Best devices for Work: Tech Awards 2021 Editor's Choice Results (Part 3)

The very best devices for work (Tech Awards 2021)

2020 was a strange year for work. For many of us, it meant working from home, which also meant it became an even bigger part of our lives. Therefore, it is imperative that we have the best tools for the job. Nobody wants a notebook that takes minutes to boot up and ages to launch an app, and even lesser people wants to be stuck at home with a Wi-Fi network that's patchy and slow. For Tech Awards 2021, 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 Home Printer
• Best True Wireless Earbuds
• Best Noise Cancelling Headphones
• Best Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Networking System
• Best Premium Smartphone
• Best High-end 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

Advances in processor technologies and materials have made ultraportable notebooks incredibly thin, light, and powerful. Many ultraportable notebooks today only weigh a kilogram or less and can easily run for hours. Support for new technologies like Thunderbolt 4 also means these notebooks can be docked when users get home, which improves performance and functionality. Notebook manufacturers across the board have also made significant improvements in design and features, offering larger trackpads, better quality displays, and better connectivity options. Overall, these attributes make ultraportable notebooks the weapon of choice for many users.

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 in the last 12 months. It can be a traditional notebook or a convertible or detachable. It can have discrete or integrated graphics and it must run Windows OS. After all, anyone who needs an Apple (or Mac) machine won't be needing comparisons like this. Finally, it must be powered by a full Intel Core processor (no ultra-low-voltage variants) or an AMD equivalent.

Nominees:

• Acer Swift 5
• ASUS ZenBook 14 Ultralight
• Dell XPS 13
• Huawei MateBook 14 AMD
• Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon
• LG gram 14
• MSI Prestige 14
• Razer Book 13

And the winner is...

2020 had been an excellent year for ultraportable notebooks. Not only did they get thinner, lighter, more powerful, many also had excellent displays, features, and connectivity. It's hard to go wrong with any of them. However, one notebook stood tall among the competition and that notebook was the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon.

Lenovo gave its notebook lineup a thorough revamp this year and the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is arguably the jewel of the bunch. It does many things right and it checks a lot of boxes. To start, the design is clean and it's crazy light. Thanks to the use of magnesium alloy and carbon fibre, the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon weighs just 966g, making it the lightest notebook in its category. The 13.3-inch display is notable because it has a QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440 pixels.) This offers a terrific blend of visual quality and power efficiency (without having to use a 4k panel). Performance is generally above average and battery life is great considering the high-resolution display. One could complain about the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon's lack of USB-A ports but at least it has three USB-C ports. All three ports support power-charging and two of which supports Thunderbolt 4. If that's not enough, Lenovo also throws in a port expander which gives you access to full-sized HDMI and USB-A ports. But best of all, it comes at a dollar under S$2,000, which makes it great value for money for all the good qualities it offers. Overall, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is the most well-rounded ultraportable notebook we have tested so far.

Here's a small snapshot of results from our full shootout 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
• ASUS ZenBook 14 Ultralight review
• Dell XPS 13 review
• Huawei MateBook 14 AMD review
• Lenovo Yoga 7i Carbon review
• LG gram 14 review
• MSI Prestige 14 review
• Razer Book 13 review

Best Home Printer

In the home, whether for home or SOHO use, we still mostly rely on inkjet printers. They offer the best mix of functionality, cost-effectiveness, and quality. And even better for consumers like us, printer manufacturers have realised that we are sensitive to cost and have made smart tank, or ink tank printers mainstream product releases.

For this category, we tested two ink tank printers from HP and Canon that fit within our qualification timeline. They are both about S$350 (or below) AIO printers that can scan, copy, print, and have ink tanks for CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). If you're looking for options to manage high print volume, more paper handling options and to serve a group of users, we've some serious options covered from last year's shootout.

Without further ado, here are the contenders and who made the list for the Best Home Printer:-

Nominees:

• Canon Pixma G3060
• HP Smart Tank 615

And the winner is…

This time around, with only two printers in the category, there was one that had an advantage from the start. The HP Smart Tank 615 offered the best mix of performance and cost-efficiencies. It was also the clear winner in terms of features as it came with an ADF that can hold up to 35 pages, a 100-sheet paper tray, and a 2.2-inch touchscreen display.

The HP Smart Tank 615 ships with a complete set of ink bottles. The 135ml Black has a print yield of 6,000 pages while the coloured bottles of Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow can print up to 8,000 pages.

