The Top 25 Gadget Reviews on YugaTech for 2011

This is part of my year-ender series for 2011. We’ve done a ton of gadget reviews for 2011 and one of the key indicators that a gadget is hot or very interesting is by the number of pageviews it gets thru the years. Check out which devices got the most hits in 2011 after the jump.

We featured the 12 hottest gadgets back of 2010 here but if we compared that to our line-up this year, that list pales in comparison.

Samsung Galaxy SII (140,000 pageviews). Undeniably the most popular Android smartphone in 2011, the Galaxy S2 took the crown as the most read gadget review in 2011 (by a mile). The YouTube videos got a combined 390,000 views. I was also fortunately enough to secure the review unit (an engineering unit actually) way early than the bigger global outlets.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (44,000 pageviews). With the introduction of Honeycomb for tablets, Samsung once again drew much anticipation with its line of tablets. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was considered the closest competitor to the iPad 2 with its powerful specs and very slim profile.

Nokia E7 (25,000 pageviews). Nokia’s very own re-incarnation of the Communicator still attracted many curious folks in the early part of 2011. However, it’s steep retail price of Php32k did not help much and has considerably dropped to just Php15k today.

LG Optimus 2X (24,000 pageviews). Being the first dual-core smartphone in the world has its advantages and LG heavily banked on that title with the Optimus 2X. The NVidia Tegra2 chip did wonders for mobile gaming on this device.

Apple iPad 2 (23,000 pageviews). The arrival of the iPad 2 in the Philippines came within a month of its announcement prompting avid fans to line up for their favorite tablet. Stocks were quickly wiped out within days.

Samsung Galaxy Note (21,000 pageviews). Samsung did not rest on its laurels with the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Tab 8.9/10.1 and came out with another heavy-hitter — the Galaxy Note. This smartphone hybrid boasts a huge 5.3-inch Super AMOLED display and impressive specs.

Smart Netphone 701 (21,000 pageviews). A rebadge of the ZTE Blade, Smart’s very own co-branded Android smartphone drew a lot of attention in the latter part of 2011 — not because of the hardware but because of the free access to Twitter and Facebook. The Netphone 701 seems to be the only and last Netphone-branded handset they ever released in the Philippines.

HTC Desire S (15,000 pageviews). The Desire S banked on the popularity of the HTC Desire which worked effortlessly. HTC’s design signature and Sense UI ultimately won a lot of customers.

ZTE MF60 (14,000 pageviews). This odd little device gained a lot of attention because of the massive roll out of HSPA+ networks by local telcos (specifically Smart & Globe). As a personal WiFi hotspot, the ZTE MF60 became a must-have device for everyone who are always on the road.

Asus U36j (14,000 pageviews). Even before the age of ultrabooks, laptop manufacturers like Asus were already trying to catch up with Apple’s Macbook Air. The Asus U36 is one of those nearly successful devices.

HTC Sensation (14,000 pageviews). HTC flagship handset came in to challenge the Galaxy S2. The HTC Sensation ended up as a favorite second to a lot of buyers because of its solid design and construction. The retail price though prevented it from becoming as huge a hit as the Galaxy S2. The Sensation later on became the template for more successful releases from HTC, including the Sensation XE and the Sensation XL.

Nokia N9 (14,000 pageviews). Nokia’s attempt to revive a rarely used mobile operating system resulted in the highly anticipated Nokia N9. It’s also the fist handset to run the now defunct Meego OS.

BlackBerry Playbook (13,000 pageviews). RIM’s very own 7-inch tablet got a lot of attention for introducing a truly multi-tasking tablet. It was also priced competitively. The only problem was it didn’t have a lot of apps in it and the native Blackberry services need to bridged to a BB handset to work. The effort to bring Android Market might be too late to revive that fading attention.

Sony NEX-5 (13,000 pageviews). Sony’s one of the first few camera manufacturers to bring out a really solid compact camera that rivals the micro 4/3s category.

Dell Streak 5 (12,000 pageviews). The Galaxy Note certainly got some ideas off of the Dell Streak 5. However, the late introduction and steep price point of the Dell Streak in the Philippines became its biggest shortcoming. It was a good first try though.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 (11,000 pageviews). Undoubtedly the best BlackBerry handset we’re ever tried and tested, the Bold 9900 brought in a dose of fresh excitement to the BlackBerry line-up.

Asus Transformer TF101 (11,000 pageviews). Asus’ attempt to separate itself from the rest of the pack resulted into the Transformer — a tablet-cum-netbook that boasts of battery life of up to 15 hours on a single charge. It was so in demand, shipments to the Philippines was delayed for months. Not bad for a first try.

Apple iPhone 4S (11,000 pageviews). Still considered by many as the top handset for 2011, the iPhone 4S was only launched in December 16 here in the Philippines. Steve Job’s death and Smart’s inclusion as a distributor added to the momentum.

HTC Mozart (10,000 pageviews). One of the very few Windows Phone 7 handsets to have been released in the country, the HTC 7 Mozart certainly rode on the hype and growing popularity of WP7 as an alternative mobile OS.

HP TouchPad (10,000 pageviews). It’s very short lifespan was a combination of underwhelming launch and poor sales leading up to a price drop that resulted into a buying frenzy. At $99PHP 5,810INR 8,390EUR 94CNY 721 a pop, it became the fastest selling tablet in history.

Nokia E6 (10,000 pageviews). Before the age of touchscreen handsets, full-qwerty was huge and only BalckBerry and Nokia were leading that pack. The Nokia E6 continued the legacy of the E71 as one of the top choices for full-qwerty handsets.

2011 Macbook Air (9,000 pageviews). Sporting a powerful Core i5 or Core i7 processors, the 2011 Macook Air changed the way we looked

BlackBerry Curve 9360 (9,000 pageviews). RIM certainly has a huge core following that they managed to attract as much attention on their entry-level handsets as their flagship phones. The BB Curve 9360 is a living testament to that. It also does not hurt that the BB Curve is the most popular handset model in the Philippines.

Lenovo IdeaPad U260 (9,000 pageviews). They are called ultraportables before Intel invented the name ultrabooks. The Lenovo U260 offered the same sleek design and powerful specs as the Asus U36. Its popularity is only hampered by its steep retail price.

Alcatel OneTouch Blaze 990 (8,000 pageviews). In the land of Androids, dual-SIM phones is still a rarity. Alcatel came into the local market with really affordable dual-SIM Android phones. The familiar name and the price point made the OT Blaze 990 an instant hit.

Our top 25 gadget reviews was dominated by 14 smartphones, 6 tablets, 3 laptops, a single camera and one odd mobile device.

I would have added the Samsung Series 8 8000 Plasma TV in the list of favorite gadgets of the year but the category of these babies are beyond what normal folks can afford (that entry got a lot of pageviews but since it’s not a full review, I could not include it in the official list).

There were several other devices that got more than 9,000 pageviews to merit inclusion but they were posted in 2010 so they are already disqualified (includes Nokia X2-03 Touch & Type and the Nikon D7000).

Note: Only devices that were reviewed here on YugaTech are included in the list. Devices that were reported, unboxed, spotted or covered during their launching were not included even of they generated more hits than the ones above. Other devices that got more pageviews but were reviewed before 2011 were also not included in the list.