Dial-a-Phone presents a series of awards based around the top mobile phone news stories, releases and gossip of the past year.  However, if you’re looking for ‘Best Phone’ or similarly dreary content, you may be disappointed…

Mobile Movie Star of 2008.

Nominees:  The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (for The Dark Knight), Sony Ericsson C902 (for Quantum of Solace) and the Apple iPhone 3G (for Sex and the City).
The Winner:  The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic!

At first glance, this is a tough category to judge, however, when one looks at the movies in question, a clear winner emerges.  The iPhone is featured in the big screen version of Sex and the City, however when Carrie was handed the phone in question, she proclaimed ‘I don’t know how to work this’.  Oh dear, she needs to see our Mobile Operating System of the Year award.  The Sony Erisson C902 was in Quantum of Solace, but since the entire movie was filmed with the camera attached to paint mixing machine turned up to 11, everyone missed it.  Leaving the Nokia 5800′s star turn at the hands of Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight.  An easy win when you look closer!

Biggest Mobile Tease of the Year.

Nominees:  LG and Sony Ericsson.
The Winner:  Sony Ericsson!

LG do enjoy promoting their products by picturing them next to a new mobile phone, however this year they went one step further and simply made a phone called the LG Bikini advertised by…girls in bikinis!  Why haven’t they won?  Because the amount of Sony Ericsson handsets which were leaked on to the Internet and then cancelled/never released/delayed takes heartless teasing to a whole new level!

Biggest Impact on the Mobile Industry.

Nominees:  Apple, HTC and Google Android.
The Winner:  Google Android!

Apple’s iPhone 3G was an evolution of the first iPhone, so arguably it wasn’t as influential in its second guise and although HTC have released some fantastic phones this year and have become a household name thanks to the increase in smartphone awareness, we wouldn’t say they made a huge impact either.  Android however, is a first and therefore, its impact is only just beginning to show.

Most Hyped Mobile Phone Release.

Nominees:  The Apple iPhone 3G, the BlackBerry Storm and the T-Mobile G1.
The Winner:  It’s the Apple iPhone 3G!

Queues of eager buyers, fights breaking out, midnight openings, rabid Internet coverage of the announcement and more besides may or may not have occurred for the Jesus phone.   And they still forgot copy/paste.

2008′s Magic Number Award.

Nominees:  Eight, 480×800 and 4.7.0.65.
The Winner:  This year’s magic number is…eight!

The HTC Touch HD may have succeeded in making screen resolution interesting, while the BlackBerry Storm just made firmware versions even more boring, but our winner succeeded on selling more phones on its strength alone!  Let’s face it, if you were a camera phone, eight was the only number you’d want stamped around your lens this year.

The Rumour Which Won’t Die Award.

Nominees:  The Zune Phone, The PSP Phone and the iPhone Nano.
The Winner:  The PSP Phone!

This was a close one, as all of the above had considerable longevity, all have been officially denied, all have spyshots on the Internet and all are versions of existing desirable gadgets.  The PSP Phone won through for the sheer amount of ‘coming soon’ dates – Christmas 2007, Q1 2008, Q4 2008, Christmas 2008 to name a few – plus several for 2009 in order for the rumour to live on!

The ‘We’ll Release it When We’re Good and Ready’ Award for longest gestation period.

Nominees:  The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music and the BlackBerry Bold.
The Winner:  What else but the Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia!

Amazingly, the X1 was officially announced in February 2008 and finally released in October, beating the Bold’s May 2008 announcement/October release and essentially disqualifying the 5800 Tube as it only crept in due to very early leaked information.  We bow down to such sloth!

2008′s Word of the Year.

Nominees:  Capacitive, Resistive and Nomophobic.
The Winner:  Our 2008 word of the year is…nomophobic!

Touchscreens have been everywhere during 2008, but who knew there were at least two different types, which felt and performed differently, and who really cared?  We do now and we all should know which we prefer, so let’s not hear any more about them.  But touchscreen tech was nothing compared to the growth of ‘nomophobic’.  Search this time last year and few, if any, websites would appear, however search now and you’ll find articles in major newspapers, a Wikipedia entry and a site offering advice to sufferers.  Our advice?  Get. A. Grip.

Mobile Operating System of the Year.

Nominees:  BlackBerry OS 4.7, Symbian S60 v9.4 5th Edition and Mac OS X (iPhone 3G)
The Winner:  None of the above; it’s your finger!

No, it didn’t matter which operating system you used, it just didn’t feel modern and sexy enough unless your finger was prodding at a screen rather than a physical button.  All of the above would not exist without it, hence, it’s our 2008 OS of the year.

The ‘Needs some Salt’ Award for Most Tasteless Mobile Phone of 2008.

Nominees:  The GoldVish Piece Unique, the Angel of the Stars and the Vertu Boucheron 150.
The Winner:  The GoldVish Piece Unique!

The Vertu Boucheron 150 may be made from gold, studded with diamonds and the visual appeal of a severed limb, while the Angel of the Stars has more diamonds, a ridiculous price tag and a cutting-edge style to rival phones made, oh, about ten years ago.  However, neither compares to the complete tastelessness of the GoldVish.  Seriously, how could a phone costing nearly a million pounds not win?

It has been a great 2008, it’s looking like a great 2009, and we can’t wait to start compiling next year’s awards!