The winners of the 2005 Engadget Awards!

Ah yes, the Engadget Awards! All the glitz and glamor of the Oscars, but without all that Best Acting stuff -- only technical achievements here, people -- the most interesting, innovative, feature-rich gadgets 2005 had to offer. Thousands of readers cast their votes for the Readers' Choice, and we also selected our picks for each of the 26 categories we're giving awards for. As always, we ask the winners to please keep their acceptance speeches brief or they'll be played off, and to keep those Engadget Awards trophies polished to a high shine forever more.

Without further ado, click on to see the winners!

Gadget of the Year
Readers' Choice: Apple iPod (5g)
Engadget Pick: Microsoft Xbox 360

Merger of the Year
Readers' Choice: eBay and Skype
Engadget Pick: Sprint and Nextel

Worst Gadget of the Year
Readers' Choice: Motorola ROKR E1
Engadget Pick: Gizmondo

Weird Gadget of the Year
Readers' Choice: Solid Alliance USB Spaghetti
Engadget Pick: Solid Alliance USB Spaghetti

Disappointment of the Year
Readers' Choice: Motorola ROKR E1
Engadget Pick: Creative Zen Vision

Most Anticipated Gadget of 2006
Readers' Choice: Sony PlayStation 3
Engadget Pick: Sony PlayStation 3

Cellphone of the Year
Readers' Choice: Motorola V3c
Engadget Pick: Sony Erisson w800

Smartphone of the Year
Readers' Choice: Palm Treo 650 (GSM)
Engadget Pick: HTC Universal

Desktop of the Year
Readers' Choice: Apple Power Mac G5 (quad)
Engadget Pick: Sony RC Series

Digital Camera of the Year
Readers' Choice: Canon EOS 5D
Engadget Pick: Canon EOS 5D

Display of the Year
Readers' Choice: Dell 2405fpw
Engadget Pick: Dell 2405fpw

Game Console of the Year
Readers' Choice: Microsoft Xbox 360
Engadget Pick: Microsoft Xbox 360

GPS Device or Application of the Year
Readers' Choice: Google Earth
Engadget Pick: TomTom Go 700

Handheld of the Year
Readers' Choice: Nokia 770
Engadget Pick: Nokia 770

HDTV of the Year
Readers' Choice: Sony KDS-R60XBR1
Engadget Pick: Toshiba SED 50-inch

Home Entertainment Device of the Year
Readers' Choice: Slingmedia Slingbox
Engadget Pick: Slingmedia Slingbox

Household Device of the Year
Readers' Choice: iRobot Scooba
Engadget Pick: iRobot Scooba

Laptop of the Year
Readers' Choice: Apple PowerBook (15-inch)
Engadget Pick: IBM Thinkpad Z

Media PC of the Year
Readers' Choice: Apple iMac G5 with Front Row
Engadget Pick: Niveus Media K2

Peripheral of the Year
Readers' Choice: Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 3100
Engadget Pick: IPEVO free-1 USB phone

Portable Audio Device of the Year
Readers' Choice: Apple iPod Nano
Engadget Pick: iRiver U10

Portable Video Device of the Year
Readers' Choice: Apple iPod (5g)
Engadget Pick: Cowon A2

Robot of the Year
Readers' Choice: Honda Asimo
Engadget Pick: Stanford's VW Touareg "Stanley"

Tablet PC of the Year
Readers' Choice: Lenovo ThinkPad X41
Engadget Pick: Lenovo Thinkpad X41

Wearable Device of the Year
Readers' Choice: Fossil Atari watch
Engadget Pick: Seiko Spectrum e-ink watch

Wireless Technology of the Year
Readers' Choice: 802.11n
Engadget Pick: 802.11n

[Roopesh Sheth @ Feb 7th 2006 3:22PM]

Gee, ya' think some Apple fans voted more than once?

[jc @ Feb 7th 2006 3:29PM]

How about Engadget not picking Apple as a winner in any catagory...

[Dan (thoughtfix) @ Feb 7th 2006 3:34PM]

Since the Nokia 770 won, can I pimp Nokia 770 blog? Two new howto's this week! :D

http://thoughtfix.blogspot.com

[Matt @ Feb 7th 2006 3:39PM]

Reader picks were a joke. Front Row is not in the same ballpark as MCE...at least not yet.

