It appears that Samsung is still incredibly popular with the general audience of Pakistan. In the User Choice Awards hosted by TechJuice over the past few weeks, Samsung has claimed all the top prizes with its Galaxy Note 9.
It faced a lot of close fights in the final few battles, but it emerged victorious in all four categories; best battery life, best design, the best camera in a smartphone, and best overall flagship smartphone.
A little bit about the competition
We normally release a list of our favorite smartphones at the end of the year. These lists are based on our personal experience with the devices, the amount of innovation that went into designing and making the devices, and the reception by the users upon the release of the smartphone. But these results are usually not reflective of actual feelings of a majority of users.
Normal users employ a whole lot of different metrics while judging a smartphone. Their previous experience with the manufacturer, biases due to phones being used by those close to them and the communication channels that they follow, these all factor into deciding their favorite phones of the year.
So we decided to launch the User Choice Awards to find out which smartphones were popular among our readers this year. We figured out an initial pool of devices for the following four categories:
- Best smartphone design
- Best battery life in a smartphone
- Best camera in a smartphone
- The best overall flagship smartphone
We started with eight devices in each category, and pitted them against each other in 3 rounds, leading to a finale between two devices. Our readers voted for their favorite smartphones through Facebook and Instagram.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 takes the spoils
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was our pick of the smartphones released in 2018, and our readers agreed with us, vehemently. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 swept all four categories and emerged as the top smartphone of the year battery life, camera, design and as the best flagship smartphone.
Here are the results of all four categories:
1. Best battery life in a smartphone
- Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Runner-up: Nokia 7 Plus
2. Best visual design of a smartphone
- Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Runner-up: Huawei Mate 20 Pro
3. Best camera in a smartphone
- Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Runner-up: Huawei Mate 20 Pro
4. Best flagship smartphone
- Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Runner-up: Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei fought bravely for three categories, and was beaten with very thin margins in all categories. Nokia 7 Plus was the only other phone to come between these two fighting for the top position in all four categories. It gave tough competition to Galaxy Note 9 in the fight for best battery life in a smartphone.
iPhone was a big surprise
We expected iPhone to give a tough competition to other smartphone manufacturers, but it seems that our readers did not agree with some of Apple’s recent design choices. Latest iPhone models did not make it to the final round in any of the four competitions, with it getting out in the first round of both visual design and battery life.
Samsung is still a crowd favorite in Pakistan
Samsung has been really doing well in Pakistan for the past few years. Their flagship phones, especially since S4, have been really popular in the local market. Coupled with good resale value and a large presence in the local tech market, Samsung’s hold over Pakistan’s flagship smartphone market is still strong. Samsung Note 9, which was also our pick of the smartphones released in 2018, is a very well rounded phone with good battery life, killer specifications, and, most importantly, no notch.
Huawei is not coming slow
The turn around shown by Huawei in its flagship phones is impressive. A couple of years ago, Huawei was only known for its mid-range and budget devices. But with the past few generations, its flagship Mate and P series devices have shown incredible mettle against the industry leaders like Apple and Samsung. Huawei Mate 20 Pro is an excellent smartphone and received glowing reviews all around the tech community. It was our runner-up pick for the best smartphone for 2018. It only recently launched in Pakistan and, had it been in the market a bit earlier, it might have beaten Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to the title.
So this is it for the TechJuice User Choice Awards. We thank everyone who took the time to vote for the awards and made them possible.