In terms of print quality, both printers were fairly close to each other. These days, the print quality output on the affordable printer models are good enough that only minute differences in areas such as brightness, vibrance, and bleeding are the only way to tell them apart.

However, print speed is still a big differentiator among different printer classes and even within the same group. Using a four-page test document print run, which is part of our gamut of printer tests, the HP Smart Tank 615 was found to be 30 seconds faster. A print run of the same document five times saw a three-minute difference.

Furthermore, thanks to its auto document feeder (ADF) functionality and 2.2-inch touchscreen display, the HP Smart Tank 615 was a clear winner in features, as well as in printing, scanning and copying tasks.

Without an ADF, the Canon Pixma G3060 simply can’t compete as each page needs to be manipulated manually to be scanned and copied. Plus, the small two-line mono display was barely adequate compared to the 2.2-inch touchscreen display of the HP Smart Tank 615.

References

• Canon Pixma G3060 review  (HWM)
• HP Smart Tank 615 review (HWM)

Best True Wireless Earbuds

One of the biggest audio trends in recent years is true wireless earbuds. These are headphones that, as their name suggests, are unencumbered by wires, and sit within your ears. They give their owners maximum freedom and flexibility. And right now, there’s no shortage of true wireless earbuds to choose from today. Just about every mobile and audio brand has one. Crucially, true wireless earbuds have gotten better over the years. They now come with features like customisable EQ and active noise-cancellation. Battery life has also improved significantly for most models and so has basics like even connectivity strength.

To make the cut for this year’s award, the true wireless earbud must be the best the brand has to offer and must have a truly wireless design with active noise-cancellation capability.

Nominees:

• 1More True Wireless ANC
• Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
• Huawei FreeBuds Pro
• Jabra Elite 85t
• LG Tone Free HBS-FN7
• Panasonic RZ-S500W
• Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro
• Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2
• Sony WF-SP800N (unfortunately, Sony does not have a newer top tier contender and their WF-1000XM3 is by now nearing two years since launch)

And the winner is...

Price doesn’t always commensurate with performance but it certainly does in the case of the Sennheiser True Momentum Wireless 2. This is Sennheiser’s second-generation flagship true wireless earbud and it is handily the best you can buy today. To start, it’s one of the few true wireless earbuds to support all three major wireless codecs – aptX, AAC, and SBC – which means it’ll work well with Android and iOS devices. Performance is also commendable. Overall tonality is balanced and coherent, and it sounds smooth and liquid. Its active noise-cancellation function is also adept at drowning out noise from the environment. Finally, it has a useful app that lets you customise the sound and earbuds’ controls to your liking. It may be pricey but it’s more than justifies its price tag with its high level of overall performance and refinement.

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

References

• 1More True Wireless ANC review
• Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW review coming soon
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds review coming soon
• Huawei FreeBuds Pro review coming soon
• Jabra Elite 85t review
• LG Tone Free HBS-FN7 review
• Panasonic RZ-S500W review
• Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro review
• Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 review
• Sony WF-SP800N review coming soon

Best Noise-cancelling headphones

We may not be able to travel now but that doesn’t mean you should junk our noise-cancellation headphones. What used to be an invaluable tool in the skies has now become an indispensable companion for working at home. At home, these headphones are excellent at nullifying noises from the environment and creating a silent cocoon in which to do your work. And even if you aren’t working at home, they are equally adept at cancelling out external noises during your commute so that you can better enjoy your music. Furthermore, their wireless nature means we are not encumbered by our source and have the freedom to move around.

To make the cut for this year’s award, the headphone must be the flagship of the brand, have an over-ear design, wireless, equipped with active noise-cancellation technology and released in the year of 2020. 

Nominees:

• Apple AirPods Max
• B&O Beoplay H95
• Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Carbon Edition
• Harman Kardon Fly ANC
• Huawei FreeBuds Studio
• JBL Tune 750BTANC
• Marshall Monitor II ANC
• Microsoft Surface Headphones 2
• Sony WH-1000XM4

And the winner is...

The Sony WH-1000XM4 is the company’s fourth-generation flagship wireless noise-cancelling headphone. Unsurprisingly, it is Sony’s most accomplished yet. It improves on its predecessors in almost every single way. Comfort is better thanks to plusher earpads and it’s now more convenient to use thanks to the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously. Active noise-cancellation has also been improved thanks to a new Bluetooth Audio SoC that samples noise at over 700 times a second, making the WH-1000XM4 more adept that nullifying higher frequency sounds like human conversations. Audio performance remains respectable with deep impactful bass and a fun sound signature. Battery life is one of the best in the business at 30 hours long. And while we may not be able to fly anytime soon, the WH-1000XM4’s foldable design means it can be carried easily in a bag.