[Ryan Block @ Feb 7th 2006 3:41PM]

Roopesh, Actually, no, we had a number of anti-fraud techniques employed in our system to prevent false voting. However, Apple fans do tend to be much more enthusiastic about their favorite company's products, so they may be more likely to vote than other users.

Best, Ryan

[Sunny Eren @ Feb 7th 2006 3:42PM]

Can't help but to think Apple getting stiffed but the Engadget Staff

[Popstand @ Feb 7th 2006 3:42PM]

Wow. I just checked out the iRiver U10 site, after reading you picked it as a winner, and while the device looks interesting, the website is completely terrible. Somebody at iRiver needs to put the brakes on the obnoxious overuse of Flash animation, and just let me see the device already. You shouldn't have to look that hard for a picture of the player, and I feel like I've seen that dancing silhouette somewhere before...

[Tino @ Feb 7th 2006 3:45PM]

LOL @ the ROKR. :D

I am surprised the PSP didn't win anything. It's my gadget of the year.

[Geeks Are Sexy, The Blog @ Feb 7th 2006 3:49PM]

the iPOD as gadget of the year? Eek, while being cool, it's not a very original choice..

[Joe @ Feb 7th 2006 3:49PM]

You should link to Engadget articles for these products... I don't know all of them and would like to read more!

[Adam @ Feb 7th 2006 3:51PM]

Nice guys, like your thoughts. However I am a bit perplexed by my fellow readers (love you guys really - especially SF or Durham (in the Uk)). Now come on guys. We all love our ipods. Even lust after the new 'terrible name that shall not be said' laptops. But that does not mean Apple products are best at everything. Virtually every category that they could win, they did - with the way things were going I was half expecting for the Apple Cinema dysplay to edge out the cheaper and better Dell 2405fpw. Now come on this is a little insanity. The Quad G5 the best desktop? The 5G the best portable video device? The iMac the best media PC? Each of these, in my opinion, is bested by the price and features of other devices: Archos PMA/500/700, Shuttle Media PCs, Sony thin and light laptops/quiet running desktops (though I understand if the propietary stuff puts you off).

Just trying to say that we should be a bit more thoughtful before we decide to chuck our money about.

Apple is a great company and the 5G a great audio device. Probably right it should be up there as best of the year. But that does not mean every apple device is essential for your needs.

Apple is like Porche. Great engeneering, great experience. But don't buy one just for the badge. Look around some.

[Alex M @ Feb 7th 2006 3:58PM]

Wow...that's quite a bit of Apple technology. Yay for intel macs and new iPods!

[Dissent @ Feb 7th 2006 3:59PM]

Wow, some bizarre picks by the readers, there....

[TorontoGuy @ Feb 7th 2006 4:00PM]

I don't think that Apple fans voted more than once...but I bet that the word went out..."This is Big Brother speaking! You will go to Engadget.com and you will vote for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING Apple!" and a stampede of sheep rushed to their keyboards.

[imacomputa @ Feb 7th 2006 4:03PM]

the readers are a bunch of fanboys......

[theCardinal @ Feb 7th 2006 4:18PM]

A lot of people would not actually have an opinion, or be well informed, about the products in many of the catagories. And while I skipped any catagories I didn't know much about, the urge to simply vote for my favourite brand was strong. Many people probably did this resulting in the strong showing for Apple.

[Dave Zatz @ Feb 7th 2006 4:26PM]

I'm with Tino... PSP needs to be in there somewhere!

[Ed @ Feb 7th 2006 4:40PM]

What about the Sidekick III as the most anticipated gadget of 2006?? hehe in all seriousness I definitely agree that the PSP should have made it. I don't regard the Xbox 360 as a "gadget" per-say, and everyone I know that got one is kind of "meh" about it.

[Dale @ Feb 7th 2006 4:52PM]

Um, no. The PSP does NOT need to be in there. MAYBE for biggest disappointment.

Regarding the selection: I LOVE how Engadget purposly chose ANYTHING but Apple to avoid being flamed as fanboys. Some of the Apple/Reader picks were absolutely on the money and Engadget goes with some pile of crap (IBM Thinkpad Z? Whatever.) just to avoid looking biased . . . classic.

[Ryan Block @ Feb 7th 2006 5:10PM]

Dale, what are you talking about? We picked what we thought were the best entrants in each category. You need to chill out and stop politicizing this or reading into it too deeply.

