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Reg Hardware Reader Awards 2010 Winners

And the Rusty Dodo Award goes to...

Reg Hardware Reader Awards 2010 The votes are in and counted, and so, without further ado, are the results of the 2010 Reg Hardware Awards.

The Awards were split into two groups: Editors' Awards for the best Computer, Lifestyle, Photo, Mobile and Games products of 2010, and ten gongs selected by you, Reg Hardware's readers.

We'll cover your winners first.

Home Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: BBC iPlayer
Silver Award Runner-up: Microsoft Xbox Kinect

Work Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Apple iPhone 4
Silver Award Runner-up: Lenovo ThinkPad T510

Commuter Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: HTC Desire
Silver Award Runner-up: Apple iPad 3G+Wi-Fi

Mobile App of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Dropbox
Silver Award Runner-up: Nokia Ovi Maps

Mobile Game of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Angry Birds
Silver Award Runner-up: Plants vs Zombies

PC Game of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Medal of Honour
Silver Award Runner-up: Starcraft 2

Console Game of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Silver Award Runner-up: Red Dead Redemption

Best Tech Retailer

Gold Award Winner: Amazon.co.uk
Silver Award Runner-up: eBuyer

Best Service Provider

Gold Award Winner: O2
Silver Award Runner-up: Virgin Media

Rusty Dodo Duff Product of the Year

Winner: 3D TV
Runner-up: Symbian Phones

Congratulations to the winners. And to those companies behind the Rusty Dodo products, it's time to come up with something good, guys.

And now for the Editors' Awards:

Computer Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Apple MacBook Air 11.6in
Silver Award Runner-up: Dell Alienware M11x

Apple's MacBook Air might seem pricey and under-specced, but everyone we know who has used one for any length of time - and almost all of them are recent PC converts - rave about its netbook-beating portability, power and battery life. We agree.

Portability was where it was at in 2010, with small form-factor systems showing the most innovation. Case in point: the M11x from Dell's Alienware offshoot. Suddenly, gaming laptops no longer needed to be vast machines designed to be easily luggable from one LAN party to the next. The M11x showed you could play on the move too.

Lifestyle Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Amazon Kindle 3
Silver Award Runner-up: Samsung UE55C9000

Amazon's latest Kindle, more compact than its predecessors, easier to read and - crucially - cheaper took the e-book reader out of the geek's bag and into the hands of ordinary folk. You see them on trains and buses everywhere. A truly popular hit.

OK, so it comes at a bonkers 'Downturn? What downturn?' price, but Samsung's C9000 HD TV really showed what LCD can do delivered a stunning picture quality - not only HD but upscaled SD and - of course - 3D. Chuck in great IPTV support, stacks of ports and a funky touchscreen remote control and you have a TV to desire.

Photo Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Sony NEX-5
Silver Award Runner-up: Nikon D3s

Sony's NEX-5 turned out to be more than just a design novelty. Inside its seemingly inconsequential body is a 14.2Mp APS-C sensor and up front Sony offers a decent range of glass. Simple in concept, the NEX-5 is all about image quality and consequently it has many fans.

When it comes to low light photography, Nikon's D3s set a new benchmark. Designed for professionals, this 12.1Mp, full-frame sharp shooter delivers exceptional low noise images making it ideal for long lenses and challenging lighting conditions. The D3s is a rugged beast too, with an amazing battery life – what's not to like?

Mobile Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Apple iPad
Silver Award Runner-up: Windows Phone 7

Apple's iPad may not have lived up to the hype - "magical", indeed - but it undoubtedly and almost immediately established the tablet as a third way in mobile computing. It inspired the entire IT industry to emulate it, and it's a darn fine gadget to boot.

A good mobile OS from Microsoft - surely not? But WinPho 7 showed that the company can bring some fresh thinking to the smartphone. Once people spent some time with it, they found it to be an impressive offering with a lot of potential.

Games Product of the Year

Gold Award Winner: Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect
Silver Award Runner-up: Simple Gaming

Controller-less Kinect quickly proved a hit in the Reg Hardware office as a genuinely novel approach to motion gaming. It has its flaws - there aren't enough good games yet, for instance - but it shows far more potential than Sony's Wii emulator, Move.

The category Simple Gaming gets the Silver because, of all the games we played in 2010, the more basic ones - Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Super Meat Boy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, to name but four - were the ones we always returned to, time and time again. ®

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