Striving to bring recognition to manufacturers of high-technology equipment, the iXBT.com editorial team decided to institute three awards:

Reviewed by iXBT.com

The Reviewed by iXBT.com award recognizes the products, which have gone through the iXBT.com lab tests. This award is presented to a manufacturer, whose products were tested in our lab, got reviewed, and their reviews are published on the iXBT.com web site, in the iXBT.com magazine, or on the Digit-Life.com web site.

Original Design

Modern IT market is flooded with clones. Life-cycle of a product became shorter, so most manufacturers do not spend their time and resources on their own designs. Instead, they often follow the so called "reference design", changing only the name of the product and the package appearance. That's why in order to encourage efforts of the manufacturers who create innovative products different from reference designs, the editorial team of iXBT.com institutes the Original Design award.

This award can be honored to a product with an original design, which is essentially different from the reference design. The product must be tested in the iXBT.com lab and then have a review (concerning the test results) published on the iXBT.com web site, in the iXBT.com magazine, or on the Digit-Life.com web site.

The Original Design award can be selected only once a month and must provide links to the reviews of the awarded products.

Printer Awards

A printer may be awarded with Original Design, if this model...

• Possesses unique functionality for these days
• Comes shipped with an outstanding software package
• Offers something revolutionary new to the market
• A model of engineering art
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

Samsung SPP-2040 Dye-Sub Photo Printer

3D Video Cards Awards

A video card can be awarded with Original Design, if the tests revealed the following features distinguishing it from the reference design:

• Original cooling system, which is more effective at the least possible level of noise
• Support for extra features, such as Video-In (if it is not provided by the reference design)
• Other things that are not listed here

It goes without saying that, for example, a PCB color different from the reference design cannot be considered an innovation.

November 2005 Awards

ASUS Extreme N7800GT PCI-E 256MB

ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer PCI-E 256MB

Inno3D GeForce 6800 Premium Edition AGP 128MB

Projectors Awards

A projector can be honored with the Original Design award, if it features:

• Original exterior^*
  • Catchy construction of the projector case (form, elements, material, colors, etc), which attracts attention and distinguishes this projector against typical devices, as well as associates this projector with things having nothing to do with projectors.

• Functional design^*
  • Special design of the projector, which considerably facilitates operations with this device (configuration, transporting, managing modes, etc), and/or introduces functions, which are not typical of common projectors (quick start, direct power control, mechanical colour filters); the use of original technologies allowing qualitative improvements of the product characteristics (micro mirrors to increase brightness, light-refracting element to smooth the edges between pixels, etc).

^* It also concerns accessories, e.g. remote control, leveling foot, etc.

The awarded projector may possess both original design and functional construction, or only one of the features. The more features of the projector fall under the listed-above categories, the higher its chances are to get the Original Design award. Even a single but pronounced feature, which distinguishes the product against the others, may yield this award. The award is deserved by the first models appearing on the market, possessing some distinctive feature. Copies of the existing solutions, clones, sequels in the series, etc are of less value.

November 2005 Awards

Epson EMP-TWD1 Multimedia Projector

HP mp3135 Multimedia Digital Projector

Hard Disks Awards

A hard disk can be awarded with Original Design, in case it:

• Possesses unique characteristics for these days (spindle rotational speed, data density, etc)
• Features original technical solutions, which cannot be found in other models
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

Seagate Savvio 10K.1

TV Tuner and Multimedia Video Card Awards

TV tuner or a multimedia video card can be honored with the Original Design award, if it demonstrates the following distinctive features:

• Original hardware solutions aimed to improve the sound and image quality
• Hardware implementation of extra unique features, which are not directly connected with audio and video
• Original design
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

AVerTV Hybrid+FM Cardbus — a hybrid TV- and FM-tuner with PCMCIA interface — Good reception quality of digital and analog channels as well as support for all existing standards

DVD Players Awards

DVD player can get the Original Design award, if it features

• Original hardware solutions aimed to improve the sound and image quality
• Hardware implementation of extra unique features, which are not directly connected with audio and video
• Original design
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

CineTrek WRD041 Portable DVD Player — the first portable player with slot-in loading that we have tested.

