The readers have spoken: The Samsung Galaxy S II has emerged as the best mobile phone at the AsiaOne People's Choice Awards.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the Nokia N9 were the other phones among the top three.

On Samsung's win, the brand's marketing manager for mobile phones, Ms Yvonne Chng, said: "We are very proud to receive this award, as it is a form of recognition from consumers."

The winners were announced last night at a ceremony for the awards held at the auditorium of the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) News Centre in Toa Payoh North.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, president of the Consumers Association of Singapore, was the event's guest of honour.

In its fourth year, the awards give out accolades to readers' favourite brands by popular vote. It is organised by AsiaOne, an SPH online news portal.

This is the first time in the awards' history that Apple's iPhone did not top the cellphone category.

The latest iPhone - the 4S, launched on Oct 28 - was not included in the awards' nominee list, which opened for public voting on Oct 24. Voting ended on Dec 28.

Close to 7,000 readers participated in the online poll of their favourite products, brands and services in 24 categories.

Over 150,000 votes were cast, a 30 per cent increase compared to the previous year's awards. Other brands that got readers' popular vote include Kuriya Dining for best Japanese restaurant, Tung Lok Signatures for best Chinese restaurant and VivoCity for best shopping centre.

VivoCity general manager Chang Yeng Cheong said: "We feel very privileged and glad that we are No. 1 this year, because we have been nominated for the past three years but never came out top before."

He revealed that the mall is preparing for the opening of Francfranc, a Japanese home-furnishing store. The store, which will have a "wonderland" concept and take up 20,000 sq ft of space where Page One used to be, will have its grand opening on June 1.

For more information, go to www.asiaone.com/pca.

For more my paper stories click here.