Stuff Magazine recognises the best gadget and apps at its annual awards event

Stuff magazine, South Africa’s premier consumer technology magazine, held its annual Gadget and App Awards for 2017 in Hyde Park, Johannesburg on Wednesday evening. The awards were sponsored by social live-streaming service VOOV with portions of the event broadcast live on the platform. The overall winner of the #StuffAwards was the Nintendo Switch, which took home the coveted Gadget of the Year award in addition to the award for Gaming Console of the Year.

This year Stuff considered apps in seven categories and expects to see even more added for next year’s awards.Standard Bank’s Shyft took home the prize for Financial App of the Year for its multi-currency wallet solution. Cell C’s streaming service Black won Entertainment App of the Year. Service App of the year went to personal assistant service Hey Jude, while Discovery secured the prize for Health App of the Year.

Online retailer Takealot won Online Shopping App of the Year, Delivery App of the Year went to Mr D Food, and the Social Betterment App of the Year went to police-and-community communication tool, Namola.

“We’ve renamed our Gadget Awards the Stuff Awards to reflect the changing nature of the industry, where apps are as important as the devices they run on,” says Stuff publisher and editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak.

“This year’s winners really reflect that. We’ve looked at the best apps in a range of categories from delivery services to apps that improve our communities,” Shapshak adds.

“Next year we’re going to include additional apps from young developers, reward the vibrant selection of services making farmers lives easier, and also look at more enterprise-orientated solutions.

“We’re thrilled that there is such a vibrant app-making community in South Africa and delighted we get to shine a light on the hard-working winners,” Shapshak concludes.

TV of the Year went to LG’s outstanding OLED65B7V display, while TV Gadget of the Year went to newcomer Kwesé Play for its innovative set-top box. Watch of the Year was won by the third generation Apple Watch, and Apple also won Computer of the Year for the iMac 4K 21.5in.

Fujifilm once again secured both System Camera of the Year and Compact System of the Year honours for the X-T20 and X100F, while Fitbit unseated Garmin this year to take home the Fitness Gadget of the Year award for the Fitbit Alta HR.Samsung’s Galaxy S8 was awarded Phone of the Year, while Huawei’s P10 Lite took the prize in the Budget Phone of the Year category. Action Camera/Drone of the Year went to the DJI Spark, and Jabra won the award for Headphones of the Year with its excellent Sport Elite wireless headphones. Another first-time winner was Ultimate Ears, which took home Hi-Fi Gadget of the Year for the diminutive but outstanding Wonderboom Bluetooth speaker.

Guests were treated canapés accompanied by Hendrick’s gin cocktails, Monkey Shoulder whiskey, and Castle Lager, and hosts Toby Shapshak (Stuff publisher and editor-in-chief) and Craig Wilson (Stuff editor) were joined on stage by humanoid robot Pepper, who welcomed guests, presented a pair of awards, and posed for selfies with attendees after the formalities.

The full list of winners follows below:

Gadget Awards

Phone of the Year — Samsung Galaxy S8

Budget Phone of the Year — Huawei P10 Lite

International App of the Year — Affinity Photo

Mobile Game of the Year — Euclidean Lands

Games Console of the Year — Nintendo Switch

Game of the Year — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

TV Gadget of the Year — Kwesé Play

Streaming Service of the Year – Netflix

TV of the Year — LG OLED65B7V

Computer of the Year — Apple iMac 4K 21.5in

Fitness Tracker of the Year – Fitbit Alta HR

Smartwatch of the Year – Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS)

Car of the Year — Tesla Model X

Tech Toy of the Year – Lego Boost Creative Toolbox

Headphones of the Year — Jabra Elite Sport

Hi-Fi Gadget of the Year — Ultimate Ears Wonderboom

Action Camera/Drone of the Year — DJI Spark

System Camera of the Year — Fujifilm X-T20

Compact Camera of the Year — Fujifilm X100F

Gadget of the Year — Nintendo Switch

 

App Awards

Financial App of the Year — Shyft

Entertainment App of the Year — Black

Social Betterment App of the Year — Namola

Service App of the Year — Hey Jude

Delivery App of the Year – Mr D Food

Health App of the Year – Discovery

Online Shopping App of the Year – Takealot