PRESS RELEASE
London, UK, 2nd November 2012: Stuff, the world's best-selling gadget magazine, last night announced the winners of the Stuff Gadget Awards 2012 in association with O2 Guru TV, at a glamourous event at the London Film Museum in Covent Garden. Samsung emerged victorious at this year's awards beating technology giants including Apple, Google and Sony to Gadget of the Year with its Galaxy S III smartphone. The S III also won Smartphone of the Year, adding salt to the wounds of its biggest rival Apple, whose iPhone 5 was also shortlisted.
Now in its fifth year, the awards honour the best tech from the past 12 months. With 20 categories up for grabs, four of which were open to public vote, Google, Sony, Philips and Sky were also among the winners.
Stuff magazine editor Will Findlater commented: "2012 has been a landmark year for technology, particularly in the tablet and smartphone spaces. While Apple's gadgets have been exemplary, its competitors have made even greater strides - and the Galaxy S III, with its 4.8in HD screen and unique interface innovations, shows that Samsung has made the greatest strides of all."
Nominated for six awards, Apple walked away with one gong, winning Computer of the Year for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The iPad was shortlisted for the hotly contested category Tablet of the Year, but was pipped to the post by the Google Nexus 7, an affordable tablet built by Asus. Google was the surprise winner of the night, walking away with four out of the six awards it was shortlisted for. As well as Tablet of the Year, it won Sat-nav of the Year for Google Maps Navigation and was voted top by readers in two categories including Design of the Year with the Google Nexus Q and Most Wanted Future Gadget with Google Project Glass, its augmented reality headset. The remaining reader-voted awards saw the low-cost Raspberry Pi Model B computer triumph as Innovation of the Year (just beating Cubify's ‘The Cube' 3D printer) while The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim scooped Game of the Year.
Apps also played a big part at this year's Stuff Awards with three dedicated categories. Smartphone App of the year went to Strava, a GPS tracking app that is used by cyclists and runners. Sky Sports for iPad won Tablet App of the Year while BBC.co.uk & iPlayer took Cloud App of the Year.
Tech Accessory of the Year went to the Synology DiskStation DS212j network storage solution, beating the likes of HP, Parrot and Sennheiser. The Sony KDL-46HX853 won TV of the Year, the Philips Fidelio Soundsphere prevailed as Audio Gadget of the Year, while the first YouView box, Humax's DTR-T1000, took top honours as Video Gadget of the Year.
In new category Home Gadget of the Year, British Gas' Remote Heating Control emerged victorious, while the inaugural Tech Transport of the Year gong went to Renault's Twizy urban electric vehicle.
Stuff magazine editor Will Findlater commented: "Our winners show that every element of our lives is benefiting from the application of smart technology. Whether it's Humax's YouView box, which provides subscription-free access to online catch-up TV services, or British Gas' Remote Heating Control, which allows you full domain over your home's heating wherever you are in the world via an app, gadgets are providing convenience and entertainment options that have never before been possible. This is an exciting time for tech."
The winners of the Stuff Gadget Awards 2012 are:
Video Gadget of the Year - Humax DTR-T1000
Tech Accessory of the Year - Synology DiskStation DS212j
Smartphone App of the Year - Strava
Tablet App of the Year - Sky Sports for iPad
Cloud App of the Year - BBC.co.uk & iPlayer
Home Gadget of the Year - British Gas Remote Heating Control
Gadget of the Year - Samsung Galaxy S III
Smartphone of the Year - Samsung Galaxy S III
Tablet of the Year - Google Nexus 7
Camera of the Year - Fujifilm Finepix X10
TV of the Year - Sony KDL-46HX853
Computer of the Year - Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display
Audio Gadget of the Year - Philips Fidelio SoundSphere DS9800W/10
Sat-nav of the Year - Google Maps Navigation
Sports Gadget of the Year - Nike+ Training TR+1
Tech Transport of the Year - Renault Twizy
Reader voted categories:
Design of the Year - Google Nexus Q
Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Innovation of the Year - Raspberry Pi
Most Wanted Future Gadget of the Year - Google Project Glass
For further information on the Stuff Gadget Awards visit www.stuff.tv/win/awards-2012.
About Stuff magazine
Stuff is the world's best-selling gadget magazine (UK circulation: 92,959, ABC Jul-Dec 2010; 26 licensed editions worldwide) and it also peddles its gadgety knowledge online at www.stuff.tv, and via iPad apps. All are published by Haymarket Consumer Media.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/joinstuff
Twitter: @StuffTV #stuffawards
