2014 has been an exciting year of gadgets! There has been a lot of amazing innovations, prices are going down, the competition is getting tighter and tighter and the tech industry is on fire! So to wrap up the year, we listed the gadgets per category that really made a mark on our taste...
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| Did your favorite gadget made our list? |
Here is our year end highlights of 2014!
Note: This list is made based on our opinion, so you may or may not agree with it. :) Let's keep a healthy discussion with respect below. Cheers! Happy New Year!
Local Smartphone of the year - MyPhone Rio
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| MyPhone Rio |
The most searched local smartphone of 2014! MyPhone revolutionized the term bang for the buck this 2014. It offers great price to specs performance, decent camera, good durability, availability and amazing customer support. Due to their success this year there has been a number of Rio variants from Lite, LTE, Junior / Junior TV, Craze, Fun, to Grande. I'm speculating that this will have a follow-up next year.
Runner Up - Cherry Mobile Flare 3 - has better specs on paper compared to MyPhone Rio, but was released on the latter part of the year.
Smartphone of the year - LG G3
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| LG G3 |
Still better than half of the new flagships around. Pioneered that unreal 4K display technology, laser fast camera sensors and top notch specifications. Undeniably, the G3 is the best released flagship last 2014!
Runner Up - Nexus 5 - The Nexus Flagship this year doesn't disappoint. It has flagship worthy specifications at low price, can take decent photos, our current benchmark when it comes to phone audio output quality and that always updated operating system.
Best Budget Friendly Flagship of the year - Xiaomi Mi3
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| Xiaomi Mi 3 |
Mi3 is Xiaomi's flagship that made the biggest noise in the smartphone world this year! It's an uber powerful device that can go toe to toe with other flagships that cost 2-3x its price! That solidified Xiaomi's run as the best budget flagship this 2014! For the review: Click Here!
Runner Up - Meizu MX4 - Should be the winner here if it was released earlier and has more sales. (Meizu might take over this 2015 thanks to that awesome MX4 Pro that was released late this 2014 and will be available in the Philippines this 1st quarter of 2015!) For the review: Click Here!
Best Local Flagship of the year - MyPhone Infinity
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| MyPhone Infinity |
It has that perfect combination of good looks, great build quality, 2GB of RAM, great optics and a very fast octa core processor. It's also decently priced for the first 3 quarters of the year. Then monster spec'ed Starmobile Knight X came, but for the most part of the year, MyPhone Infinity has been the standard when it comes to local flagship offerings that made it our top choice this year. For the review: Click Here!
Runner Up - Starmobile Knight X - Currently the most powerful local branded smartphone that can go toe to toe with international flagships.
Best Budget Phone of the year - Asus Zenfone 5
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| Zenfone 5 |
The ZenFone 5 is absolutely the best buy under 8K this year! It's a perfect combination of speed, specs and that amazing looking design that put it on top of our budget phone list this 2014!
Runner Up - Xiaomi Redmi 1S - While ZenFone 5 is better on overall multitasking due to the larger 2 GB of RAM and design, The Redmi 1S is no slouch, it has better rear and front cameras and a slightly better gaming device compared to the ZenFone 5. For the review: Click Here!
Camera Phone of the year - Lumia 930
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| Lumia 930 in action |
The best windows powered phone this year also has a formidable camera! While the Lumia 1020 have a little better camera sensor. The 20 MP carl zeiss sensor of the last Nokia Flagship is just a hair lower in terms of quality. I chose this over the Lumia 1020 because of its overall capability. It's better spec'ed, has better build quality and more compact compared to the bulkier camera hump of Lumia 1020. For the review: Click Here!
Runner Up - iPhone 6 Plus - Probably the most exciting iPhone ever made! It's camera sensor is extremely good even at just 8 MP. The shutter speed is also very fast and can capture amazing shots.
