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Thursday 12th November 2009

Smartphone Essentials Awards 2009 winners announced

Long-running mobile tech magazine names HTC Hero as the smartphone of the year.

Smartphone Essentials magazine has announced the winners of its annual Awards for 2009. The HTC Hero was the big winner, taking the title of Smartphone of the Year, while TomTom picked up two awards for its LIVE- series of satnav products. Other winners at the eXpansys-sponsored event included BlackBerry and T-Mobile.

Twelve awards were presented in total. Seven were decided by a panel of judges consisting of leading writers from the mobile technology world as well as representatives of the retail industry. Three awards were voted by readers of Smartphone Essentials magazine, and a further two by customers of eXpansys.

The HTC Touch Pro2 and Garmin nüvi 1390T were the readers’ picks for best smartphone and GPS products of the year.

“The last 12 months has seen the launch of some of the most exciting and innovative smartphones ever, and none more so than the HTC Hero,” commented Andy Betts, Editor of Smartphone Essentials. “The awards have been a great success once again. I’d like to thank eXpansys for supporting the event for the third year, and also to our judges for lending their expertise to the process.”

Jon French, Executive Director UK & IE, HTC, said: “To win three accolades at the Smartphone Essentials Awards, including Smartphone of the Year for the HTC Hero, is a terrific achievement. We strive to design handsets that work in a simpler, more intuitive way for the user, and we’re thrilled that the judges and readers at Smartphone Essentials recognise the unique mobile experience that HTC provides.”

A special Awards issue of Smartphone Essentials is on sale now.

The winners list in full is as follows:

Smartphone of the Year
HTC Hero

Best Consumer Smartphone
HTC Hero

Best Business Smartphone
BlackBerry Curve 8900

Best Value Smartphone
Nokia 5800

Best Satnav Device
TomTom XL LIVE

Best Satnav Software
CoPilot Live 8

Best Accessory
Optoma Pico Pocket Projector

eXpansys Customer Award - Best Smartphone
Apple iPhone 3GS

eXpansys Customer Award - Best GPS Device
TomTom GO 940 LIVE

Smartphone Essentials Readers’ Award - Best Smartphone

HTC Touch Pro2

Smartphone Essentials Readers’ Award - Best Satnav System
Garmin nüvi 1390T

Smartphone Essentials Readers’ Award - Best Network
T-Mobile

About eXpansy
eXpansys plc is a leading retailer of smartphones and handheld devices with wireless connectivity, serving retail customers through the internet, and corporate customers through direct sales channels. Since its incorporation in 1998, the company has grown both organically and through acquisition to the extent that it has a global infrastructure that shipped nearly 1.5 million products to over 250,000 customers in more than 125 different countries in the year to 31 October 2007.

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www.imagine-publishing.co.uk