Overall, I cannot think of a better pair of headphones to have with me at all times.

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

References

• Apple AirPods Max
• Beoplay H95 review coming soon
• Harman Kardon Fly ANC review coming soon
• Huawei FreeBuds Studio review coming soon
• JBL tune 750BTANC review coming soon
• Marshall Monitor II ANC review coming soon
• Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 review coming soon
• Sony WH-1000XM4 review

Best Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Networking System

The adoption of Wi-Fi 6 has been swift. Nearly every new smartphone, tablet, and notebook worth buying today supports it. Wi-Fi 6 improves overall networking performance in two ways. The first is by increasing data transfer rates by increasing the maximum amount of data that can be carried by each stream. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it enables routers and compatible devices to communicate with each other simultaneously – something that cannot be done using the older Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) technology. Do check out this Wi-Fi 6 (Wireless 802.11ax) guide for more details.

To make the cut for this year’s awards, the mesh networking system must have been released in the past year and it must be the company’s flagship tri-band system.

Nominees:

• ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8)
• Linksys Velop MX5300
• Netgear Orbi RBK853
• TP-Link Deco X90

And the winner is...

The ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) was our undisputed winner in this category. It’s a very strong all-round system. To start, it’s the most compact mesh networking system. And while it may be small, it doesn’t skimp on connectivity. It’s packed with features and backed by a strong router management system, making it easy to it set up and configure options like port forwarding and parental controls. It also supports ASUS’ AiMesh technology so you can create a mesh network if you have other compatible ASUS routers. Performance was top-notch too, especially in mesh networking mode. Lastly, it’s reasonably priced and considerably more affordable than some of its rivals. With these in mind, it’s easy to see why it’s the winner.

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

References

• Wi-Fi 6 mesh networking shootout - coming soon

Best Premium 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. Make no mistake though, as in this premium category, we’re judging design, build, benchmark performance, battery life, imaging competence, display quality, audio quality, handling, as well as any other extra features like advanced biometric security, AI capabilities, stylus and much more that go towards improving the phone's usage experience.

To make the cut, the phone has to be released in 2020 and has to be the brand's flagship offering that best embodies everything it has to offer - beyond just top phone specs.

Nominees:

• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
• ASUS ROG Phone 3
• Huawei P40 Pro+ (the Mate 40 Pro is newer, but it's not as competitive)
• OnePlus 8 Pro
• Oppo Find X2 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra

And the winner is...

This year, the best overall smartphone goes to the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max. It's no secret that the iPhone 12 series had stellar general performance, but it also clocked the longest battery uptime we've ever tested in an iPhone handset. When it comes to power, it delivers both ways. 

That's not to say that the other phones that made the cut aren't up to par. It was so competitive, so Apple's attention to detail was the tie-breaker for many of these equally competent phones.

While the imaging capabilities aren't visibly better than its other variants, photo-taking for the Pro Max has been easier in many meaningful ways with the Apple phone. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a sensor-shift stabiliser, a 47% larger main camera sensor, and many minor imaging changes befitting of a top-end, premium flagship device. That's a huge quality-of-life upgrade for the average person who just wants a good photo in minimal tries.

And, if you're from the professional side, the addition of 10-bit HDR and Dolby Vision recording, along with Apple Pro RAW, makes it so much better than before for purists.

Couple all that with its premium build quality (made from stainless steel and finished with an electromagnetic coating process), it's excellent display (OLED at 2,778 x 1,284 pixels resolution), and checking all the boxes for a premium phone (water resistance, wireless charging, 5G readiness), it's really hard to say no to the latest top-end iPhone. Just ask the iOS camp - or us.

*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

• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max review
• ASUS ROG Phone 3 hands-on
• Huawei P40 Pro+ review
• OnePlus 8 Pro review
• Oppo Find X2 Pro review
• Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra review

Best High-end Smartphone

The best of the best smartphones certainly cost upwards of S$1,500 as seen in our Best Premium Smartphone category. However, there are loads of good options that run with top-end smartphone processors and offer a flagship-like experience at around the S$1,000 mark and that's how we decided to add another tier of comparison to assess what's the best in the market for those who don't quite need the over-the-top frills and features.

The Best High-end Smartphone category is even more hotly-contested than premium flagships, so much so that it can give the top-tier a good run for its money. For a phone to qualify for this award category, it would have to be released in 2020, offer flagship-level performance capabilities, priced around the S$1,000 mark and is a good all-rounder alternative to flagship/premium class smartphones.

