Switched On: The 2009 Switchies
By Ross Rubin 
posted January 1st 2010 7:30PM
posted January 1st 2010 7:30PM
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
As we move into 2010, Switched On is proud to present the Saluting Wares Improving Technology's Contribution to Humanity awards, also known as The Switchies, where innovative devices are sorted into categories and presented trophies by their secretly seething jealous contemporaries. This year marks the fourth annual Switchies, which are decided based on a rigorous examination of the opinion of me, and does not reflect the opinion of Engadget or its editors. For that honor, nominees will need to win an Engadget Award. Let's roll out the red carpet then.
The "Sharing is Caring" and the Product of the Year Award goes to the Seagate DockStar, which uses PogoPlug technology from Cold engines. Like the original and recently upgraded PogoPlug device, the DockStar attacks what has been the thorny NAS market with an inexpensive device that allows easy sharing of photos and other files, eliminating tedious uploading. Honorable Mention goes to the Axentra HipServ-powered Netgear Stora, which offers many of the features of Windows Home Server at a fraction of the price of many products using that operating system.
The "Phone So Good It's Smart" Award for Best New Smartphone goes to the Palm Pre, which debuted the well-conceived and elegant webOS. The hardware still needs to match the software with larger screens and a faster processor, but in many ways webOS feels like what the iPhone OS wants to be when it grows up. Honorable Mention goes to the Motorola Droid, which saw a revamped Android paired with a disappointing keyboard, but showed that Motorola is climbing back into the game.
The "World Is Your Receiver" Award for Best New Internet Radio goes to the Acoustic Research Infinite Radio. Integrating Slacker, this trapezoidal device brought decent audio quality and took advantage of Slacker's features, but setup could be simpler.
The "Room with a View" Award for Best New Surveillance System goes to the Avaak Vue, which brings affordable telepresence via a mesh network that consumes so little power that its cameras don't need to be plugged in for months at a time. However, it can't be used seriously for security applications.
The "Systems Are Go" Award for Best New PC Operating System goes to Windows 7, which brought speed improvements while adding features such as Snap, Peek and a revamped taskbar to finally deliver on the seamless experience Microsoft promised with Windows Vista.
The "Glances Are" Award for Best New Information Appliance goes to the HP Dreamscreen, which integrated Web services such as Facebook and Pandora into a digital picture frame, but which cries out for a touchscreen and battery operation. Honorable Mention goes to the Chumby One, which brought the geek toy with its hundreds of Flash channels into a more mainstream price point.
The "Step Forward" Award for Best New Fitness Device get goes to the largely missing-in-action Fitbit, which appears to have the best combination of features, style and value among the Web-wed accelerometers.
The "Fabulous Four-Thirds" Award for Best New Digital Camera goes to the Panasonic GF1 for creating a compact micro-four-thirds camera that can rival the picture quality of bulkier DSLRs. Honorable Mention goes to Sony's HX1, which introduced the impressive "sweep panorama" mode in a superzoom digital camera.
The "Poetry in Motion" Award for the Best New Compact Camcorder is a tie between the Flip minoHD, which brought a larger screen and longer recording time to the tiny 720p camcorder, and the the Kodak Zi8, which added electronic image stabilization and external microphone support as high-end companion features to its 1080p video capture.
The "Wi-Fi Wherever" Award for Best New Alternative Wireless Product goes to Novatel's MiFi. The long-awaited "puck" enabling Wi-Fi devices to connect to 3G and undoubtedly soon 4G networks, it is creating a new model for portable resource sharing being used by products such as Tivit. More possibilities await as Novatel develops MiFi as a platform.
The "Not a Netbook" Award for Best New Alternative Computing Device goes to the Always Innovating Touch Book, which combined hackable internals, a detachable screen, long battery life and a magnetic mount with the ability to run Hulu. Honorable Mention goes to litl, with its easel design, that can also run Hulu and connect to an HDTV via HDMI (even though it's a "litl" big and pricey). Like the Fitbit, the Touch Book had its share of delays in 2009, joining other products such as the Barnes & Noble Nook and Joojoo (nee CrunchPad). The latter will contend with perhaps another tablet for the 2010 Switchies.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
The "Sharing is Caring" and the Product of the Year Award goes to the Seagate DockStar, which uses PogoPlug technology from Cold engines. Like the original and recently upgraded PogoPlug device, the DockStar attacks what has been the thorny NAS market with an inexpensive device that allows easy sharing of photos and other files, eliminating tedious uploading. Honorable Mention goes to the Axentra HipServ-powered Netgear Stora, which offers many of the features of Windows Home Server at a fraction of the price of many products using that operating system.
The "Phone So Good It's Smart" Award for Best New Smartphone goes to the Palm Pre, which debuted the well-conceived and elegant webOS. The hardware still needs to match the software with larger screens and a faster processor, but in many ways webOS feels like what the iPhone OS wants to be when it grows up. Honorable Mention goes to the Motorola Droid, which saw a revamped Android paired with a disappointing keyboard, but showed that Motorola is climbing back into the game.
