2016 has been a wild year in almost every field, whether it be politics, people, or technology. However, out of the ashes of the dumpster fire that was 2016 (or, ironically, phone fire), tech lovers were privileged to amazing tech products. We covered the best smartphones, laptops, apps, smartwatches, budget offerings, and more in this roundup. Please feel free to click "Read More" and dive into our selections. Phone of the YearWinner: Google Pixel & Pixel XL Runner-ups: OnePlus 3T, Apple iPhone 7 & 7 Plus, Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge Google's brand-new Pixel & Pixel XL handsets burst on to the scene in October, advertised as the first phone entirely designed by Google. The device runs stock Android with no bells or whistles, and the camera absolutely destroys every other smartphone on the market, with deep, saturated colors & great dynamic range. Even though the Pixel & Pixel XL have EIS instead of OIS, Google tied the camera to the handset's gyroscope, resulting in more stable video than the OIS-powered iPhone 7 line. And it has a headphone jack. Free App of the YearWinner: Google Trips Runner-ups: Trivia Crack Kingdoms, Gboard, live.ly Google Trips is an itinerary app that saves reservations, plans routes, and recommends must-see places for vacations. It even boasts the option to save the 'trip' offline just in case there's an area with no cell service. This app also works with Gmail to show plane tickets, hotel reservations, and more in one handy section, which makes it miles more useful than any of it's competitors. Paid App of the YearWinner: Super Mario Run Runner-ups: NBA 2K17, Reigns, Moji Maker Even though Super Mario Run is a free purchase, that's only for the three introductory levels, and you really should'nt download the game if you're not going to pay up. The $9.99 purchase price is steep, yes, but that accounts for hours of fun completing all six worlds. If the worlds have been finished, Toad Rally mode allows you to play against other players and earn Toads to improve your kingdom. Laptop of the YearWinner: Surface Book with Performance Base Runner-ups: Apple MacBook, Apple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, Lenovo Yoga Book The 2016 iteration of Microsoft's great Surface Books beats the MacBook Pro for one reason: ports. Detaching the top portion from the new 'Performance Base' just makes for a heavy, cumbersome tablet (Windows 10 still sucks on tablets). Windows 10 really isn't made for touch, making the touchscreen another gimmick, but it is a well-rounded device overall, and unlike Apple, Microsoft didn't slaughter all of the legacy ports, making it marginally better than the macOS alternative. Smartwatch of the YearWinner: Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Runner-ups: Apple Watch Series 2, Moto 360 2nd gen, Fitbit Blaze Like the Surface Book, this product won over Apple's alternative for only one reason. With the Surface Book, it was ports, and for this product, the Gear S3 Frontier, it's LTE connectivity. The design is very bulky, and the app support is abysmal, but LTE connectivity means it can be used without a phone nearby, which is something smartwatch enthusiasts have wanted for years. In addition, Samsung has promised to make it compatible with the iPhone, putting it up to par with Android Wear devices for being the most widely supported. The navigation around the Tizen-based OS with the watch's rotating bezel is seamless as well. Flop of the YearWinner (or maybe loser?): Samsung Galaxy Note7 Runner-ups: Sony Xperia XA, ZTE Speed, LG Leon Was this even a competition? The Galaxy Note7, formerly the best in it's class, was a premium flagship that recieved rave reviews, and a huge amount of people wanted it. Then, about one week before the announcement of the iPhone 7, reports of the device's battery exploding started to uncover, until Samsung had no choice other than recalling it. Once the replacement devices were dished out, with green battery icons to indicate the new batteries, reports of those handsets exploding began to surface. And worst of luck for Samsung, those reports came out about a week before the Google Pixel was announced as well. The device was then discontinued, making it one of the worst tech flops of all time. Budget Offering of the YearWinner: OnePlus 3T
Runner-ups: Huawei Honor 8, ZTE Axon7, Nextbit Robin The OnePlus 3T is not only the best budget offering in the tech world, but one of the best smartphones, period. With a great build, a clean build of Android Marshmallow, an insane six gigabytes of RAM, the fastest charging on the market, and great battery life to boot, it is unbelievable that this whole package costs only $439. The 16-megapixel camera falls just a bit short, but it is still a great value for it's price. Comments are closed.
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June 2017
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