Apple wins big at The Straits Times Digital Awards

Singapore - Apple was the biggest winner at The Straits Times Digital Awards 2016 today, bagging a total of seven awards across the smartphone, tablet and smartwatch categories.

Apple was clearly the hot favourite among the readers of ST Digital, winning the Readers' Choice in all five awards after shortlisting as a finalist - Best Overall Smartphone, Best Phablet, Best Smartphone Camera, Best Tablet and Best Smartwatch.

The tech giant also received the nod of approval from the ST Digital editorial team who chose the Apple iPad Pro for the Best Tablet and the Apple Watch for the Best Smartwatch, said a media statement by ST Digital.

Apple's dominance in the mobile devices category was blunted by Samsung's Galaxy Note 5 4G+ which won the Editor's Choice awards for Best Overall Smartphone and Best Smartphone Camera, and by the Google Nexus 6P which took the Editor's Choice award for the Best Phablet.

Running into its fifth year, the annual tech awards aim to celebrate and recognise the best gadgets, games and tech innovations of the year. This year, the awards has been renamed as The Straits Times Digital Awards as the weekly tech supplement had shed its old name Digital Life last year to reflect its integration into the main broadsheet section of The Straits Times.

As in previous years, the awards are divided into Editor's Choice awards, picked by The Straits Times Digital editorial team, and the Readers' Choice, selected by ST readers in an online poll in January. Readers who took part stood a chance to win lucky draw prizes worth over $25,000.

This year saw the introduction of two new categories - Best Smartwatch and Best Fitness Tracker - to capture new segments that have struck a chord with consumers.

Altogether, there were 21 award categories with a total of 105 products and games nominated. About 4,700 ST readers voted in the January poll. Canon emerged as the second biggest overall winner, clinching all four Readers' Choice awards in the camera categories.

Lenovo was the biggest winner in the laptops category, grabbing three wins followed by Asus with two.

The editorial team picked The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the Best Overall Game while the readers voted for Assassin's Creed Syndicate.

With the haze enveloping Singapore and the region last year, ST Engineering's Innosparks duly won the Most Innovative award with its unique Air+ Smart Mask that has an in-built air filter for easy breathing.

The full results of the winners are available online at www.straitstimes.com/tech and will also be published in The Straits Times Digital section tomorrow (Feb 24).

chenj@sph.com.sg