We’ve covered a wide range of products, devices and services across 12 different categories for this year’s Tom’s Guide Awards. However, we’ve saved the best for last and our Hero Awards recognize the best of the best from the latest innovations to cutting-edge design and impressive sustainability efforts.
The winners of this year’s Hero Awards stood out to our team here at Tom’s Guide for changing the course of the world of technology as a whole, breaking ground with new innovations and going the extra mile when it comes to making the devices we use everyday more sustainable.
Join us in celebrating the achievements of all of this year’s Hero Awards winners and the lasting impact these companies and their products will have on the future of technology.
Best new product
Gemini Live
AI is everywhere these days, and Google’s Gemini is absolutely dominating the space right now. While the AI software has a lot of features to boast, Gemini Live has quickly stood out as one of its best.
Google describes it as a more natural way to chat to Gemini. Open up the Gemini app and you can start a video chat with it, showing Gemini your surroundings and chatting away to the AI bot.
It’s not just video, share documents, images and files with Gemini and live chat with the bot as it identifies what it is looking at.
This feature has been advertised heavily by Samsung, and for good reason. It turns your smartphone into an all-knowing chatbot with eyes. It can translate menus, explain documents, teach you how to change a tire and identify what kind of laptop you have.
Sure, this kind of feature isn’t entirely unique, competitors like OpenAI have their own version, but Gemini stands out as the most intuitive, understanding context and situational awareness far better than anyone else.
Innovation award
Asus ROG Flow Z13
The Asus ROG Flow Z13 started its life this year in controversial fashion — being announced with no dedicated graphics card. Instead, you’re getting an AMD Ryzen AI Max APU with…integrated graphics? Asus promised me it was powerful, but I was suspicious.
Fast forward a few months later to launch, and I can safely confirm that Strix Halo is the real deal — I’m absolutely blown away by what this 2-in-1 can do in the gaming space. I’m talking about Cyberpunk 2077 with topped out settings at over 90 frames per second, and even Black Myth: Wukong at 92 FPS.
And all of this in what is essentially a tablet!? And a damn good looking one at that with a bright, colorful and buttery smooth 180Hz Mini-LED display, a slim and sleek design, and a battery life that frankly embarrasses other high performance laptops?
I’ve been waiting for this moment for years — where gaming notebooks can be ultraportable without compromising performance. And now, it’s happened.
Best company award
Anthropic
Thanks to its mission-driven approach to building safe and trustworthy AI, Anthropic deserves the award for Best Company. Founded in 2021 by a team of former OpenAI researchers, the company has quickly risen to prominence with its Claude AI models, most notably Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4, which have surpassed competitors in productivity tasks like writing, summarization and even code generation, leading in SWE-Bench benchmarks.
With massive backing from Amazon and Google and $4 billion in revenue to show for it, Anthropic’s Claude is quickly becoming one of the most influential AI platforms in the industry.
But what really sets Anthropic apart is its focus on AI safety, transparency and model explainability, qualities that are increasingly critical as AI tools move into our daily lives.
In a fast-moving industry where hype often outpaces impact, Anthropic’s steady, safety-first strategy is earning real-world trust, and that’s why it’s our top pick.
Sustainability in tech
Framework Laptop 12
I’ve been reviewing laptops for decades, and the Framework Laptop 12 is the most accessible, sustainable and upgradable 2-in-1 I’ve ever seen.
Sure, it can’t match the elegance and power of more expensive laptops, but the fact that you can crack it open and start swapping out parts yourself makes the Framework Laptop 12 the most sustainable laptop I’ve used all year. And since the cute, chunky 2-in-1 comes in five color schemes (including bubblegum and sage) it could be a huge hit with kids, students and families.
That’s great for sustainability because like all Framework laptops, the Framework Laptop 12 is designed to be easy to learn thanks to embedded QR codes inside the laptop which take you right to Framework’s step-by-step guides. If the Framework Laptop 12 proves popular with families and schools it could help a whole generation feel more comfortable modifying and tinkering with their devices, and that could be a huge win for the future of sustainability.
Best product design
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
This is it. Samsung has done what we didn’t think possible. Make a foldable phone that’s just as sleek as a regular slab smartphone.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a revelation in design. Measuring 8.9 mm when folded and 4.2mm when unfolded, this device is only slightly thicker than the Galaxy S25 Ultra and even lighter.
This is thanks to a redesigned Armor FlexHinge with an enhanced water droplet design. As a result of this and other enhancements, the Z Fold 7 is 48% thinner than the original Galaxy Z Fold and 26% thinner than last year’s Fold 6.
Even with this huge leap in portability, the Z Fold 7 boasts an even larger 8-inch main display. Plus, there’s a new multi-rail structure that reduces the visibility of the crease. And there’s a bigger 6.5-inch screen up front, too.
Yes, Samsung ditched S Pen support to achieve this thinner design. And you don’t get dust resistance. But overall, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the best foldable I’ve ever held and used. And it’s easily the best designed gadget of the year.
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