Most Anticipated

This category drew the most interest from us here at the htxt.africa offices – we were dying to know if our readers were looking forward to futuristic tech like virtual reality headsets, or if their interest lay with slightly less forward-looking tech and somewhat more useful concerns. Turns out, South Africans are a practical bunch.

Readers’ Choices

Faster, Cheaper Internet Access

Our poll numbers suggest that the vast majority of our readers don’t care for virtual reality headsets, the completion of the Digital Migration process or even TV White Spaces projects taking off – no, what you want is faster, cheaper internet access.

And we can totally get behind that. Internet access has indeed improved in the last six years, to the point where uncapped internet – data without limits – and faster access speeds are commonplace.

We’re still behind the rest of the world in terms of speed and costs, though, and clearly you guys are hoping that next year will see speeds go up and prices drop, which they should given the huge fibre rollouts currently underway across the country.

Htxt.africa’s Choices

Nick
Virtual Reality Headsets

Nick, meanwhile, is most looking forward to the arrival of virtual reality headsets, which are expected to hit store shelves sometime in 2016.

Three companies are in the running: Valve with their Vive headset, Facebook and its Oculus Rift, and of course PlayStation VR, Sony’s offering.

Whether any will be worth spending cash on remains to be seen, as do the games that take advantage of them, but their potential is very exciting nonetheless.

Charlie
Netflix arriving in SA

Streaming video has made some good strides in South Africa, but the truly big players haven’t arrived yet. With Charlie having had really good experiences with Netflix overseas, he is the htxt.africa staffer most excited for a local Netflix offering at local pricing – and hopefully some local content.

Best General Innovation

This category was perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, because 2015 has been a very busy year that saw a great deal of innovation make its way into the public space.

From free Wifi  hotspots cropping up like relatives at a lottery win to Intel’s incredible NUC (essentially a PC on a stick) and the ability to make calls over Wifi , there was plenty to choose from.

The eventual winner turned out to be something vaguely South African: a device that could potentially help to alleviate our electricity supply issues, or at the very least help SA consumers to cope with them.

Readers’ Choice

Tesla Powerwall

Elon Musk may not have been back to South Africa for 20 years or so, but we’ll claim him as ours nonetheless. It is his company’s Powerwall that received the most votes in our Best General Innovation category; it’s a home battery that charges via solar panels, and can help reduce reliance on an external power grid and lower electricity costs per household.

It acts as a battery backup in case of power outages, and can power an average-sized home for an evening before requiring a recharge. As South Africa has had its fair share of electricity-related issues this year, it’s no surprise our readers voted the Powerwall as their Best General Innovation of 2015.

Htxt.africa’s Choices

Charlie
Fibre To The Home

Charlie loves his internet, and the faster, the better; as such he is anxiously awaiting fibre to reach his neighbourhood.

Since existing FTTH speeds surpass almost anything ADSL has to offer, often at the same price, Fibre To The Home is an easy pick for Charlie’s Best General Innovation of 2015.

Lungelo
Paperless Schools

Lungelo was far more impressed with the push by the Gauteng government to make more schools paperless by forcing the adoption of tablets and other tech solutions.

The appeal there is that the technology does away with problems like physical textbook delivery, and ensures the curriculum being taught is always up to date.

Wrapping up

Well, that’s 2015 done and dusted, and by all accounts it was a very cool year for the tech industry! We can’t wait to see what innovations, ideas, refinements and gear 2016 brings, and we look forward to covering it all for your enjoyment, entertainment and edification in the next 12 months!

We trust you enjoyed reading the results of our Gear of the Year survey, which has wrapped the year up quite nicely. We enjoyed doing it, and look forward to more of the same next year.

All that’s left to do now is to wish you all a happy New Year, and all the best for 2016!

The htxt.africa team will return to full-time tech news/reviews/feature duty on the 6th of January.