capabilities, it could print from various mobile devices through wireless printing.

With its fairly small footprint, the Canon Pixma G7070 was still able to handle most print, scan, and copy demands we threw at it. 

While it was the slowest to print in this group of printers, the results for both the text and image quality were very good and accurate with little colour saturation or bleeding.

One really good feature is the low running cost. The high print volume coupled with the lowest costing replacement cartridges made this the most cost-efficient model tested. Being able to physically see ink levels made it easy to judge when you needed to buy more.

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed in the References section at the end.

 

References

• Brother DCP-L3551CDW review
• Canon PIXMA G7070 review
• HP OfficeJet Pro 9020 review

Best Smartphone

The best smartphone category is always tightly contested, and this year is no different with great phones from the world's major smartphone brands. In this category, we’re judging design, build, benchmark performance, battery life, camera performance, display quality, audio quality, handling, as well as any other extra features like advanced biometric security and AI capabilities.

To make the cut, the phone has to be released in 2019 and has to the brand's flagship offering.

Nominees:

• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
• ASUS ROG Phone II
• Google Pixel 4XL
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+

And the winner is...

This year, the best overall smartphone goes to the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ because it has a feature set that other phones struggle to match. Overall, we feel it's the strongest all-rounder phone.

To start, the hardware and design are excellent. It's 6.8-inch AMOLED display is expansive, sharp, vibrant, and just downright gorgeous. You can't help but be amazed the first time you lay eyes on it.

Powered by Samsung's Exynos 9825 processor, the Note10+ also offers good general performance. The S Pen is as useful as ever and continues to be one of the defining features of Samsung's Note series. It also makes it one of the rare few phones to come with an integrated stylus whose functionality improves year-on-year.

The cameras get new feature capabilities focussed on improving video shooting performance such as Live Focus Video for real-time bokeh effect adjustment, preview and recording, Zoom-in Mic to amplify audio capture of the subject in your video recording as you zoom in, enhanced screen recording capabilities such as PiP so you can record yourself while showing what you're actually doing on the phone - great for office show-and-tell purposes or even for mobile game screen recording. There are several more aspects like great audio from the built-in speaker, microSD card expansion, massive 12GB of RAM help the phone double-up as a make-shift workstation using DeX mode and much more.

Overall, the Galaxy Note10+ is a thoughtfully designed phone, brimming with features and performance that will delight its owners. Furthermore, insofar as flagship smartphones are concerned, it's even quite competitively priced.

*Note: Prices and ratings listed are accurate at the time of individual product evaluation.

For more information on how the nominees fared in detail and thus helping us pick our winner, check out the full reviews and articles listed in the References below.

References

• Shootout: Flagship smartphones compared
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max review
• ASUS ROG Phone II review
• Google Pixel 4XL review
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro review
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+ review

Innovation Awards

Four Innovation awards were also given out in this year's Editor's Choice segment, with the aim of recognizing innovative products and cutting-edge technologies that have emerged during the eligibility period. Two of them have made it to this category and they are the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo UX581.

 

1) Samsung Galaxy Fold

The Samsung Galaxy Fold was one of the most important phone launches of 2019. It's a landmark phone, not just for Samsung but for the entire phone industry. Granted, it got off to a rocky start, but Samsung should be commended for swiftly taking action and correcting its course. More importantly, the Galaxy Fold will be remembered in history as being the first mass-market foldable phone, selling at least 400,000 units and that's an impressive achievement.

It's also a showpiece, not just for foldable display technology, but what's possible if price was of no concern and all the latest in mobile and display technology were crammed into one phone. In short, it's a glimpse into the future. It's still early days yet for foldable displays and foldable phones but if foldable phones do take off in the near future, we all have the Galaxy Fold to thank.

Reference: Samsung Galaxy Fold hands-on

2) ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo

Massive advances in cellular and wireless connectivity means mobile computing is now more important than ever. Certainly, apart from phones, notebooks have seen the biggest changes and improvements in terms of form factor and design. Hybrid form factor notebooks such as convertible and detachable notebooks are more popular than ever and have helped people become more productive. And now, it seems like we are on the cusp of a new era of notebooks thanks to the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX581, which features not one but two displays.

To be fair, dual display notebooks are not entirely new but the ZenBook Pro 15 UX581 deserves accolades for being the most refined and thoughtful dual display notebook that we have seen yet. Most importantly, it overcomes the issue of a second display just for the sake of it. On the ZenBook Pro 15 UX581, the second display, called the ScreenPad Plus, is 14 inches large and shares the same horizontal pixel count as the main display so that content flows seamless from one display to the next. ASUS has even gone to the trouble of ensuring it has a matte display and that it's placed as close to the main display as possible and at a fixed angle so that users' eyes can glance at the two displays easily. In short, the two displays isn't just a gimmick, it really works and, in the right hands, can be really helpful.

Reference: ASUS ZenBook Pro UX581 review

3) Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX mobile image sensor

Phones today are not just communication devices, they are also cameras. Which is why brands work so hard at ensuring their phones take brilliant pictures. Doing this requires great camera sensors and Samsung has just provided ammunition to phone makers in the form of its ISOCELL Bright HMX mobile image sensor.

It’s a sensor that takes photos at mind-boggling 108-megapixels and has a large sensor size of 1/1.33-inch. Its sheer size allows it to take photos, especially in low-light conditions. But size aside, it also has pixel-binning technologies that enable it to combine its tiny pixels to create a larger one to take bright, albeit lower resolution photos. This should mean better photos especially in challenging lighting conditions – a problem that plagues all smartphones because of their tiny sensors. Not only do you get detailed photos, but you could potentially crop in and still get very usable images without resorting to telephoto mode.

The first phones to use Samsung’s ISOCELL Bright HMX are already in the market and they seem to be capable of taking some really impressive photos. First out is Xiaomi's Mi Note 10 Pro, and Samsung's very own Galaxy S20 Ultra is hitting the shelves next month.

More are expected to come throughout the rest of the year so 2020 could very well turn out to be a landmark year for mobile phone photography, spearheaded by Samsung's game-changing mobile sensor.

Reference: Xiaomi Note 10 Pro review

Read Next

For a full list of content related to the HWM and HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2020 outcome, you can refer to the following links:

• Tech Awards 2020: Readers' Choice Results
• Tech Awards 2020: Editor's Choice Results
  Part 1: Best devices for your home
  Part 2: Best mobile devices on the go
  Part 3: Best devices for Work (this article)
  Part 4: Best devices for Gaming
• Full list of winners: HWM+HardwareZone Tech Awards 2020 microsite

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.