2010 was a great year for technology fans: we started with the iPad announcement in January and finished with lots of new goodies, like Windows Phone 7, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the new MacBook Air. So, let’s take a look of what really caught my eye. Let’s start with something popular: smartphones.
Best smartphone: Apple iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S (tie)
It was hard to decide on this one. The new iPhone set a new bar on mobile devices displays and packs everything 3GS lacked – good camera, good video and video calls. Plus, it has the well-established App Store/iTunes Store platform to back it up. On the downside, it isn’t a revolutionary product as the previous iPhones, as I already mentioned in my iPhone 4 review. Also, iPhones are perfect within the Apple ecosystem (iOS + Mac + MobileMe); everywhere else, the experience isn’t as pleasant. iPhone + Windows owners know what I mean.
As for the Samsung Galaxy S, it’s the best Android phone money can buy these days. It has great hardware, great screen, clean design and with the Android Market growing, it has everything to become a serious competitor in the high-end range. I don’t like Android’s UI and graphic design – it’s just too ugly and reminds me of old versions of KDE sometimes. It also has the same “issue” as the iPhone – it doesn’t really work outside the Google ecosystem. Nevertheless, both devices are great and although they have some flaws, there doesn’t seem to be any competitor near them these days.
Honorable mention: Samsung Omnia 7
Best notebook: Sony VAIO VPC-Z13AHX
I bet you thought I’d put the new MacBook Air here. Well, I didn’t because of one thing: processor power. As you may already know, I own one of these new thin things and the Core 2 Duo is showing signs of its age. So, as long as Apple doesn’t upgrade their small laptops to newer processors, I won’t put them on top of this kind of list, even though I love them and would have one over any Windows notebook. That said, let’s talk a bit about the VAIO.
This laptop is the best ultraportable money can buy these days. 13” LED display at 1920×1080 resolution, Intel Core i7 processor at 2.8GHz, 8GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and GeForce GT 330M graphics. It’s more powerful than a 17” MacBook Pro and as small as (and lighter than) a 13” MacBook Pro. It’s that great, really. Oh, and the standard battery has a lifespan of 6 hours too.
Honorable mention: 11” MacBook Air
Best desktop: Apple 27” iMac
I always loved all-in-one desktops. Very practical for the ordinary guy who just needs a fixed workstation to use at home when working on a laptop doesn’t work. Sure, you lose expansion capability, but who cares these days? The new 27” iMac is $200 less than the previous model and packs a quad-core i5, 4GB of RAM, 1TB HDD, ATI HD5750 graphics and the marvelous 27” IPS display. It’s always nice to get more power for less money, so this is my choice for desktop of the year.
Honorable mention: Dell XPS sz8100-2777NBC
Best media player: Apple 32GB iPod Touch
I don’t really think iPods have any competition: $49 for a Shuffle, $149 for a Nano and $299 for the great champion, it isn’t really fair to the competition. And the new iPod Touch is awesome! It’s really thin, making my iPhone 4 look like a brick next to it. And it has all the iPhone 4 goodies: Retina Display, FaceTime camera and a real 5 MP camera that also shoots HD video. I chose the 32GB model because it has the best price-performance ratio. If you always wanted an iPhone, but don’t need the phone (who does? :-P), this is your choice.
Honorable mention: Apple iPod Nano
Best camera: Canon EOS 60D
Hard choice here… too many cool releases. There’s this Canon, the Nikon D7000 and the ultra-cool Sony SLT-A55 on the SLR side (ok, the Sony isn’t really a SLR, but you get the picture…), and the great Panasonic LX5 and Canon S95 among the compact cameras. I chose the Canon because it’s the DSLR I wanted Canon to make: a super Rebel. It’s now made of plastic, so it’s lighter than the 50D, and has the same great ergonomics as the 50D. Plus, the price is great, starting at $1000, which is cheaper than the D7000. Although I’m a Nikon shooter, I have to recognize this is the best camera released this year.
Honorable mention: Sony SLT-A55
Now… you may be wondering. Where are the tablets? Well, there are so few of them (and, honestly, most of them are crap) that I thought it wasn’t really fair to make a rank of tablets. The iPad wins, obviously. And, IMHO, it was the best technology product released in 2010. So:
Gadget of the year: Apple 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad
I know many people don’t like the device, and I’m fine with that. But I’ll justify my choice anyway. First, it created a new market. One may argue that tablets exist for over 10 years, and that’s true, but those HP/Compaq stylus-controlled, Windows-based tables never took-off. I know only a handful of people who bought those. The iPad creates the tablet market de facto because a lot of people felt they needed a tablet after the release, thing that never happened in the previous years. What Apple learned from their experience is that a tablet cannot be a full-blown PC, nor as compact and functional as a cell phone. And it has to have apps and content designed exclusively for it (that’s where Android currently fails). A mobile device like this isn’t about the hardware, it’s about content. And there’s where Apple nailed it, and that’s why they expect to sell 7 million devices in 2010.
Second, it created a new way of delivering media content. To keep a long story short: I cannot read paper magazines anymore. It’s just too boring. On the iPad, I have access to thousands of magazines worldwide at very good prices, get interactive content, video. Even the ads are more interesting! Newspapers on the iPad are also very good and video delivery is getting mature, with Netflix, Hulu and ABC Player on the leading edge. The only thing missing is having AirPlay to stream videos to the device. But there’s the great AirVideo app to fill that gap for now.
Third, it’s the best 1st-generation product I’ve ever seen. Not perfect, granted, but close. If you look at every 1st-generation product, you’ll see it’s not as polished as the iPad. Taking Apple as an example: iPhone didn’t have a 3G radio and MacBook Pro aluminum unibody had serious overheating problems. Or, you can look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab: great hardware, lame software. The iPad, on the other hand, already had well-established software (iOS and all of the App Store), decent hardware, and before it was released, many major content producers already had announced releases for the device. So it was ready when it was out. Apart from the lack of iOS 4 for a while (about 5 months), it was a great product already.
I chose the 3G model over the Wi-Fi only one because these days we can get 3G connectivity pretty much everywhere and plus, the 3G model has a GPS unit, so you can take advantage of cool navigation apps in the big screen, as well as use location services for other several thousand apps.
So, for creating a new market, making our lives better and making all the competitors try to catch up with it, I believe the iPad is the gadget of the year.