Nominees:

• Apple iPhone 12 Mini
• Huawei P40
• OnePlus 8T
• Oppo Reno4 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
• Vivo X50 Pro
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro

And the winner is...

Among its rivals from the same year, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE takes the cake. In our experiences, we found that the phone was a close match to a top-end Samsung Galaxy device, minus some of the superfluous niceties. It's truly difficult to beat out the Galaxy S20 FE when it already has all of Samsung's software optimisations, and the use of last year's best Qualcomm chipset (instead of their Exynos alternative) clinched the top spot in this category.

Its 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen size is generous, paired with 2,400 x 1,080 pixels resolution, allowing it to make full use of its 120Hz refresh rate. It's less saturated on colour reproduction compared to its higher-end cousins, which makes it more palatable to a wider group of users. As a Galaxy device, it also has the same interface, and most software features already available in One UI 2. The triple rear cameras were impressive enough, not to mention the phone's top-tier processing performance and excellent battery life.

All that, at a price usually only seen on Chinese smartphone brands. That's not even mentioning how the S20 FE has several colourways available when most brands can do maybe three or four at launch, so the phone really has something for everyone.

True to its flagship status despite its recommended retail price, the Galaxy S20 FE has the little details that make it an easy switch both from mid-range or from premium devices. You're still getting 25W Super Fast Wired Charging and 15W Wireless Fast Charging, you're still getting NFC functionality, and the phone is sufficiently guarded against the weather with IP68 water resistance. It really has everything an everyday phone user needs. Did we mention that it is 5G-ready, too?

It's so good, we're hoping Samsung can pull off something similar to the Galaxy S20 FE in the coming years - we really don't see why they shouldn't, and that's to the benefit of phone users, too, if this category has hotter competition.

*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

• Apple iPhone 12 Mini review
• Huawei P40 Pro review (which is very closely related to the non-Pro version)
• OnePlus 8T review
• Oppo Reno4 Pro review
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE review
• Vivo X50 Pro review
• Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro review

Innovation Awards

Two Innovation awards were also given out in this year's Editor's Choice segment, with the aim of recognising innovative products and cutting-edge technologies that have emerged during the eligibility period. 

 

1) Apple M1

2020 was the year Apple's Macs made another processor transition. This time from Intel to its own custom silicon. Headlining the transition was Apple's first custom silicon – the aptly-named M1. The M1 is built on a 5nm process and consists of 16 billion transistors. It has 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, and a 16-core Neural Engine for machine-learning applications. The secret sauce, according to Apple, is a unified memory architecture that allows all components of the SoC to share a large pool of fast memory. This negates the need for copying and moving data around and improves performance and reduces power consumption. 

The end results are nothing short of stunning. In tests, we found that the Apple M1 in a 13-inch MacBook Pro mostly outperformed a flagship-class Core i9 mobile processor and that it was capable of going toe-to-toe with a desktop-class Intel Core i7-10700K processor. But also equally impressive was how quiet and cool it ran. Unless it was doing extremely compute heavy workloads, the fan never came on. Battery life was impressive too and it could easily go and entire day without needing to charge.

Perhaps what's most amazing is that the M1 is only Apple's first custom silicon and it's likely going to be their least powerful. It will be very interesting to see what else Apple has up its sleeves this year.

Reference: Apple M1 13-inch MacBook Pro review

2) Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold

Massive props to Lenovo for creating the world's first foldable PC. Being first in anything is never easy and while the ThinkPad X1 Fold is by no means perfect, it shows a lot of promise. For a product that seems conceptual, the level of fit and finish is outstanding. Furthermore, the ThinkPad X1 Fold meets MIL-STD 810H standards of durability and that inspires confidence. The foldable OLED display is also stunning. Sure, there's a bit of a crease in the middle but it's hardly perceptible when the ThinkPad X1 Fold is fully extended. It's also powered by one of Intel's new Lakefield processors which features Intel's new big.Little architecture. Performance and battery life were both decent. 

But most of all, what's exciting about the ThinkPad X1 Fold is its form factor and portability. When it's folded, it's only about the size of a hardcover book, which makes it really easy to carry around. And when you need to use it, you can quickly unfold it to reveal a large 13.3-inch display. No ultraportable notebook can rival the ease with which you can carry the ThinkPad X1 Fold around. It gives us a glimpse of what the future of mobile computing may look like. If and when foldable PCs become our computing future, we all have the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold to thank.

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