Most Promising Flagship - Meizu MX4 Pro
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| Meizu MX4 Pro |
For me this is the best smartphone made late this year that will be available early next year in the Philippines! It has that amazing specs to price ratio, camera, finger print sensor, extremely durable build quality and those audio chips that could be found on uber high end music players over PHP 50K! The catch here is the MX4 Pro is set to be priced at just a little under PHP 20K! For the review: Click Here!
Tablet of the year - Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro
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| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro |
Currently one of the most versatile tablet I've seen! It has a pretty powerful specifications, great build quality and has a PICO PROJECTOR! Lenovo definitely knows how to innovate!
Runner Up - iPad Mini 2 - has the same specifications over the iPad Mini 3 except for the touch ID for a lot cheaper price. It's a no brainer here. :)
Room Speaker of the year - Soundfreaq Double Spot
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| Soundfreaq Double Spot! |
Soundfreaq double spot has become our favorite office speakers. It has a very balanced sound signature, good battery life and sounds a lot better than the competition when plugged via 3.5 to 3.5 mm jacks. For the review: Click Here!
Budget Mini Speaker of the year - Ekotek Ekoplay
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| Ekoplay! |
Ekoplay is a very small but loud Bluetooth Speaker. It's a close call between Ekoplay and Kitsound Pocketboom as they are very similar sounding and have the same features. I chose the Ekoplay as it is a tad cheaper and has louder volume. For the review: Click Here!
Budget Powerbank of the year - Mi 10400
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| Mi 10400 |
Hands down the cheapest 10400 powerbank you can get! Xiaomi revolutionized the budget smartphone, iem and powerbank scene! They've had an awesome year!
Runner Up - Ekopack 4000 - This one is my personal favorite, though it's not as powerful as the Mi 10400, this powerbank is the slimmest and most compact i've seen. Plus I don't need 10400 mAh for everyday use. For the review: Click Here!
Wearable of the year - Moto 360
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| Moto 360 |
My dream wearable this 2014! It doesn't look like a digital wearable at all and has a very classic classy design. Hello Moto I want this! :) Please come to the Philippines soon!
DAP of the year - FiiO X1
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| DAP of the year - FiiO X1 |
Undoubted started the revolution of low price for a hi fidelity portable music player. It has an amplifier and Music player in one. No need for bulky setups anymore. For the review: Click Here!
Budget IEM of the year - VSonic VSD3
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| VSonic VSD3 |
Our most viewed in ear monitor this year goes to VSonic VSD3! It's a great combination of amazing sound quality, great design, build quality (detachable cables and great cables) and astonishingly low price! It can match up to IEMs over 10K for just a fraction of it.
Runner Up - Havi B3 Pro I - It's a close call between VSD3, Ostry KC06 and Havi B3 Pro I. I chose this as a runner up because of its very balanced sound signature and amazingly huge soundstage for an IEM. Havi B3 Pro I is actually my personal favorite. For the review: Click Here!
Best IEM under 1K - Xiaomi Pistons 2.0 / 2.1
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| Xiaomi Pistons 2.0 |
Great build, microphone for Android and a sound quality that punches way above its price point. The Xiaomi Pistons 2.0 / 2.1 is a no brainier in this list! Like the Mi 10400 mAh powerbank, please beware of fakes. For the review: Click Here!
Budget Headphone of the year - Superlux 681 Evo
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| Superlux 681 Evo: Photo credits to the owner |
Superlux continued their success last 2013 with the release of the Superlux 681 Evo upgrade. It has a new sleek design, detachable cables, more comfortable pads and a much improved sound quality that can match up pretty well with most headphones under PHP 10K in the sound quality department. This just cost under 2K. :)
That's the wrap! For those who didn't made our list 2015 could be your year! So keep on amazing us with wonderful your products!
2014 has been an extremely good year! I'm sure that 2015 will be more interesting as there will be more innovations and better products coming up! So I hope that you join our journey again in seeking the latest and best affordable gadget for you and your love ones again this 2015! Hooray for this year and thank you to all your support!
HAPPY NEW YEAR GEEKS! May we all have a prosperous new year!
