GOTY 2010 - High End Smartphones

It’s that time of the year again folks where we look back at the year that was (and what a good year it has been, this 2010) and think of all the things we’ve done and all that we’ve experienced this year. Here in Tech2, it’s also the time of year where we look back at some the technology that made it big this year and devices that we believe made the cut into our Gadget of the Year (GOTY) category that we’re kicking off this week.

We’ll be showcasing all the devices across the bar that passed the Tech2 grade to make it to the best gadget list - from mobile phones to Mp3 players and even mobile games. To get the ball rolling, here are our picks for Top High End Smartphones of 2010.

Samsung i9000 Galaxy S – Best of the lot
The Galaxy S has made a serious statement in the Android handset market in India this year. In our recent Polls aka Mobile Grudge Matches, you, our readers have expressed your enthusiasm for the handset and we concur. The Galaxy S from Samsung is our Top High End Handset for 2010. It’s a well-rounded device that’s both capable and fully loaded in a light, easy to carry around package. From the large Super AMOLED display to its 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording and capability to playback almost all video files without conversion, the Galaxy S is well a rounded handset that meets all needs and then some.

Nokia N8 – Runner Up
The N8 brought Nokia back into the high end Smartphone limelight by introducing features that were a long time coming from the company. Once again, our readers helped us make the decision to include this device in the list an easy one, as the Galaxy S and Nokia 8 have been running almost neck and neck in our Mobile Grudge Match section. The N8’s 12MP camera is yet to be beaten when it comes to quality and overall performance. The slick design, ‘upped’ features in Symbian ^3, HDMI out and 720p video recording makes this the perfect runner up for our list.

BlackBerry 9780 – Second Runner Up
The BlackBerry is booming right now thanks to BBM and a whole lot of publicity through the whole Government (almost) ban situation for data security. The 9780 is the very latest to make it out of Canadian company RIM's stables and is still as classy and well-designed as most of the other devices in the company’s portfolio. The comfortable and popular-as-ever RIM QWERTY keypad, coupled with an optical trackpad, a 5MP camera, popular video format support for playback, the security that is still all that is BlackBerry and finally the OS 6 is why the 9780 is on our list. It’s perfect for the business person who has an active off-business-hours-lifestyle as well.

Hon. Mention
HTC Desire
The Desire has been a hit since it launched this year. It was considered the alternative to the Nexus One and managed to perform quite well and have its name mentioned often enough when discussing high end Smartphones. Although it didn’t quite make it into our list, it definitely deserves an Honorable Mention for its prowess to deliver on all fronts.

Just in case you’re wondering and I’m sure you are if you happen to be using the iPhone 4, it does not feature on this list as it still hasn’t been officially released in the country. All GOTY devices are products that are available in India in an official capacity.

Check out the specs of these four handsets below.

We’d like to thank our readers for participating in all our polls and for your support throughout the year. Season’s greetings guys! Hope it’s been a good year for all!