T3 Awards 2022: all the Tech award winners announced

The last year has been a difficult time for tech, with semiconductor shortages, manufacturing delays and serious supply chain obstacles to be overcome by many makers

Which is why the smorgasbord of quality tech products coming out over the past 12 months has been so astonishing. The quality hasn't dropped one bit and that has led to the tech awards categories this year to be just as competitive as they've ever been.

Indeed, judges for the T3 Awards 2022 had a really tricky time picking between the fantastic shortlisted products in all tech categories, and there's no doubting that superb products have been left un-rewarded this year. That's the way the cookie crumbles, though.

As such, we're pleased to announce the winners of the best phone, best video streaming service, best value phone, best laptop, best gaming laptop, best 4K monitor, best 5G phone, best office chair, best webcam and best VPN awards at the T3 Awards 2022.

Best Phone

The T3 Awards 2022 judges were spoiled for choice this year when it came round to picking a winner for the Best Phone award, with a series of very strong iPhones and Android phones delivering top tier mobile experiences.

In the end, though, the productivity and creativity powerhouse that is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra won the day. Judges were really impressed by the phone's specs and performance, gorgeous large 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ display, incredible camera system and long-lasting 5,000mAh battery.

These are many of the reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is currently sat top of T3's best phones buying guide with a perfect 5-star score.

T3 Awards 2022 judges also loved the extra control the S22 Ultra's S Pen digital stylus gave its user, to be both creative and work more efficiently. It remains a unique trait in a market where there aren't many.

Which is why we're happy to announce that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the winner of the Best Phone award at the T3 Awards 2022.

Best Phone shortlist

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Apple iPhone 13 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, Oppo Find X5 Pro, Google Pixel 6 Pro

Best Video Streaming Service

Disney Plus has had a great year, and it's had an even better year when you consider that many of its major rivals have been losing subscribers in the same period.

The reason why Disney Plus has been so resilient? The same reason why the T3 Awards 2022 judges picked it as the Best Video Streaming Service – content, content and more quality content.

Disney Plus has led the way over the past year in terms of delivering its subscribers quality, original, exclusive content, both in terms of TV show and movies. Big hit shows like Loki, WandaVision, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett have been joined with celebrated films like Luca, Shang-Chi and, Raya and The Last Dragon and Cruella.

But beyond that the non-exclusive content has also been really strong, with content like Only Murders In The Building and The Eyes of Tammy Faye examples of the brilliant adult as well as child and teen-focussed variety on offer. Disney Plus is now probably the strongest all-round streaming service, in terms of content variety, on the planet.

And Disney Plus continues to offer this great content for a price the T3 Awards 2022 judges thought was affordable, too.

So for its great exclusives, something-for-everything content library and affordable price point, we're pleased to announce that Disney Plus is the winner of the Best Streaming Service award at the T3 Awards 2022.

Best Video Streaming Service shortlist

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, Now, HBO Max

Best Value Phone

With the cost of living crisis putting pressure on many people's purse strings like never before, the importance of value in consumer technology has become even more important. And in the phone market, this is especially true, and has seen a marked shift away from flagship to mid-range and budget in terms of focus for many manufacturers.

And that has been great for consumers as there's been more great affordable phones on the market than ever before. But that, of course, made it harder for the T3 Awards 2022 judges to pick a winner for this year's Best Value Phone award. Pick a winner it did, though.

The OnePlus Nord 2 is that winner, with the 5-star handset being praised by the judges for its very strong battery life, fast performance, good-sized screen and robust camera system. All features of course delivered at a price point that is far from flagship levels.

The OnePlus Nord 2 also felt like a classic OnePlus release to the T3 Awards 2022 judges, delivering that flagship rivalling performance the brand became so known for, and doing it in style, which a handset that is great to look at and hold.

Despite its more mid-tier price point, as T3's review points out, the OnePlus Nord 2 has everything from style to speed, and for that reason it is the winner of the Best Value Phone at the T3 Awards 2022.

Best Value Phone shortlist

Apple iPhone SE (2022), OnePlus Nord 2, Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, Poco F3, Moto G31

Best Laptop

Dell makes some of the very finest Windows laptops in the world, and it's XPS line of laptops is year-after-year very impressive, often taking design, features and performance to a new level.

