Mobile Network Comparison

Samsung and O₂ were big winners at the 2012 Mobile Industry Awards last week. The glitzy ceremony, run by Mobile Today was held at The Brewery in London on 14th June and included gongs for all aspects of the mobile phone industry. Handset manufacturer Samsung scooped an unprecedented three awards while O2 took home the coveted Best Network award and their subsidiary Giffgaff doubled up with the best MVNO award. Other big winners were Phones4U as well as HTC who picked up the Best Manufacturer Field Marketing Team Award and the Hottest New Phone Award for the One X.

One of the biggest stories of the night was the Phone of the Year award. The field was tough with the iPhone 4S, Sony Xperia S, Nokia Lumia 800 and HTC Sensation XE all nominated. But, in the end, the iPhone-beating Samsung Galaxy S II took the prize and most people would say deservedly so. Boasting an incredible camera, a recent update to the lighting-fast and uber-powerful Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android OS and stunning good looks, it’s really be the standout handset over the last 12 months.

Customer-run virtual network Giffgaff proved it’s really coming of age by scooping the Best MVNO award. Up against tough competition such as the huge Tesco Mobile and Lycamobile, they capitalised on their innovative business practises and massive growth over the last year to earn the award. Hopefully they will continue to go from strength to strength next year too.

Samsung really proved their worth though with a hat-trick of gongs scored. They beat off the likes of Apple, HTC, Nokia and Sony for the Best Manufacturer award. They then picked up the Power 50 Person of the Year award with their UK chief Simon Stanford. Stanford has previously put in stints working for mobile industry giants such as Everything Everywhere and O2 and has helped massively expanded the marketshare of Samsung phones in the UK. Others on the shortlist included Phil Dobson , Ed Richards, David Dyson and Olaf Swantee but in the end they were no match for the Samsung man. Finally, Samsung completed the trifecta with the highly-regarded Phone of the Year award which went to the Galaxy SII. Who knows whether they’ll complete the double with the Galaxy SIII in 2013?

Another exciting award was the Hottest Tablet for 2012 Award which was unsurprisingly won by Apple’s new iPad. There never really was much competition despite nominations for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition and Orange Tahiti and, at the end of the day, the latest and greatest iPad deservedly romped home. Hopefully Android and Windows tablets will provide some stiffer competition by this time next year.

The rest of the prizes included O₂ winning the Best Network award having been praised for its customer bonuses and no doubt helped by its sponsorship of major entertainment venues. 3 got Best Mobile Broadband, Uplands fended off rivals Quore, Savin and Communicate Better to take home the Best Dealer gong while Micro-P won Best Hardware Distributor. Avenir Accessories made it two when they were awarded the Best Accessories Distributor prize after Avenir Telecom got Best Airtime Distributor. One of the most anticipated awards of the night, the Shop Idol 2012 was won by Nicola Black of Phones4U whose company also got the Best High Street Retailer prize.

Do you think that anyone was looked over in this year’s awards? Who do you think was most deserving of their win? And what are your picks for the 2013 awards?