This week on WSJ Digits, Walt shared his thoughts on his best and worst reviewed products for 2010.
Taking Walt’s top spot this year was none other than Apple’s iPad. For a 1.0 product, the iPad was amazing. With the new iOS 4.2 operating system and its huge selection of apps, the iPad continues to stay ahead of the competition.
High-speed 4G networks in the United States took the second spot. As the world goes more mobile, the availability of faster networks is critical. Today, 3G networks are bursting at the seams, and the promise of these networks will be something to watch closely in 2011.
Tied for third were the Samsung Galaxy S and the Apple iPhone 4. The Galaxy S is representative of the powerful force that Android has become within the smartphone marketplace. Despite no longer being the only game in town and all the initial controversy over its antenna, the iPhone 4 is still the best overall smartphone, according to Walt.
Turning his attention to his worst reviewed products for 2010, Walt gave the Dell Streak tablet a thumbs-down. Calling the Streak a tweener, he believed this Android device was too big to be a phone yet too small to be a tablet.
While no company got it right when it came to integrating the Internet with the television, Google TV was certainly not ready for prime time. Walt felt that it was basically a geek product, with a confusing user interface and clumsy keyboard options. Finally, the TiVo Premiere was another product that failed to meet Walt’s expectations. As a TiVo fan and user, he felt TiVo Premiere, with its cluttered interface, shared Google TV’s shortcomings. Simply put, the execution was not there, and the price was too high.
Walt did stress that these products might be great someday, but 2010 was not their year.
