iPhone 5 pipped for smartphone of year by HTC One

The HTC One device beat the iPhone 5 as T3 magazines favourite phone. Picture: Getty

The Taiwanese-made model also won the T3 design award and the phone of the year accolade at a ceremony in London last night.

It beat the Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 in the phone of the year category, chipping at the dominance held by both technology giants.

However, Apple won computer and tablet of the year and Samsung took the brand of the year title, while Sony won digital camera and TV of the year.

Michael Acton Smith, who co-founded entertainment company Mind Candy, which created Moshi Monsters toys, was honoured for his outstanding contribution to technology

T3 said of Smith: “From [gadget retailer] Firebox.com, an early adopter of e-commerce, to Perplex City, the groundbreaking multi-media game, his vision and hunger for bigger and better has helped the UK become one of the most exciting countries in the world of tech.”

Mr Smith said: “I’m honoured to have received this award from T3. It’s been an incredible journey so far and I’m excited and looking forward to what the future brings.”

Chris Anderson, who has racked up hundreds of millions of web video views for speeches by academics and technological experts through the TED Talks series he curates, won the Tech Legend award.

Mr Anderson said: “I’m surprised, delighted and honoured by this news.

“T3 has long been one of my favorite magazines and I’m tickled pink they would do this – even if the truth is that the award should go to the large numbers of people around the world who have collectively taken TED from being a small conference to a broader celebration of transformative technologies and ideas.”

T3 editor-in-chief Kieran Alger said: “This year’s awards have been the hardest-fought yet.

“Every single winning product is truly an outstanding example of innovation and design.Alongside the killer products of the past 12 months, we’re also thrilled to have honoured two of Britain’s finest tech innovators.

“It’s fantastic to be able to acknowledge the truly staggering success of two visionary entrepreneurs who have influenced the way we work and play on a global scale.

“Chris Anderson’s TED initiatives provide inspiration for a generation of enquiring tech minds, while Michael Acton Smith’s army of Moshi Monsters has brought fun to a mind- boggling 80 million people across the planet.

“They’re both hugely deserving recipients of these prestigious T3 awards and an inspiration to anyone striving in the technology space.”

Other winners included Google, who won innovation of the year for Google Glass – a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display – and instant TV and movie streaming service Netflix, which took the digital media service of the year award.

The Sky+HD 2TB set-top box won entertainment gadget of the year, the Audi A8 car of the year, and Xbox Smartglass app of the year.