PhoneArena Reader Awards: Vote for the best of 2015

Regular readers might have noticed — okay, must have noticed — that while we're consistent in standing behind our expert opinion, we live in no ivory tower and actively labor to include you into the conversation. For the most part, we do this through surveys (or polls), which typically garner a lot of attention and occasionally spawn some very interesting discussions. It's a sort of a win-win, as it's beneficial for both sides: we all learn something new every week.

In a bid to keep this spirit alive, instead of limiting the obligatory year-end look back and awards process, we thought we'd garner them currently trending PhoneArena Awards series with a Reader Awards counterpart. So instead of the editorial team at PhoneArena calling the shots, this time around we concede the stage to you — if temporarily — and give YOU the opportunity to crowd-source 2015's best in tech. At the very least, subsequent comparisons with the two competing selections ('ours' and 'yours') will give you some extra ammo for 2016.

Let's start with the three most important categories: Best smartphones, Best large smarpthones, and Best value-for-money phones of 2015.

                                                                                                      

The remaining two award categories aren't unimportant, of course, but are both relatively minor in comparison to the smartphone group: Best tablets and Best smartwatches of 2015. So they're part of the second wave.

With tablets, it's hard to argue against their declining relevancy in the market, with sales shriveling significantly as of late. There have been many proposed reasons for this drop in appeal, with their considerably longer life (you don't necessarily need the latest and greatest in order to simply consume media, which is what tablet users do most) and the rise of large-screened smartphones being central. Especially in terms of phablets, the line between a tablet and a really big phone have started blurring, and so people feel less and less inclined to invest extra money into dedicated devices that overlap in functionality with their handhelds.

As for smartwatches, even with most of the major players now part of the still nascent industry, demand is overall rather tepid. It'll be a while longer, perhaps, until manufacturers figure out some truly nifty use for these small wrist computers, or maybe they'll forever remain a tiny category that, ultimately, was over-hyped.

Our own musings aside, how do you vote?