GadgetStripe Smartphone Award
No doubt, 2020 has been a crazy year for us but regardless of that, the Nigerian smartphone industry has witnessed tremendous growth. The year was full of surprises in terms of devices that were released in the country.
This is GADGETSTRIPE SMARTPHONE AWARD, and we are going to honor the best devices that were made available in Nigeria for the year 2020. A lot of brands dropped smartphones that surprised us in terms of hardware, performance, and design. This year we saw even better cameras on budget phones and we are hoping we continue in that direction next year.
Gadgetstripe Smartphone award is to honor all the best smartphones of 2020. These are phones that we have recommended to people throughout the year. We are going to categorize them for easy understanding. The award is to appreciate the hard work that various smartphone brands in Nigeria put in to deliver a top-notch experience to the end-users. We were able to cover a lot of devices this year so we know exactly what happened in the industry because we kept track of events.
Hopefully, in 2021 we will see much better smartphones from the brands in Nigeria. A lot of fantastic phones are going home with awards tonight so make sure you check them all out to know the various winners of each category. Without wasting time let’s jump right into the spotlight. I welcome you to the Gadgetstripe Smartphones Award 2020.
Best Performance Smartphone of the Year
Winner – Xiaomi Redmi Note 9s
This device was released in April 2020 and the specs were just superb. We have a device made of glass at the front and back it also has gorilla glass 5 protection. The display here is 1080p and we have the fingerprint scanner mounted on the side. It comes with the Snapdragon 720G and it blew people away with the performance. Xiaomi really did well to deliver such a great phone and when it comes to performance we are awarding it to the Redmi Note 9s.
Worthy Mention – Infinix Zero 8, Tecno Camon 16 Premier
Best Battery on a Smartphone
Winner – Samsung Galaxy M51
This device comes with a whopping 7000mAh battery the closest contender for this category is down with a 1000mAh and its battery capacity is 6000mAh. The Galaxy M51 optimizes the battery in a better way and has a 25W fast charging feature. The specs here are great and you can get a day of battery on this device. Tecno also tried to dominate in this aspect with their Pova lineup that focuses on Battery, hoping to see more Pova devices in the coming year.
Worthy Mention – Tecno Pova
Best Compact Phone
Winner – Nokia 3.4
This device is sized at 3.4 inches and its form factor makes it compact for small hands. In 2020 we got a lot of big phones in Nigeria and the average size of devices this year was 6.5. Nokia did great with the 3.4 and the performance you get here is decent.
Worthy Mention – Samsung Galaxy A11
Best Camera Phone
Winner – Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The camera on setup on this phone is simply amazing. Samsung did an awesome job with the cameras here. The images from this device are detailed enough to compete with any other high-end device released in 2020.
Worthy Mentions – Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro and Oppo Reno 3 Pro
Budget Phone of the Year
Winner – Redmi 9
The Redmi 9 comes in at an affordable price and the specs are okay too. We have a device with a 5020mAh battery as well as a 6.53 inch IPS LCD display. The resolution is 1080 and the display is protected by corning gorilla glass 3.it is powered by the MediaTek helio g80 and we have 3 or 6GB of ram.
Worthy Mention – Infinix Hot 10
Entry-Level Device of the Year
Winner – Redmi 9C
This device is the best device for starters in Nigeria. It has a 5000mAh battery and a 6.53 inch IPS LCD display and a resolution of 720p. It runs on Android 10 and it has 2 or 4GB RAM MIUI 12 is the skin on the device. There are a triple camera setup and a fingerprint sensor at the back. This device is perfect for beginners.
Gaming Phone of the Year
Winner – Tecno Pova
This device was purposely built for gaming and I can say that it delivers when playing games.it is powered by the MediaTek Helio G80 that is gaming-centric. The device also comes with a 4GB or 6GB ram that allows it to run games efficiently. We have a massive 6000mAh battery that is enough to last for long gaming sessions.
Worth Mention – Infinix Note 8
Revolutionary Phone of the Year
Winner – Samsung Galaxy A51
the Galaxy A51 is one of the highest selling devices of this year and Samsung delivered on this device. with this device, you get great performance and battery life even though is powered by an Exynos 9611. it comes with 6 or 8GB ram which is sufficient enough to let the device run smoothly.
Worthy Mention – Infinix Zero 8, Tecno Camon 16 Premier
Best Value For Money Phone
Winner – Redmi Note 9
xiaomi also does great when setting prices for their devices and sometimes it is too good to be true. The Redmi Note 9 is an awesome device and it has to be our value champion of the year. We have a 1080p IPS LCD device that is powered by the Mediatek Helio G85. This device performs greatly and you are getting more value than the money spent.
Worthy Mention – Infinix Note 8i
Best Smartphone Design of the Year
Winner – Oppo A93
Hands down I admire the design of the Oppo A93 especially because of the gradient color display you get on the back of the phone. The camera arrangement is also great and it doesn’t have a bump as we saw all year long. It is flexible and easy to hold.
Worthy Mention – Infinix zero 8
Smartphone Brand of the Year
Winner – Infinix Mobile Nigeria
Infinix released a lot of awesome devices this year. Their devices came in with great designs, good battery life and we started seeing USB type C and large storage space on their devices. The devices they dropped this year were amazing.
Worthy Mention – Oppo Mobile Nigeria
Most Innovative Smartphone of the Year
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G#
The Galaxy Z fold 2 is one of the most amazing devices to be released in 2020. If you consider the improvement coming from the first generation fold you have to appreciate the work Samsung did here. The outer screen has tiny bezels while the inside has a 120Hz refresh rate. We have a 12GB ram and the Snapdragon 865+ powering the device. The hinge is better this time around.
Worthy Mention – Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Best Smartphone Virtual Launch Event in 2020
Winner – iTel Mobile Nigeria for iTel S16 Series
This category is all about rewarding team members of a company on how innovative and well planned they gave us a launch event was made virtually due to the current situation in Nigeria
The winner for this category is the itel S16 Series Launch by iTel Mobile Nigeria. This is the best virtual launch we have seen yet. The event was graced by the presence of Annie Idibia, Bimbo Adeoye, and iTel Brand Ambassador – Olamide Baado.
Runner up – Infinix for the Infinix Note 7 Series Launch.
Most Anticipated Smartphone of the Year
Winner – iPhone 12
the iPhone 12 was anticipated by a lot of Nigerians, and it is a normal thing for iPhones to be anticipated. this year we got four new models including the iPhone 12 mini. they all come with an OLED display this time around but there is a little bit of difference between the 12 Pro Max and the other Models in terms of camera.
Best Smartphone of the Year
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
This phone has all it takes to be crowned the champion of all the devices released in Nigeria this year. The design alone is superb we have a display that is not so curved and the cool finish at the back makes it even more solid and comfortable to hold. We have a Dynamic AMOLED display here with a 120Hz refresh rate. It is powered by the snapdragon 865+ or the EXYNOS 990 depending on your region. Sadly this might be the last note from Samsung.
Worthy Mention – Xiaomi MI 10T Pro
