Last night saw a glittering awards bash in Central London, where Mobile Choice magazine picked the best handsets, tariffs, services and networks in the phone business. Some were surprises, many were deserving, all are great.
Without further ado, here are the big winners of the Mobile Choice Awards:
Most Stylish Phone
LG New Chocolate BL40 – None can argue that the striking stylings of this fashion phone were anything less than catwalk quality. A marriage of unorthodox looks with a 21:9 display, and a classic minimalist black finish had the Chocolate head and shoulders above the rest.
Runners-up:
HTC Touch Diamond2
Apple iPhone 3GS
Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte
Samsung i8910HD
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Best Multimedia Phone
Samsung i8910HD – 3.7″ AMOLED display? HD video recording? 8.1 megapixel camera? Yes.
Runners-up:
LG Chocolate BL40
Nokia N97
Apple iPhone 3GS
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Best Camera Phone
Samsung Pixon 12 – For once, the numbers aren’t just for bragging rights as the first 12 megapixel camera phone also proved to be the best, with a suite of features commonly found on dedicated gadgets.
Runners-up:
LG Viewty Smart GC900
Nokia N86 8MP
Sony Ericsson C905 +
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Best Social Networking Handset
INQ1
3’s ‘little handset that could’ takes down the bevy of smart phone beauties by being a pocket dynamo in the social stakes. Liaising happily with Windows Live and Skype, the coup de grace is the merged contact list formed by hooking up with Facebook. Profiles, status and images all sync perfectly, leaving you with a perfect phone for popular folks that doesn’t dent the bank, let alone break it.
Runners-up:
HTC Hero
Nokia N97
LG GW520
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Phone Of The Year
The HTC Hero ticks all of the boxes as far as a strong handset is concerned. Embracing the new Android operating system, HTC’s Sense UI manages to offer a fun, intuitive, slick and (above all else) practical interface, without choosing to ape Apple’s groundbreaking device.
The form factor might be a little divisive in terms of people’s tastes, but each design choice is clear, justifiable and makes for a striking phone to look at.
A deserving winner.
Runners-up:
Samsung i8910HD
HTC Touch Diamond2
Nokia N97
Sony Ericsson Satio
Apple iPhone 3GS
LG Viewty Smart GC900
LG Chocolate BL40
Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition
INQ1