Best, Ryan

[Reg Muffet @ Feb 7th 2006 5:38PM]

I'd like to nominate Engadget as the new ISP for www.anythingbutapple.com...

Seriously, a gadget site, that doesn't give one of the best regarded gadgets of all time a nod in ANYTHING?!

Methinks they doth protest too much! Keep the greenbacks coming, Ballmer.

Also, I agree it's sad the PSP wasn't there. There should have been a Portable Gaming Platform of the Year category.

[David @ Feb 7th 2006 5:44PM]

OMG! Will the snobby apple geeks and the green with envy windows nerds please stop sniping at each other? There is good and bad on both sides of the aisle. Man, it's like listening to politicians argue over which party hates poor people more. I doubt engadget is bias in any of their picks. But like most humans, occasionally wrong. :)

[Slaven @ Feb 7th 2006 6:01PM]

You guys are HILARIOUS! Every time Engadget even mentions an iPod in a post (and funnily enough, sometimes even when they don't mention any Apple products at all) you acuse them as being in Apple's pocket. Since today they didn't name any Apple products now they're in Microsoft's pocket. Yeah right. Chill out people, if you think a site has an agenda that bothers you then just stay away, stop contradicting each other - it makes you look stupid.

[blabla @ Feb 7th 2006 6:13PM]

ipod gadget of the year/2005? no.

anyways can anyone tell me why the ROKR is worst gadget or most dissapointing gadget of the year? My friend has and i think its awesome.

[gromit @ Feb 7th 2006 6:34PM]

Hey... so does the Toshiba 50-inch SED HDTV actually exist? Because, um, that would be pretty amazing. Either that, or I'd like the chance to vote for some imaginary products, too. Like the 802.11n technology people found so useful in 2005. That would be awesome.

[yjs @ Feb 7th 2006 7:02PM]

PSP as the portable gaming device of the year? Don't make me laugh!

[Jacob @ Feb 7th 2006 7:54PM]

Some people are actually asking why PSP wasn't nominated as best gaming gadget?!!? You need some good games to fit that category...

It looked to me like engadget made good choices, simply because they didn't give apple every vote like the readers did doesn't mean they were wrong.

[Tim @ Feb 7th 2006 8:11PM]

I'm with Gromit. How did the Toshiba SED TV appear in the list before it's even been announced? There's no product code, no launch date and no price. Has anyone even seen a 50" model?? - better to save that one for next years EA guys...

[3rdsun @ Feb 7th 2006 8:52PM]

I like the way engadget picked its winners - free and fair - something that yall Americans should know about... i think. Anywhos the world does not revolve around Apple and there is more going on in the world than u realise.
good job team Engadget

[Mike @ Feb 7th 2006 9:01PM]

Everyone should just chill out. Some of you people are going to have aneurysms. It's just a fun little poll from a fun little technology and gadets website. It kills me to see how crazy you guys get over this stuff.

On another note, Ryan, it would be great if you could link some of these products to past Engadget articles or something similar.

[jasonlivy @ Feb 7th 2006 9:15PM]

Being a pleased Apple user, I admit voting for Apple in a couple of categories. I did so because I feel Apple brings the full package; not just a well engineered product but a very user friendly platform for use. The PowerBook has the best OS and the Ipod has the best way of downloading and managing music with iTunes (in my opinion of course). Having used a PC most of my college years and buying a few "generic" MP3 players before settling on the iPod, I say this based on a bit of experience. No politics here. Having said this, I am more than happy to try something that works better.

Personally I don't care about what anyone else thinks about what I use. I simply don't like to deal with problems (causing severe headaches and bad moods) with my computer or electronic gadgets. THAT is why I use Apple.

[Miker @ Feb 7th 2006 9:44PM]

Yeah, in Defense of Apple they definitely deserve some high marks for the end-user experience. Sure, a gadget-junkie might like a device like the iRiver U10 as a toy, but as much as I like it, I think my 5G iPod is a much better daily companion. It just works- much better.

Did some Apple fanboyism go on? Probably, just as much as Apple-hatred. But let's be honest... the G5 quads are brilliant inside and out and fast... the iMac G5 is a more revolutionary product (downloadable TV is the future IMO... while Windows MCE is just trying to make broadcast TV live longer than its useful life.. this is my opinion) , and the Powerbook is still the best blend of form+function out there. Sure it lacks things like a parallel port, but I highly doubt anyone cares.