Which is why it is no surprise to see that the T3 Awards 2022 judges picked the stunning Dell XPS 13 OLED as the winner of the Best Laptop award.

As detailed in T3's Dell XPS 13 OLED review, this laptop combines "excellent design and build quality" with a "gorgeous OLED display" and "comfortable keyboard and touchpad". It also features a stunning thin and light design that makes carrying it around on the go a pleasure.

The judges saw the OLED panel as the cherry on top of the cake, though, which makes anything displayed on the screen just look fantastic, from films to games to images. Color pops off the screen and when watching Dolby Vision HDR content, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that you're watching on a laptop and not a high-end TV.

This is why the Dell XPS 13 OLED is currently listed in T3's best laptop buying guides as the "best premium Windows laptop".

Quite simply, for its specs, design, performance, screen and more, the Dell XPS 13 OLED is a worthy winner of the Best Laptop award at the T3 Awards 2022.

Best Laptop shortlist

Apple MacBook Air, Dell XPS 13 OLED, Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, HP Spectre X360, Apple MacBook Pro, Lenovo Yoga 9i 14

Best Gaming Laptop

For a certain age of gamers there will always be something a big special about a gaming laptop – a feeling that it shouldn't really be possible, all that pixel-pushing power in something so thin, light and portable, and not in a monstrously large and heavy tower case.

But in 2022 the state of gaming laptops is better and healthier than ever before, with top-rated systems loaded with advanced gaming components letting gamers play the most demanding AAA new PC games at high resolutions and frame rates with all the graphical bells and whistles turned on.

And the system that the T3 Awards 2022 judges felt exemplified that most was the Razer Blade 17 (2022), which is a system that T3's reviewer said "will blow you away with its power".

And, one look at this gaming laptops specs sheet and you can see what the reviewer means, with an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti graphics card tucked inside this system. That's incredible, top, top tier gaming power contained within a laptop that weighs in at 2.75kg and measures in at 395 mm x 260 mm x 19.9 mm.

That graphics card is then partnered with a stonkingly fast CPU and buckets of RAM, as well as a large 17-inch, 240Hz display. Seriously, playing games on the Razer Blade 17 (2022) is a magical experience.

And the T3 Awards 2022 judges agreed, awarding it the Best Gaming Laptop award this year.

Best Gaming Laptop shortlist

Razer Blade 17 (2022), Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, MSI GE66 Raider, Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition, Acer Predator Triton 500

Best 4K Monitor

There's plenty of 4K monitors on the market today, but as T3's 5-star LG 27GP950-B review states, this 4K monitor is hard to beat. And, after evaluating a really strong roster of 4K monitors in the shortlist this year, the T3 Awards 2022 judges agreed, awarding the LG 27GP950-B the Best 4K Monitor award.

Reasons for the LG 27GP950-B's win included its manageable for most desks 27-inch sizing, beautiful 4K picture, 144Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1 connectivity, customisable RGB lighting and simple but effective cable management system. From a design point of view the judges also though the monitor boasted an understated elegance.

The monitor also boasts a grey-to-grey response time of 1 millisecond and support for VESA DisplayHDR 600, Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync – so it can cater to gamers, too, adding to its value. This is monitor that you can both work and play on.

Congratulations therefore to LG, who has won the Best 4K Monitor award at the T3 Awards 2022 with its LG 27GP950-B.

Best 4K Monitor shortlist

LG 27GP950-B, Dell Ultrasharp 27 4K USB-C Hub Monitor U2723QE, Acer CB282K, Samsung M8 Smart Monitor with Streaming TV, Huawei Mateview, BenQ SW271C

Best 5G Phone

The best 5G phone needs to not just deliver a great phone but also one that excels in terms of tapping into the world's most advanced 5G network bands. And, after evaluating the Best 5G Phone award shortlist this year, the T3 Awards 2022 judges thought the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max exemplified those two things best.

The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max is a stunning flagship phone and a 5G master, with a huge amount of 5G bands capable of being tapped into.

Right now 5G networks are still not as widespread as they should be, but our reviewer of the iPhone 13 Pro Max found that:

"Using T-Mobile's Ultra Capacity 5G – which is it's name for the mmWave 5G band – I was able to get download speeds of almost 500Mbps and upload speeds of over 40Mbps. This makes anything from video calls to movie streaming a breeze and feels like you're on Wi-Fi."