MP3 Players and Multimedia Centers Awards

A player or a center can be honored with the Original Design award, in case it:

• Possesses unique functionality for these days
• Either contributes something revolutionary new to the market, or is an absolutely new device on the market
• Provides the outstanding quality of multimedia content playback
• Demonstrates a model of design (by its appearance, compact size or ergonomics)
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

MP3/WMA/OGG Player RoverMedia Aria X5

MP3/WMA/OGG Player RoverMedia Aria Z3

Excellent Package

It's always pleasant to buy a product and find out that the package includes additional equipment, software, games, souvenirs, etc. It's nice to think that the product you bought is well worth its price, and it's twice as nice to buy a well-bundled product at a moderate price. In practice, some manufacturers tend to save on every item, even if the inclusion of this item into the product package raises the price by less than 10%. Thus, the editorial team of iXBT.com institutes the Excellent Package award to bring recognition to those manufacturers, who offer nice boxes with excellent package content (the product plus useful accessories) instead of featureless boxes with minimal package content (CD with drivers).

This award can be presented to a product with an original box and unique package content. The product must be tested in the iXBT.com lab, and the results of these tests must be published in a review on the iXBT.com web site, the iXBT.com magazine, or the Digit-Life.com web site.

The Excellent Package award can be selected only once a month and must refer to the awarded product reviews.

TV Tuner and Multimedia Video Card Awards

TV-tuner or a multimedia video card can be selected for the Excellent Package award based on these criteria:

• Original package (retail)
• Homeware with unique functionality
• Rich set of extra software
• Souvenirs or useful/nice knick-knacks in the package
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

Behold Columbus — TV- and FM-Tuner with PCMCIA interface — Features of the Behold TV program, supported plugins as well as additional bundled software, in particular

Projectors Awards

A projector can be honored with the Excellent Package award, if it comes shipped with additional accessories, which:

• Help you use all (or most) available functions of the projector (for example when the standard package includes cables for all projector connectors, which let you use the projector with most supported audio and video sources and which allow you to use this projector in countries with different power supply standards).
• Make it considerably easier to use the projector (for example, a full-featured remote control with a laser pointer, mouse emulation and presentation flow controls; convenient stand/holder, etc)
• Are not necessary for projector functions, but help reduce possible consumer expenses (for example, a special cap for connectors to make the projector look better so that you don't have to install a cover up box to hide the projector at home; or a bundled Wi-Fi card, which you would have had to buy for non centrino notebooks).

A special note should be made of bundled bags, cases, etc, which make it easier to store and carry the device and all its accessories necessary for operation (cables, remote control, documentation) as well as protect the device from dust and mechanical effects.

A unique bundle does not have a novelty aspect, that is we can award several well-bundled projectors (manufacturers will not provide good bundles for all projectors anyway - the unique aspect will remain), the more criteria this bundle qualifies for, the more deserved the award will be.

November 2005 Awards

HP mp3135 Multimedia Digital Projector

DVD Players Awards

DVD player can be awarded with Excellent Package, if it features

• Original package (retail)
• A rich set of accessories in the bundle
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

CineTrek WRD041 Portable DVD Player — a good bundle of accessories (we can forgive the lack of head phones and buckles on fastening belts)

3D Video Cards Awards

A video card can be awarded with Excellent Package, if the tests demonstrated the following features distinguishing it from the other products on the market at that moment:

• Original package (retail)
• Rich software set, utilities and other homeware
• Various bonuses: souvenirs or useful/nice knick-knacks
• Other things that are not listed here

November 2005 Awards

XFX GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI-E 256MB

XFX GeForce 6800 GT PCI-E 256MB

Additional information

The same award cannot be given to a product more than once.

A product can get several different awards.

Printed award certificates can be provided by written request via e-mail: pr@ixbt.com

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