Also, I'm kinda bummed Nokia didn't win more smartphone awards... the Treo 650? Hello... Multitasking? (and I mean NATIVE multitasking in an OS that doesn't bog down... coughcough WinMobile)

[Matt @ Feb 7th 2006 10:54PM]

Miker: "the iMac G5 is a more revolutionary product (downloadable TV is the future IMO... while Windows MCE is just trying to make broadcast TV live longer than its useful life"
-----------------------------

This doesn't make any sense at all. You can download TV on an MCE machine just as easily as you can on the iMac. And you can actually watch and record TV as well, which you can't do with Front Row. Even the functions that Front Row does are not nearly as well done as they are in MCE. MCE looks nicer, downloads album artwork automatically, and has a ton of plugins from the user community. Vista just gets that much better with CableCard support.

I can't believe Front Row was even an option in the media PC category, let alone the winner.

[Matt @ Feb 7th 2006 11:16PM]

People aren't sinking all this money into HDTVs in order to download low-res versions of TV shows from iTMS at $2 a pop. Downloadable TV is only for a niche group - now and in the future.

[gadget lover @ Feb 8th 2006 12:00AM]

Well, what was the staff smoking when they picked some of these oddball products? The iRiver U10? Are you freaking serious? It is horrible, i returned it after a week of not understanding how little research they could put into how the user interfaces with it, and as far as video... you better be a digital video guru to get that to work reliably.

The Niveus Media K2? Sure, looks great, how many pounds of gold does it take to buy one? Do you KNOW ANYONE that owns one of these things... ya, well lets just say power to the people and if apple can ship front row and keep making upgrades to it (expected) and anyone can use it easily (including your wife or you dont get to connect it to the TV...) then they are much better bets.

my .02

[ALF @ Feb 8th 2006 3:06AM]

Fanboy battles aside, it's a big problem if the nominees contained any products that did not ship in 2005. But are we talking shipped in the US or shipped anywhere on the planet? IMHO, if it's not available for purchase in at least one country per hemisphere then it shouldn't be on the nominee list at all. Perhaps a lesson for next year?

ALF

[naren @ Feb 8th 2006 4:57AM]

Ahem, I understand the tendency to try and weigh the review of good, non-Apple designs more heavily than not, and I think its legitimate. The Apple design juggernaut could easily brush aside reviews of other products if care is not taken. I feel Engadget does of fine job of reviewing a broad swath of products including those produced by Apple.

Aside from their intrinsic worthiness, a further explanation of the Apple products prevalence in the Reader's Choice category is likely overwhelming market-share in each of their respective segments, there's an irony for you.

[Galley @ Feb 8th 2006 6:05AM]

My vote for Display of the year for 2006 goes to the Gateway FPD2185W. It has nearly every feature the Dell 2405fpw has, plus HDCP. 21" (1680 x 1050) for as little as $540.

[Jeremy Wright @ Feb 8th 2006 6:51AM]

I'm not surprised by most of the picks. All fairly good choices. Except for the PS3 as the most anticipated device of 2005... I mean, it was NEVER slated to come out in 2005... What's the deal? That's like making Halo 3 the most anticipated game, or the 2008 Boxter the most anticipated car...

Ah well, I AM still excited about the PS3, I'm just utterly confused by both Engadget AND the readers picking it.

[jc @ Feb 8th 2006 8:46AM]

Jeremy, do you mean "Most Anticipated Gadget of 2006"?

I think most people took that as coming out in 2006...

[Ochito @ Feb 8th 2006 9:09AM]

Jeremy, PS3 is the most anticipated gadget of two thousand SIX, not Five. In that respect, it does have a right to win, though I'd go with the revolution instead, but that's just my vote.

[Johny-D @ Feb 8th 2006 9:34AM]

Apple iPod 5G??? Gadget of the year? Are you fucking kidding me? My god.. lack of codec and video playback functionality come to mind... I am SO sick of this iPod craze shit that's been going around for the past few years. I've made it my sole purpose in life to imform people that there are MUCH better mp3/video players on the market and for a better price too.

Keep it real folks, don't buy Apple. =)

[Johny-D @ Feb 8th 2006 9:44AM]

re: Jeremy Wright & jc

It says "2006" bozo's. ;)

[Macboy @ Feb 8th 2006 10:10AM]

Apple is for dummies...

