Call us traditional, but we thought we’d wait until the end of the year to pick our favourite gadgets of 2018. It’s this sort of sensible, pragmatic thinking that helped us agree on the cream of the tech crop from the past 12 months with only one group counselling session…

Words James Day

Photography Matt Beedle

BUDGET PHONE OFTHE YEAR

HONOR 8X

£230 / hihonor.com

Woop-woop! That’s the sound of da police! The rozzers are after us because the Honor 8X is an absolute steal of a smartphone. You might be tempted to run a mile when you see the word ‘budget,’ but don’t be fooled by the Honor 8X’s tiny price tag, because this bad boy packs a helluva punch.

Compared to rivals like the Moto One and Nokia 7.1, the Honor 8X is streets ahead, sporting a bigger screen (6.5in) than both, a Kirin 710 processor with noticeably more power, a beefier battery and more megapixels for detailed pictures.

We love getting more for less, and that’s precisely why we adore the Honor 8X.

NOMINEES

● Nokia 7.1 ● Moto G6 Plus

● Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro ● Honor 9 Lite

PHONE OF THE YEAR

HUAWEI MATE 20 PRO

£899 / huawei.com

We’ve raved about the Huawei P20 Pro for what seems like an eternity, so it was high time something knocked it off its perch. And from the moment we grasped this feature-packed mobile in our mitts, the Stuff team were smitten by the obscene amount of tech squeezed into its slender frame.

That spec is stunning in its own right: a 6.39in curved OLED display; in-screen fingerprint scanner; IR-based face recognition; and a whip-smart Kirin 980 processor. But the star is the three-lens camera array. With the 40MP main RGB lens, a 8MP telephoto and a 20MP Leica ultra-wide-angle, the Mate 20 Pro becomes a playground for photographers.

NOMINEES

● Apple iPhone XS ● Sony Xperia XZ3

● Samsung Galaxy Note 9 ● OnePlus 6T

NOW ADD THIS

HUAWEI MATE 20 PRO WIRELESS SUPER CHARGER 15W

This Qi pad boosts juice at a rapid rate of 15W. Most phones with Qi charging can muster only a paltry 9-10W. £60 / amazon.co.uk

READERS’ PHONE OF THE YEAR

APPLE iPHONE XS

Here’s a bit of a spoiler: Apple’s missed out on the nod for your overall gadget of the year (see p51). But that doesn’t stop the ace iPhone XS being a worthy winner here. from £999 / apple.com

MOBILE GAME OFTHE YEAR

ODDMAR

£4.99 / iOS

And it’s hi ho cartoon Viking, anywhere you go now baby! We’ve had that song stuck in our heads ever since we picked up Oddmar, the beautifully animated, endlessly charming mobile platformer about a rather lazy warrior imbued with magical powers.

Admittedly it all sounds a bit strange, but underneath that wonderfully wacky paint job is a game with enough substance to match its effortless style. This is a tour de force that rarely hits the brakes, and a magnificent example of how unforgettable mobile gaming can be when everything just slots into place.