The "World Is Your Receiver" Award for Best New Internet Radio goes to the Acoustic Research Infinite Radio. Integrating Slacker, this trapezoidal device brought decent audio quality and took advantage of Slacker's features, but setup could be simpler.
The "Room with a View" Award for Best New Surveillance System goes to the Avaak Vue, which brings affordable telepresence via a mesh network that consumes so little power that its cameras don't need to be plugged in for months at a time. However, it can't be used seriously for security applications.
The "Systems Are Go" Award for Best New PC Operating System goes to Windows 7, which brought speed improvements while adding features such as Snap, Peek and a revamped taskbar to finally deliver on the seamless experience Microsoft promised with Windows Vista.
The "Glances Are" Award for Best New Information Appliance goes to the HP Dreamscreen, which integrated Web services such as Facebook and Pandora into a digital picture frame, but which cries out for a touchscreen and battery operation. Honorable Mention goes to the Chumby One, which brought the geek toy with its hundreds of Flash channels into a more mainstream price point.
The "Step Forward" Award for Best New Fitness Device get goes to the largely missing-in-action Fitbit, which appears to have the best combination of features, style and value among the Web-wed accelerometers.
The "Fabulous Four-Thirds" Award for Best New Digital Camera goes to the Panasonic GF1 for creating a compact micro-four-thirds camera that can rival the picture quality of bulkier DSLRs. Honorable Mention goes to Sony's HX1, which introduced the impressive "sweep panorama" mode in a superzoom digital camera.
The "Poetry in Motion" Award for the Best New Compact Camcorder is a tie between the Flip minoHD, which brought a larger screen and longer recording time to the tiny 720p camcorder, and the the Kodak Zi8, which added electronic image stabilization and external microphone support as high-end companion features to its 1080p video capture.
The "Wi-Fi Wherever" Award for Best New Alternative Wireless Product goes to Novatel's MiFi. The long-awaited "puck" enabling Wi-Fi devices to connect to 3G and undoubtedly soon 4G networks, it is creating a new model for portable resource sharing being used by products such as Tivit. More possibilities await as Novatel develops MiFi as a platform.
The "Not a Netbook" Award for Best New Alternative Computing Device goes to the Always Innovating Touch Book, which combined hackable internals, a detachable screen, long battery life and a magnetic mount with the ability to run Hulu. Honorable Mention goes to litl, with its easel design, that can also run Hulu and connect to an HDTV via HDMI (even though it's a "litl" big and pricey). Like the Fitbit, the Touch Book had its share of delays in 2009, joining other products such as the Barnes & Noble Nook and Joojoo (nee CrunchPad). The latter will contend with perhaps another tablet for the 2010 Switchies.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
@soccerpro100cn save for a few tweaks, the iPhone OS GUI has not changed since its release in 2007 with the original iPhone. WebOS in the PalmPre came out a full two years later in June 2009. While the design look is similar, Palm did not integrate graphics acceleration into WebOS so as you do touch/swipe/pinch motions the animation is slow, choppy and not fluid --the iPhone doesn't have that problem. Now, the Pre and the iPhone 3GS share the same type of Cortex CPU so if Palm delivers a software release that closes this gap it would greatly improve the usability of the Pre's GUI. It would be really cool to see that.
@HighestRanked well, I do have the palm pre and I can tell you that since the 1.3.1 update I have found lag reduced about 95%. But honestly the intuitiveness of the webOS saves me so much time in other ways, I'm sure it makes up for it. WebOS is so intuitive and easy to use I honestly can't see me using anything else. I would really like to see WebOS grow and become successful as droid has, under oalm or even another manufacturer, like htc or Sony Erricson.
@Thor e As is, I'd choose PalmPre over Android any day. I'd just like to have a Pre with a bigger screen.
I must admit, unlike the last "awards" on this website, it's nice to see a page not covered by blatant Apple fanboyism.
@Guillin So anyone who gives credit where it's due to Apple automatically becomes an Apple fanboy, right? Pathetic.
No matter, Apple will keep trouncing the competition this year and that is good news.
@HighestRanked
It's because of people like you that so many people hate Apple.
Why so cynical?
Thank you guys for giving the credit where due for the Palm Pre... I have falling in love with a device its name is Pre...
How did that powerful USB fist not make the list? It would look awesome coming out of a cheap netbook.
if you know, actually USE the DROID keyboard for awhile, it becomes just fine. It definitely takes getting used to out of the box, but then again, I can't remember a phone keyboard that didn't.
Nice gear Ross, but for the Fitbit to make it on after 2+ years of AWOL, I would have found another option. I don't think they've charged my credit card the $99 pre-order yet, but my card has been re-issued twice since I ordered it.
And, the Pogoplug is from Cloud Engines, not the Cold variety.
\Thanks Engadget for the honorable mention! Just quickly: we're not cheap largely because of our screen and build quality, and we need that decent-sized quality LCD to make content enjoyable in our easel mode. But hey, thanks anyway.
@litlphil We have some execs at CES who love questions about our webbook. Feel free to try our webbook at the Intel booth at CES 2010. Contact: asklitl@litl.com
mark, i like the picture