Reflecting on the mobile devices of 2008, what was your favorite?

I find my look back at 2007 post to be a good resource/index for my reviews and enjoyed checking out the poll results from you all. Thus, I am posting the same type of article for 2008. This Smartphones and Cell Phones blog just kicked off in September so many of the reviews listed below were posted on my Mobile Gadgeteer blog. More software reviews were added this year and I decided to list some of my favorite applications that I reviewed here too in this 2008 wrap-up. Some "award" titles were again assigned and then I am ending with a list of devices I look forward to checking out in 2009.

I reviewed at least 26 mobile devices in 2008 as you can see in the list below.

• Wibrain B1 UMPC
• T-Mobile HotSpot @Home Talk Forever service
• Sprint HTC Shift
• Celio REDFLY C8 Mobile Companion
• HTC Advantage X7510
• Nokia N82
• Nokia N78
• HTC Touch Diamond
• Samsung Blackjack II
• HP iPAQ 910
• Nokia E71
• MWg Zinc II
• Palm Treo Pro
• Samsung OMNIA
• MSI Wind netbook
• TeleNav Shotgun GPS device
• Celio REDFLY C8N Smartphone Terminal
• Nokia N96
• T-Mobile G1 Google Android device
• RIM BlackBerry Pearl Flip
• RIM BlackBerry Bold
• Sprint Touch Pro and AT&T HTC Fuze
• HTC Rose/S740
• T-Mobile Samsung Behold and MOTOZINE ZN5

Here are some of my favorite software titles I checked out in 2008:

• Spb Mobile Shell 2.0
• Opera Mobile 9.5
• Qik streaming video service
• Opera Mini 4.2
• Handy Tools Pack for S60 devices
• Spb Traveler 2.0
• Evernote 3.0
• Pandora for the iPhone
• Skyfire browser

I have a couple of titles I would like to award to the devices, accessories, and software I checked out in 2008.

Best QWERTY keyboard: RIM BlackBerry Bold Best looking display: RIM BlackBerry Bold and HTC Fuze Most "caressable" device: Nokia E71 Device that surprised me: Palm Treo Pro (It isn't super amazing, but I bought my own and love it.) Device(s) revived with a firmware update: Apple iPhone and iPhone 3G

Best S60 device of the year: Nokia N85 (Just purchased, but it is FANTASTIC!) Best Windows Mobile touch screen device of the year: HTC Touch Pro/HTC Fuze Best Windows Mobile non-touch screen device: Blackjack II (We need more non-touch screen models like this and the Dash.) Best Palm OS device of the year: None, Palm Centro was for 2007 Best BlackBerry device of the year: RIM BlackBerry Bold Best Google Android device of the year: T-Mobile G1 (and the only one too)

Worst mobile device of the year: HTC Shift (weak specs and too expensive) Best overall mobile device of the year: Nokia E71

Best mobile phone accessory: SanDisk 16GB microSD card Best mobile software: Evernote

As we move into 2009 there are some devices we know are coming and some that are rumored. Here is what I look forward to trying to evaluate in 2009:

• Nokia N97
• Agora Pro Android device
• Windows Mobile 6.5 device(s)
• New Google Android device(s)
• New Apple iPhone device?
• Other Nokia devices (we know several will be launched in 2009)
• New Palm operating system device. Will be a miracle if we see something in 2009, IMHO

What was your favorite mobile device of the year? I listed the top choices below, but if you have something different feel free to leave a Talkback. Also, what are you looking forward to in 2009?

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