[Jeremy Wright @ Feb 8th 2006 10:43AM]

What the... I swear I checked the date like 3 times. Feck. Then, sure PS3 deserves to win ;-)

Ignore me! :D

[heh @ Feb 8th 2006 11:38AM]

So many apple fanboys...

Come on, i don't think front row should even be given the title of media centre, it's in a a totally different league to MCE.

[Fantaz @ Feb 8th 2006 12:08PM]

I still love my PSP...

[BCJX @ Feb 8th 2006 12:15PM]

Bravo to the readers, apple should have won all the awards they did. iRiver U10?? whats that lol. No really, Apple should of won every desktop/portable pc award it was up for (displays excluded), hell design and integration aside apple machines should win just because they're not preintalled with crash happy MS Windows. Front Row vs. MCE???? what? yeah MCE has more features but I seem to remember an engadget podcast talk about having to reboot MCE pc's every few days otherwise you risk crashes and slow downs, yeah thats a good product and deserves awards. I'd rather live in the more limited space ( for now ) of Front Row and have things go smoothly, without rebooting all the time. As for portable audio and video devices, the ipod wins hands down. Yeah, some of the audio players out there are really cool too, lord knows I'd like a lil larger screen, standard batteries (like rechargable AA) and maybe an fm tuner in my ipod, but face facts, all this PlaysForSure stuff is just junk. No other online store/software package can match the ease of use and selection of itunes and itunes music store. Although some companies can match apple in design and even out do then in device features a lil, if the softwares crap & hard to use and the online store selection isn't big enough or doesn't have what you want (or you have to go to multiple online stores to get what you want) are you going to use that device??? The hardware is only half of the device. Apples got the hardware and software nailed down in the ipod/itunes. I'm not a total apple fanboy (although I have a natural bias againest MS Windows) some of the other choices were good picks too, but most aren't as well laid out as apple stuff, I'm talking hardware, software, the whole package integration and reliablity.

And I have to agree with a few other readers, I hate Flash happy websites too, hell I hate Flash altogather for websites, what ever idiot came up with that idea.............As for the engadget staff, they seem like nice guys from what I've gathered from the podcasts/site but their anti-apple bias is a little disturbing and makes me unhappy (although I'm anti-MS except the xbox, so what the hell :). Any device thats unix or unix-alike based is miles more worthy then MS stuff, apple made or not. oh yeah I agree too that if a product isn't for sale to consumers it has no place in the awards, not all of us get pre-production demos.

Thats my view, as for my experience, I've used/owned ipod's and generic MP3 devices, all types of portable video playing devices from ipods to treos. As for computers, I've used/owned all types and brands, tablet, laptop (even had one of the first zenith clamshell xt clone laptops), desktop, OS X, dos, OS/2 2.1,
OS/2 3.0 Warp, Win 3.1, 95, 98, NT, XP PRO, Many linux flavors too. I still have a working IBM Portable PC ( IBM XT PC in a portable case) and collect IBM PS/2 machines (MCA only). And mobile gadgets? I'm all about mobile gadgets, if its small, cool and has electronics in it I'll buy it (anyone remember the Philips Camera Key? or the kensington WiFi finder that actually only finds WiFi traffic, or how about the casio camera watches? yep have 'em all lol)
So as you can see I play with almost as much gadget stuff as the guys at engadget and I've never had stuff "just work" like when you use apple products. The only things with as much plug and play ease of use and reliablity is video game consoles ( xbox 360 excluded lol). And if you doubt the power and flexablity of all-in-one packages like apple stuff go look up some of the homebrew stuff for the Dreamcast or the PSP.

Good Day,

[jc @ Feb 8th 2006 12:25PM]

Johny-D, y'all sure have a good command of that there english language's's... I hope you are not trying to spread your 'oh-so enlightened' message by email.

Plural of bozo, is bozos... bozo's is possesive.

I hope you are happy, I was trying to get through this day with only light sarcasm... now look what you did.

For the record, I was politely informing Jeremy about his error. You were just rude... putz.

[Amrit @ Feb 8th 2006 12:51PM]

no psp ??????

lookin at the kinda technology crammed into tht thng and the way it jus keeps growin wid evry update...

nthin against apple....... but i thnk psp wud hv been a bette choice for gadget of the year...