This is the best of 2015, as determined by you, our readers.
Thousands of you weighed in over a couple of week on what's changed how you work and play. These are what replaced the devices on your wrists, in your pocket, on your laps or desks, and in your living rooms. They're what dictates the look of your home screens and our docks.
They're the devices and features, gear and accessories, and apps and games that filled us all with surprise and delight, got us to forget what came before, and made it impossible for us to imagine how we ever lived without them.
They're your 2015 Android Central Readers' Choice Award winners!
Devices
Android Smartphone of the Year: Nexus 6P
No real surprise here, and it won by a large margin. You can argue whether the Nexus 6P truly is the best phone around — the Note 5 certainly should be a close second, and LG's definitely in the conversation. But for most folks who frequent this site and chime in on the year-end awards, the Nexus 6P certainly is the phone of choice. And for once we've got a Nexus phone that absolutely can hold its own in that argument.
Runner-up: Galaxy Note 5
Android Tablet of the Year: Nexus 9
Yes, the Nexus 9 was released in 2014. That doesn't mean it wasn't one of the best tablets in 2015. And, in fact, we'd argue that it took a number of months before it actually became a product we could recommend. That's not to say it's perfect — lightbleed still comes to mind — but if you want a solid Android tablet that doesn't bring features you don't need and is guaranteed to get timely updates for a while still, the Nexus 9 is the right choice. And you all chose wisely.
Runner-up: NVIDIA Shield Tablet K1
Head-Scratcher of the Year: LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE is canceled
We've seen products get shelved before — the HTC Merge still comes to mind. And it probably happens more than we know. But it's not often that we see a product released and then killed in the span of a week. And certainly the decision to recall the first Android Wear watch with cellular connectivity — and the first to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow — wasn't made lightly. But that doesn't make the watch's sudden departure any less strange. Will we ever know what really went wrong?
Runner-up: BlackBerry makes an Android phone — and it's good!
Best Smartwatch: Moto 360 (2015)
Motorola launched the first round Android Wear watch in 2014 with the original 360, and the updated 2015 version of the Moto 360 was your pick for best smartwatch of the year. They look good, come in different sizes and there's even a Sport version. We can see why the new 360 is the people's favorite.
Runner-up: Huawei Watch
Apps
Game of the Year: Clash of Clans
Is this the best game available on Android? Probably not. But there's no denying its popularity (and advertising budget), and so it was little surprise that you chose it as your top game of 2015.
Runners up: Split View Mission Control
Twitter App of the Year: Twitter
There has been talk about Twitter not being quite as hostile toward third-party apps, but the fact remains that it's tough to be a Twitter developer in 2015. And like a lot of you, we've also resorted to just using the official Twitter app, for better or worse.
Runner-up: Fenix
Photo Editor of the Year: Snapseed
Not a huge surprise here either, as Snapseed has long been a leader in mobile photo editing. It's also now owned by Google and is incorporated into things like Google Photos, which came in second in your voting. It's simple to just clean up an image, or to process it within an inch of its life. Your call. Google also walked back some of the pushy Google+ integration, which ultimately was a good call.
Runner-up: Pixlr
Travel App of the Year: Google Maps
Anyone remember a time before Google Maps? It's a wonder we ever got anywhere at all. Now we have it on our watches, which can be indispensable when you're navigating a busy city street with an armful of stuff. And we've got it in our cars with Android Auto. And the more integration with Waze that we get, the better Google Maps becomes.
Runners up: TripAdvisor
Best Web Browser of the Year: Chrome
The obvious choice, of course, is Chrome when it comes to a web browser on Android. It helps that it's preinstalled, of course. But it's also the easiest way to make sure your passwords and bookmarks stay synced. And now that tabs can be presented in the recent apps list, browsing has become faster than ever.
Runner-up: Firefox
Best Keyboard of the Year: SwiftKey
SwiftKey once again tops your picks for best keyboard, and it really shouldn't be much of a shock. It's got stellar word prediction, a great user interface — and 2015 saw it switch to the low, low price of free, with a theme store hoping to make up the difference.
Runner-up: Google Keyboard
Best Podcatcher: Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts is your pick for best podcatcher, and nobody should be surprised. It's ease of use combined with beautiful interface made it the crowd favorite in 2015, and new "Nearby" discovery features means it's even easier to find out what people near you are listening to or watching.
Runner-up: Podcast Addict
Best Modding app: Xposed Framework
The Xposed framework is your one stop shop for modifying just about anything on your (rooted) phone, and it was your pick for best modding utility of 2015. A repo filled with hundreds of modules make the Xposed Framework pretty powerful, and it can really make your phone unique.
Runner-up: Nova Launcher
Manufacturers
Best Smartphone manufacturer: Huawei
Riding the success of the Nexus 6P, Huawei was your pick for Smartphone manufacturer of the year. We expect to see Huawei expand their business outside of Asia even more in 2016, and the Honor line will give us a chance to get a better look at what they have to offer.
Runner-up: Samsung
Best tablet manufacturer: Samsung
Samsung was voted best tablet maker of 2015 by readers. From budget models like the Tab 4, to the highest of the high-end Tab S2 line, Samsung makes a tablet for almost everybody.
Runner-up: NVIDIA
The rest
Best Google feature: Google Photos
Google Photos grabbed the vote for best Google service of the year. The stand-alone photo hosting service offers unlimited storage, excellent image search and fresh features like animated gifs and even shared albums. We can see why the service is a crowd favorite and the best-in-category of 2015.
Runner-up: Monthly updates
Coolest VR experience: Google Cardboard
Google Cardboard was the coolest Virtual Reality experience of 2015, according to readers. It's available for everyone with an Android or Apple phone or tablet, it's cheap and delivers a surprisingly great experience. You need to check it out if you haven't already.
Runner-up: Samsung Gear VR
Best fingerprint scanner placement: On the back
While Samsung and Apple like the fingerprint scanner up front, and Sony likes it on the side, you like it best when it's on the back. LG, HTC and Google agree, and you'll find their scanners around back where you like them.
Best fingerprint scanner experience: Nexus Imprint
Google's Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P introduced us to Nexus Imprint, which you voted as the best experience when using a fingerprint scanner. Being baked into the system by Google helps make it the best, as does quality hardware. Whatever magic they are using, we agree that it works well and is deserving of being called the best.
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