This, in partnership with the phone's 5-star hardware and software package, was enough to win the judges over. Congratulations therefore to Apple, who bags the Best 5G Phone award at the T3 Awards 2022 with its Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Best 5G Phone shortlist

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, OnePlus 10 Pro, Oppo Find X5 Pro, Google Pixel 6 Pro

Best Office Chair

As many people have found themselves working from home a lot more over the past few years than before, the importance of a good office chair has elevated significantly. Prolonged periods of time sat on a hard, wooden kitchen table is a quick way of generating serious back, shoulder and leg pain.

Which is why T3 spends so long each year reviewing and rating the best office chairs – we want to highlight the best seats for offices and home offices that will help their owner be healthier and work better.

And, among the best office chairs on the market today, the T3 Awards 2022 judges felt one chair stood out in really delivering superb ergonomics, buckets of style, and a robust, future-proofed build quality. The judges picked the Herman Miller Mirra 2.

In T3's 5-star Herman Miller Mirra 2 office chair review the reviewer praised its "drool-worthy looks", "adaptive cooling mesh material" and wide variety of different seating positions. The reviewer, as too the judges, was also impressed with the Mirra 2's 12-year warranty, which spoke to the confidence the maker has in it as a product.

The Herman Miller Mirra 2 isn't cheap, but the judges were swayed by the top-tier package it delivers and the idea that if you buy right, you do so once – with that product proceeding to serve its owner for years to come.

As such, we're proud to announce that the winner of the Best Office Chair award at the T3 Awards 2022 is the Herman Miller Mirra 2.

Best Office Chair shortlist

Cherry Tree Executive Office Chair, Herman Miller Mirra 2, Sihoo Ergonomic Office Chair, Humanscale Freedom, Amazon Basics Office Chair

Best Webcam

Owning a good webcam was always important, as video meetings, video calls and livestream events have long now become ingrained in work and private life. However, over the past few years - during the pandemic - they became absolutely critical. Suddenly everyone was working and streaming from home and needed to stay in touch remotely.

In terms of streamers and those who needed to live stream from a variety of locations, this need for robust hardware that could deliver was even more pressing. Which is why it was a joy to see a number of products aimed at streamers hit the market over the past few years, products just like the Logitech Mevo Start.

The Logitech Mevo Start is a completely wireless streaming-focussed webcam that the T3 Awards 2022 judges just thought was fantastically well designed and executed, with its intuitive design and simple ease of use winning them over.

The camera lets its owner stream over Wi-Fi or a mobile data network (LTE), and as it weighs just 232 grams and measures in at 8.7 x 3.4 x 7.5cm, too, means it can be used in the home, office or quickly thrown in a backpack for a streaming session in the park or, well, anywhere.

Despite its simple design, though, the Logitech Mevo Start allows its owner plenty of manual control over things like ISO, exposure, brightness, saturation and orientation, and its strong companion app lets its owner select a variety of pre-sets. It delivers the best of both worlds, ease of use but plenty of customisation.

For all these reasons and more, we're pleased to announce that the Logitech Mevo Start is the winner of the Best Webcam award at the T3 Awards 2022.

Best Webcam shortlist

Logitech C922, Razer Kiyo Pro, Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000, Logitech Mevo Start, Trust Teza, Dell Ultrasharp Webcam

Best VPN

The internet today is in many ways a safer place than it was 20 years ago, but then again in others, such as the ability to have your personal data mined by hackers, it is not. Protecting your privacy is actually now harder than ever, with not just hackers but private companies actively looking to pry into people's private lives for financial gain.

That's why having a personal VPN is so important, and also why the winner of this year's Best VPN award is ExpressVPN, who the T3 Awards 2022 judges thought offered the best all-round VPN package to help the average person stay safe online. This makes sense, too, as in T3's best VPN guide ExpressVPN is currently in the number one position.

The judges voted for ExpressVPN due to its ease of use, rapid speeds and ability to run on basically any device, including some routers for whole home coverage.

Congratulations to ExpressVPN.

Best VPN shortlist

ExpressVPN, Surfshark, NordVPN, ProtonVPN, Private Internet Access