CNET's Editors' Choice highlights the tech of 2019 worth buying
Our team of reviewers tested, lived with and picked the best gear for your money all year long.
- Member of the board, UCLA Daily Bruin Alumni Network; advisory board, Center for Ethical Leadership in the Media
CNET's Scott Stein tested the Oculus Quest, one of our Editors' Choice picks for 2019.
As part of CNET's job chronicling the best tech released every year, our team of expert reviewers spends time trying out dozens of the top products in consumer technology -- everything from smartphones to Wi-Fi routers to gaming systems to TVs and wearable devices. That often means putting them through a variety of tests in our labs to see if they measure up to their developers' promises. But it also means living with them -- just like you would -- to decide if they're something we'd recommend you buy.
For 2019, we've picked 44 products we think got it right. These gadgets , devices and services provide the best value to the most people across the big categories of consumer tech. And for that reason, they've been singled out for a CNET Editors' Choice award.
How does this all work? Jason Hiner, editorial director for CNET Advice, has his team look at lots of new products and decide which ones we'll include in roundups and which might end up on our lists of interesting products. But only the most significant products get full reviews and end up on our Best Lists. From those Best Lists, the team meets and discusses which products are really top tier and deserve an Editors' Choice call out.
As an extra bit of restraint, Jason and his team usually wait until at least a week after a product has been released and in consumers' hands before making it an Editors' Choice pick. That's just to make sure there aren't any quality control issues that show up after lots of people have gotten a chance to use them and tell us about their daily experience.
For 2019, our top phones include the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Apple's iPhone 11 . For TVs, we're impressed with the TCL 6-series and LG OLED B9P. When it comes to laptops , our editors cited the HP Spectre x360 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 . The Nest Wifi and the Wyze Cam made our top list for smart home , and Disney Plus and Apple Arcade were standouts in our new services category.
These are products that are well-designed, perform well and do what we'd expect them to do -- and more. We also consider value for price and how the products stack up against other choices in their category.
This year's Editors' Choice winners were picked by our knowledgeable team of Advice editors: mobile experts Eric Franklin, Jessica Dolcourt, Vanessa Hand Orellana, Lynn La and Patrick Holland; home entertainment experts David Katzmaier, Ty Pendlebury and Eli Blumenthal; computer experts Dan Ackerman, Josh Goldman, Lori Grunin and Scott Stein; smart home experts Rich Brown, Ry Crist, Megan Wollerton, Andrew Gebhart, Molly Price and Dave Priest; and software, apps and services experts Alison DeNisco Rayome, Shelby Brown and Rae Hodge.
Take a look at the full list of Editors' Choice picks or view them all in photos, and then tell us what you think. 2019 delivered many great choices. Now on to 2020.
