PhoneArena Reader Awards 2015: The results are in!

Take away our extensive phone specs database and our news coverage, and what the team at PhoneArena does is pretty simple: We provide expert opinion so that you can make informed purchases instead of ones affected by marketing tricks. But it's also true that we value reader input and actively seek it out. So while our own selection of the best in tech for 2015 was the result of internal consensus, last week we also gave you the opportunity to crowd-source the devices you thought most deserved the PhoneArena Reader Award of 2015. And now, five days after voting was opened, it's time to share the results.

For fun, we thought we'd list the winner and runner-up in each category next to our own picks, and see where that leaves us. Obviously, do keep in mind that the PhoneArena community is, like the global smartphone user base, dominated by Android device owners, followed by a smaller, but sizable iOS fan base, and then a tiny Windows Phone camp. Needless to say, this split means that confirmation bias is very much a reality with these kind of public polls. Just something to keep in mind.

When we looked back on 2015, we shortlisted a number of devices that we thought deserved a shot at the PhoneArena Award for Best Smartphone, and then took a vote. The final count came in favor of the Apple iPhone 6s, with the Samsung Galaxy S6 a close second. That's kind of funny, because the PhoneArena Reader Award for Best Smartphone goes to the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge first, and the Samsung Galaxy S6 second. Third in the ranking was the Apple iPhone 6s, which means that our readers and the PhoneArena team are mostly in agreement—at least if we consider the two Galaxy devices as one, which isn't a preposterous notion, and reverse the winner with the runner-up.

With the increasing popularity of phablets, we wanted to acknowledge the best among them in a separate category dedicated to just large smartphones. We ended up handing the gold to the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and put the Huawei-made Google Nexus 6P second. As it turns out, our readers agree one hundred percent, and nominated the same two devices, in that same order. For what it's worth, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and the iPhone 6s Plus are neck-and-neck for the third spot:

With competition intensifying in all sectors of the industry, and with more and more investment flowing in, the costs of producing a smartphone have followed — just in the opposite direction. Today, you can get a flagship smartphone for the price of what would have been categorized as the mid-range a while ago, or a competent lower-end device for under 160 bucks. This has allowed the value-for-money ratio of those very devices to shoot up, and they thus make for a great bargain.

The PhoneArena Award for Best Value-for-money Smartphone of 2015 went to the Motorola Moto X Pure Edition, followed by another Motorola creation: the Moto G (2015). Due to an error on our end (we blame it on the infectious holiday cheer), the Moto X Pure Edition wasn't included in the poll, so we can't tell if you agree with us. With that in mind, you awarded the first spot to the Moto G (2015) and the second to the OnePlus 2. We can certainly speculate that were it not for this error, Motorola's 2015 flagship would have ranked high, but we obviously can't be sure. Ooops!

With tablets, we once again have an agreement: the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 was the single best slate pushed out in 2015. A worthy tablet in its own right, the giant Apple iPad Pro came in second, closely followed by the sleek Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet. Here's the exact split:

Not at all surprisingly, the smartwatch section of the PhoneArena Reader Awards received the least votes—after all, smartwatch sales still are a drop in the ocean when looking at the big picture. 

In any case, we have yet another match in terms of which particular wrist gadget deserves the honor of being called the best in 2015: the Samsung Galaxy Gear S2. The runner-up, according to the PhoneArena team is the Apple Watch, but our audience actually seems to dig the Motorola Moto 360 2015 more.