SINGAPORE - Samsung was again the big winner at The Straits Times Digital Life Awards on Tuesday. The final tally for the South Korean consumer electronics giant stood at seven, which is identical to the number of accolades it received at the previous Digital Life Awards.
Apple and Sony were the other major winners with five awards each. The annual event honours the best tech gadgets and games of the preceding year.
A total of 61 awards across 31 categories, including smartphones, laptops and games, were given out during the event at Shangri-La Hotel on Tuesday.
Except for three new Best Digital Advertising categories, each category had two accolades. The Editor's Choice awards were decided by the editorial team at Digital Life. Online votes received during last month's voting period determined the winners for the Readers' Choice awards.
More than 410,000 online votes from more than 14,000 voters were submitted for the Readers' Choice awards, up from 330,000 votes previously. Voters were eligible for a lucky draw with more than $40,000 in prizes.
Now into its third year, the latest Digital Life Awards included a new Best Made-In-Singapore Games category. The game winners were announced on Tuesday morning at a Digital Life Forum which discussed the growing impact of Made-In-Singapore games.
"We are very pleased to be able to extend our awards to recognise and celebrate the creativity and innovation of our home-grown talents," said Digital Life editor Oo Gin Lee.
For the Made-In-Singapore Games category, Pixel People by Lambdamu Games was the top Editor's Choice pick while Gumi Asia's Brave Frontier topped the Readers' Choice poll. There was also a Best Made-In-Singapore Game Hall Of Fame award for Ubisoft Singapore for its role in the Assassin's Creed series as well as its contributions to the local video game industry.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 took home both awards for Best Phablet. It was also named the Best Overall Smartphone by the Digital Life editorial team.
However, the Apple iPhone 5s was a hit among readers in the Best Overall Smartphone and Best Smartphone Camera categories. The company won three other awards in the tablet categories.
A resurgent Sony, which launched an impressive line-up of mobile devices last year, snagged five Editor's Choice awards in the smartphone, Windows tablet and camera categories. That is the most number of Editor's Choice awards for a single brand. But Sony was less successful in winning the hearts of the readers.
The rising popularity of mirrorless cameras was reflected by the four awards garnered by the Olympus OM-D E-M1. It swept all the Editor's Choice and Readers' Choice awards for the Best Overall Camera and Best Interchangeable Lens Camera (MFT and below) categories.
vinchang@sph.com.sg
Get a copy of Digital Life, The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.