This year’s MWC might have brought a pitiful number of exciting new devices, but at least the Global Mobile Awards should put some smiles on the faces of Android aficionados.

The GMAs honor the best of the best in mobile technology for 18 years already and they’re on their way to becoming the most prestigious tech award ceremony. Or, in other words, they’re like the Oscars of gadgets.

But unlike the 2013 Academy Awards in movies, where the spotlight split between Argo and Life of Pi, the latest GMAs saw one “player” steal almost the entire show – Samsung. The Koreans scored three major wins, courtesy of the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Camera, as well as two more minor trophies for LTE advancements.

The GS3 was named best smartphone by the GSM Association judges, while the G Camera snatched the title of best mobile enabled consumer electronics device. The hat-trick was completed with the most precious trophy of them all, for device manufacturer of the year.

Meanwhile, Asus and Google’s Nexus 7 won one of the most heated battles, taking the best mobile tablet title away from a competition which included Apple’s iPad Mini and iPad with Retina display, the Asus Transformer Infinity, Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD 8.9 and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1.

Nokia walked away from Barcelona with one crown of its own – the best feature or entry level phone title for the Asha 305. As for Apple, not to be snarky or anything, but they got what they deserved – absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch.

And that’s despite being nominated three times, including for best smartphone. You wanted a thermonuclear war against Android, Apple? You got it, but guess what, you’re losing!

Moving on from gadgets for a second, let’s see what apps were honored by the GSMA. The list starts quite surprisingly, with Waze, who knocked down Dropbox and Flipboard to be crowned “best overall mobile app”.

Facebook got the upper hand against Instagram, Temple Run, YouTube and Twitter in the “mobile app for consumers” category, while Evernote won the coveted title of “best mobile app for enterprise” over Dropbox and Google Drive.

A number of other awards were handed out by the GSMA, including the Green Mobile distinction, the outstanding LTE contribution prize or the “Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations” accolade. The entire list of winners can be consulted here, while the names of all nominees are available at this link.

Before heading out though, tell us your thoughts on Samsung’s hat-trick, Asus and Google’s tablet win and Apple’s snubs. Do you agree with all those choices? Is Sammy unstoppable? Will we get invited to Apple’s funeral soon?

The post Samsung scores a hat-trick at the 2013 GMAs, Nexus 7 wins best tablet appeared first on Android Authority.