Apple iPod Touch named T3's gadget of the year

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Apple has swept the board at Britain's T3 technology magazine's annual awards, winning four top prizes, including gadget of the year for its iPod Touch.

The touch-screen music and video player beat the Asus Eee Pc budget laptop, TomTom's GO 920 car navigation system, Sony's HDR-TG3 compact camcorder and six other devices.

T3 Editor Michael Brook said Apple had "nailed the mix of style and usability" with its latest crop of gadgets.

"The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it was, and is, by far the best," he said. "The iPhone clearly wasn't the first smartphone, but it was the first one that every man, his dog and his dog's ticks would sell limbs to own."

Apple won three other awards: best commuter gadget (iPhone); best music gadget (iPod Touch 32GB) and a prize given by the magazine's blog, Gadget Candy (MacBook Air).

The magazine's second annual awards ceremony was held in Park Lane, central London, on Thursday evening and was hosted by "Cold Feet" actor James Nesbitt.

Readers cast more than 54,000 votes to pick 11 of the prizes, including the gadget of the year award. The others were chosen by T3. Details are on their website, www.t3.com/.

* Here is a full list of winners: