Over the past year, we’ve scored well over a thousand gadgets. Most of those are good products, with gdgt Scores in the mid 70s to low 80s. These are gadgets you aren’t likely to be disappointed with if you get them, but they’re not likely to wow you either. But we also scored some truly great devices, with scores in the upper 80s and 90s, as well as some that were just awful, with scores as low as 50. As with all of the products we score, the gdgt Score for these is based on a combination of a critic scores, user scores and our own take on the product.
There aren’t a ton of surprises on the top-scored list. Apple launched some amazing products this year, including two Retina-display iPads and the iPhone 5, and those top the list. Despite losing market share to Samsung, HTC rolled out two great phones, which also made the list. And Nest came out with the second edition of its revolutionary learning thermostat.
At the bottom, We saw a number of disappointing products from companies like Sony, Toshiba and LG, which are often capable of much better things (one example: Sony produces two out of three of our Must-have cameras, along with our Must-have portable gaming console). In some cases, such as Sony’s dual-screen Tablet P and Google’s Nexus Q, these products represented creative attempts to rethink established categories. While we applaud these efforts, that doesn’t change the fact that these devices are just not very good.
This list also includes two Kickstarter-funded products, the Brydge keyboard and Hidden Radio speaker. These gadgets highlight one challenge of the Kickstarter model; while it makes it easy for anyone with a good idea to raise money to turn that idea into an actual device, it also shows just how difficult it is for a small manufacturer to maintain quality control and produce good, affordable products. As this model matures, we think we’ll see much better products come out of the Kickstarter funnel, and we look forward to buying them, and giving them appropriately high scores.
Let us know what you think, and come back later this week for more on the year in gadgets, including the runners-up for these lists!
Top-Scored Products (gdgt Score)
1. Apple iPad 4th-gen (97)
2. Apple iPhone 5 (96)
3. Nest Learning Thermostat 2nd-gen (95)
4. Apple Macbook Air 13-in (95)
5. Apple iMac 21.5-in (94)
6. HTC Droid DNA (93)
7. HTC One X+ (93)
8. Apple iPad mini (93)
9. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (92)
10. Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display 15-in (92)
11. Wacom Intuos5 Touch Medium (92)
12. Samsung Galaxy S III (92)
13. Apple iMac 27-in (91)
14. Fitbit Aria (90)
15. Nokia Lumia 900 (90)
Bottom-Scored Products
1. Sony Tablet P (50)
2. Google Nexus Q (56)
3. Brydge Keyboard (60)
4. Hidden Radio (60)
5. Toshiba Excite 10 LE (60)
6. Huawei Prism 3G (60)
7. LG Intuition (60)
8. LG Optimus L7 (62)
9. Sony PRS-T2 (63)
10. Sony SmartWatch (64)
11. Toshiba Excite 13 (64)
12. Logitech Cube (65)
13. Kobo Mini (65)
14. NuForce Cube (65)
15. ZTE Grand X (65)
