The winners of the 2010 Engadget Awards -- Editors' Choice
The results are in, and well over 100,000 of you voted in the 2010 Engadget Awards. The Readers' Choice picks were just the tip of the iceberg, friends, That's right, the editors of Engadget have opinions, too, and here they are. Join us after the break for the year that was 2010 in gadgets.
Gadget of the Year
Apple iPad
The iPad won this one going away -- there's just no denying the influence Apple's tablet had on the industry this year. But we think the Evo 4G will be remembered as the first of an entirely new breed of smartphones, and that's pretty amazing too.
Worst Gadget of the Year
Microsoft Kin
Though it might not be the single worst product we saw in 2010, the sheer magnitude of the Kin's failure -- measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- takes it to the top of our list.
Runner-up: Fusion Garage JooJoo
Most Anticipated Gadget
Sony NGP
iOS may be leading next phase of the mobile gaming revolution, but the NGP oozes raw power that's light years ahead of any other gaming handheld ever announced. We like power.
Phone of the Year
Apple iPhone 4
We went endlessly back and forth on this one, but in the end the iPhone 4 won out -- it's simply a more polished device than the Evo, and it set a dramatic new quality standard for mobile displays.
Desktop of the Year
Custom
Let's face it: Desktops are on their way out. Primo parts are preponderant, but the best machine you can buy today is the one you build yourself. We'll continue to write about towers on Engadget, if innovative ones appear, but unless there's substantive change, we're retiring Desktop of the Year.
Laptop of the Year
HP Envy 14
Sure, HP unleashed its Envy line last year, but the Envy 14 corrected all of the original wrongs. Its aluminum chassis, Core i5 power, and Radiance display, truly make it the best PC on the market. That said, there's no denying the significance of the MacBook Air's new solid-state storage and speedy resume times.
Netbook of the Year
ASUS Eee PC 1215n
The ASUS Eee PC 1215N is the netbook evolved. Thanks to the 12.1-inch laptop's NVIDIA Ion graphics and dual-core Atom processor, it can handle gaming and full HD. Google's Cr-48 may stand in stark contrast to that, but it's got one beautifully minamilstic chassis and is the first laptop to come with Chrome OS.
Digital Camera of the Year
Canon EOS Rebel t2i
1080p video at both 24 and 30fps for well under $1,000. Need we say more? The T2i set a new bar for mass-market DSLR video performance, and 18.7 megapixel stills at ISO 6400 are nothing to sneeze at, either.
E-reader of the Year
Amazon Kindle 3
The Kindle 3 isn't necessarily the most exciting e-reading product we saw last year, but its ubiquity and price point have legitimized the market in a way nobody else has. The fact that it's almost impossibly small and light doesn't hurt, either.
Display of the Year
Corning Gorilla Glass
Though it was invented decades ago, Corning's Gorilla Glass finally found its calling in 2010 with a plethora of manufacturer agreements for phones and tablets, and it's helped to take some of the worry out of throwing your gadget in a bag or pocket unprotected.
Runner-up: Apple Retina Display
Game Console of the Year
Xbox 360S
How many new game consoles came out this year? Not many, but the one that kept us playing longest was our shiny black Xbox. The Xbox 360 S made an already-great system more reliable, and the Kinect is poised to do amazing things. Honorable mention: OnLive, for making cloud-based gaming real.
Game Accessory of the Year
Microsoft Kinect
What's the best thing you can buy for your game console, other than another disc? We'd recommend a motion controller, like the Kinect or PlayStation Move. Unfortunately, neither shipped with a killer app, but we'd give Kinect the edge -- hacks demonstrate the potential for fabulous game experiences.
GPS Device of the Year
Garmin nuvi 3790T
Standalone GPS devices may be on their way out, but Garmin's still showing folks how it's done with its nuvi 3790t -- a sleek, feature-packed unit that almost makes us wish it were a phone. If you're not the standalone sort, however, the latest version of Google Maps for Android is tough to beat.
HDTV of the Year
Panasonic VT25
3D features may be the headliners for our winner and runner up, but amazing 2D image quality propelled Panasonic's VT25 to the top of the wanted lists and Sony's slick monolith style plus local dimming LEDs were a close second.
Home Entertainment Device
Netflix
Netflix's Watch Instantly was unquestioned in its status as a must-have app for media devices this year (want to know why Boxee didn't win for 2010?) while the iPad found a surprisingly cozy place as remote control / second screen for your TV watching pleasure.
Peripheral of the Year
Microsoft Kinect
Microsoft's Kinect 3D depth camera was originally designed for the Xbox 360, but it proved to be the year's most fantastic hackable toy when interfaced with a PC. Our runner-up: the first mass-market quadrocopter, the AR.Drone, a veritable flying platform for hacks of its own.
Portable Media Device
Apple iPod Touch
Now in its fourth generation, the iPod touch is more dominant than ever, and with good reason. It's caught up to the iPhone 4 in terms of most key specs, and the App Store remains a huge advantage over the rest of the non-phone competition. If storage and sound quality is key, though, the Cowon X7 is tops.
Robot of the Year
NASA Robonaut 2
Shuttle delays pushed its trip to space into 2011, but Robonaut 2's been ready to go for months, and has offered us all a hope that humans and robots can work together in harmony. GRASP Labs' quadrocopters, on the other hand, are terrifying autonomous bots that can move in packs and fly through hoops.
Runner-up: GRASP Labs quadrocopters
Tablet PC of the Year
Apple iPad
Love it or hate it, it's hard to argue that the iPad didn't set off this year's tablet mania encompassing dozens of manufacturers and virtually every major mobile platform -- and its influence will likely be felt in the industry for years to come. Oh, and it's a pretty solid device in its own right, too.
Wearable Device of the Year
Jawbone Icon
Jawbone has emerged as one of the premier Bluetooth headset manufacturers, thanks largely to its NoiseAssassin technology that it's been refining over the past several years. The Icon is no exception -- and its support for software updates is a nice bonus.
Wireless Device or Tech
Verizon LTE
Though it was beaten to the US market by MetroPCS, Verizon's deployment of LTE marks the beginning of a sea change in the American wireless industry -- a change that'll bring us much faster data.
