The 2008 Engadget Awards

Sure, it's March of 2009... but better late than never, right? For your voting (and nominating) pleasure, we present the fifth annual Engadget Awards! The premise is simple: 2008 may have slipped through our fingers, but all the memories of gadgets-past are still with us (some in a more favorable light than others). Here's your chance to sound off on what you loved in 2008, and tell us what you're psyched about for 2009.

This year we've got 23 categories up for grabs, with 46 total awards to be decided. All finalists for Engadget Awards are reader-nominated, and the editors of Engadget will then select the best of those nominations (usually somewhere between 4-6 devices or technologies) as finalists.

There are two awards per category, Reader's Choice (voted on by you!), and Editors' Choice (selected by us). The vote will take place later this month, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

You can find all the info and nominees on a landing page we've built this year which should make it easier to get all your selections in (and vote once we've picked the finalists). Just click right here.

You've got until 11:59PM ET on Sunday, March 8th, 2009 to get your entries in. Now, go nominate!

• Gadget of the Year
• Worst Gadget of the Year
• Most Anticipated Gadget of 2009
• Cellphone of the Year
• Smartphone of the Year
• Desktop of the Year
• Laptop of the Year
• Netbook of the Year
• Digital Camera of the Year
• Display of the Year
• Game Console of the Year
• Gaming Accessory of the Year
• GPS Device of the Year
• Handheld of the Year
• HDTV of the Year
• Home Entertainment Device of the Year
• Peripheral of the Year
• Portable Media Device of the Year
• Robot of the Year
• Storage Device or Technology of the Year
• Tablet PC of the Year
• Wearable Device of the Year
• Wireless Device or Technology of the Year

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2009 5:52PM]

These nominations are going to be interesting this year.

[MarcusGSXR Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:07PM]

agreed

[JeremyBenthem Posted Mar 3rd 2009 12:51AM]

nominations could be interesting but judging from last year, the predictions are as follows;

* Gadget of the Year - iPhone 3G
* Worst Gadget of the Year - iPhone 3G
* Most Anticipated Gadget of 2009 - Palm Pre
* Cellphone of the Year - iPhone 3G
* Smartphone of the Year - iPhone 3G
* Desktop of the Year - 1337 self-built PC
* Laptop of the Year - Unibody Macbook Pro
* Netbook of the Year - mini 9
* Digital Camera of the Year - 5d Mark2
* Game Console of the Year - Xbox 360
* Gaming Accessory of the Year - some kind of guitar
* GPS Device of the Year - GPS on iPhone 3G
* Handheld of the Year - iPhone 3G
* HDTV of the Year - Pioneer Kuru
* Home Entertainment Device of the Year - Netflix Roku
* Peripheral of the Year - Cinema Display for MBP
* Portable Media Device of the Year - iPod Touch 2G
* Tablet PC of the Year - Modbook
* Wireless Device or Technology of the Year - 3G as in iPhone

not my preferences, just my assumptions

[newreformation Posted Mar 11th 2009 2:04AM]

@ John Titor

You are from the future so you should know... ;)

[(Unverified) Posted May 16th 2009 7:36AM]

Hello

[kjb434 Posted Mar 2nd 2009 5:54PM]

Could we copy and paste the winners from last year? It'll probably guess most of the winners correctly.

[Evan Posted Mar 2nd 2009 5:58PM]

The people on the forums via their iPhone can't

[Joshua Topolsky Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:03PM]

You should read the rules on the nomination posts. None of last year's winners will be accepted.

[kjb434 Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:07PM]

I was just making a joke.

I quite enjoyed the awards posts last year.

I actually really like the no repeat rule! It'll be fun to see the nominations this year.

[SirDigby337 Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:17PM]

look's like many people can't read, since the iphone 3g has been nominated multiple times and yet people continue to nominate.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:28PM]

I'm looking forward to the iPhone 3G winning Gadget of the Year and Worst Gadget of the Year.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:29PM]

Would it be too late to demand a recount?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2009 6:43PM]

i think to present the winners you guys should have another meet up so you can give out winning gadgets... and i can bump into a few more cute asian technophile girls

[El Duderino Posted Mar 2nd 2009 7:12PM]

How about an actual name for the award like the "Gadgetys." Not quite an Oscar but infinitely better than a Grammy or a Tony Award.

[rdff41 Posted Mar 2nd 2009 7:40PM]

how is it we nominate something once and see what the ppl truly believe is the best then? shouldn't it be which gets the most nominations else its just whatever engadget staff feels the best nomination is? aka editors choice! correct me if im wrong please.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2009 8:26PM]

* Gadget of the Year
G1

* Worst Gadget of the Year
Storm

* Most Anticipated Gadget of 2009
NVIDIA Android Tegra phone in Q3 2009

* Cellphone of the Year
G1

* Netbook of the Year
Everun note

* Game Console of the Year
PS3

* Handheld of the Year
iPhone... it really expanded its games library...

[sgteaston Posted Mar 2nd 2009 10:35PM]

My prediction is that every one of your predictions is wrong. Not just some, but all.

[dstafford72 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 12:39AM]

Holy shit!!! I just realized that ppl are putting Palm Pre all over the place in these nominations (like for most anticipated in 09) and it can't win any of these categories technically because it wasn't announced until the beginning of January 09!!!! at CES. So in light of this news, I wonder what will win the category of Most Anticipated or if they will let the rules slide and allow it to be the winner........ I mean after all,. nobody seems to be minding the "Do Not ReNominate" rule.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:11AM]

It would be disgraceful if the "netbook" was not chosen as the gadget of the year. Netbooks were an entirely new class of laptops. Even Engadget made an entirely new catergory in the 2008 Engadget Awards just for netbooks. Don't you guys remember when the likes of electronic giants like Dell, HP, and Sony said that netbooks would just be a fad, made and designed by cheap Taiwanese companies like ASUS and Acer? But look at the top laptop sellers on Amazon. Each of those three companies went against their original comments. Even Apple hasn't had as much of an effect. How many unibody laptops and Macbook Air copycats do you see? Now compare that to how many EeePC and AspireOne copycats.

The netbook spawned from the concept of the affordable OLPC laptop but instead of focusing on providing cheap computing to children in third world countries it focused on providing cheap computing to those people who lived in first and second world countiries but wanted a portable alternative to cheap 15" and 17" that were hundred dollars or so more expensive. The netbook was bought by a broad range of people from amateurs who want to mod their laptops to those who wanted to try linux for the first time and to those who were just average consumers that wanted a cheap computer.

It seems like almost every company is producing a netbook now. Of course there is the exception of Apple. I believe that if Apple made a netbook even if it was slightly higher priced than the current ones on the market, then no one would deny the importance of the introduction of netbook. It really was a revolutionary development even though the concept is so simple, give people a cheap and portable laptop.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:15PM]

Bravo

[BratPAQ Posted Mar 3rd 2009 5:51AM]

what console was launched this year? not ps3, not xbox360, not even wii.

[BratPAQ Posted Mar 3rd 2009 5:52AM]

oops, i mean last year, 2008

[esspee Posted Mar 20th 2009 5:56PM]

If the New Xbox Experience can be nominated for best gadget of the year then how come Sony Home isn't on the worst gadget of the year?