Revealed: the best tech of the last 12 months

TechRadar Awards 2010
Who were the winners of the TechRadar Awards 2010? Scroll down!

We're proud to announce the winners of the inaugural TechRadar Awards, sponsored by Intel, DTS and Qualcomm.

And you should be proud too - the awards were voted for by you.

Over 75,000 votes were cast by TechRadar readers choosing their favourite tech of the last 12 months.

Apple, iPlayer, Windows 7 and more

Apple walks away with seven of the 18 awards, but the signs are that it won't be having all its own way during 2010 – the computing categories were dominated by Intel, Microsoft and Google, while in Mobile Communications HTC and the Android Market had a good showing.

And the latest version of Apple's operating system – OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - was beaten hands down by Microsoft's Windows 7, which stormed our software category.

The other big winner was the BBC iPlayer, which walks away with our "Most essential online innovation award" as well as being voted the "Most innovative home entertainment platform".

It beat some stiff competition in both categories, including Sky+HD, Xbox Live, Spotify and Google Street View.

We'll be taking an in-depth look at how the votes fell later on, but without further ado, here are the winners:

Computing

Computing technology champion
Google

Computing technology of the year
Intel Core i5

Hottest mobile computing innovation
Apple MacBook Pro

Most essential online innovation
BBC iPlayer

Most essential software innovation
Microsoft Windows 7

Best computing add-on technology
Western Digital My Book World Edition

Windows 7

Home Entertainment

Greatest visual innovation
Sony Bravia KDL-46X4500 LED TV

Greatest audio innovation
Pioneer EX Series 5.1

Most exciting gaming tech
Sony PlayStation 3 Slim

Most innovative home entertainment platform
BBC iPlayer

BBC iplayer

Mobile Communications

Mobile technology champion
Apple

Essential phone of the year
Apple iPhone 3GS

Most innovative mobile app of the year
ALK Co-Pilot Live 8 for iPhone and Android

Hottest mobile platform
Apple App Store

Co-Pilot live

Gadgets

Essential gadget of the year
Apple iPhone 3GS

Greatest contribution to digital photography
Canon EOS 500D

Best portable entertainment device
Apple iPod touch 64GB

Best on-the-go tech
Apple iPod touch 64GB

Apple ipod touch

Contributor

Dan (Twitter, Google+) is TechRadar's Former Deputy Editor and is now in charge at our sister site T3.com. Covering all things computing, internet and mobile he's a seasoned regular at major tech shows such as CES, IFA and Mobile World Congress. Dan has also been a tech expert for many outlets including BBC Radio 4, 5Live and the World Service, The Sun and ITV News.