With pretty much every tech blog at CES this week there has been a lot of blogging going on across the internet. The folks over at WIRED decided to take a different approach this year and try to cover the event using their smartphones in something the called Smartphone Thunderdome. No DSLR's, no laptops, no compact-system cameras. Just smartphones. The devices used ended up being a BlackBerry Z30, iPhone 5s, Nokia Lumia 1020 and finally, a Motorola X.

Covering CES with the proper gear is hard enough as we know from our own #CESlive coverage, doing it from only smartphone? That's kinda crazy. No matter though, the folks at WIRED were doing it and with CES quickly coming to a close, WIRED has done their due diligence and posted up who exactly came out on top in their Smartphone Thunderdome​.

  • 1st place - Tim Moynihan and the BlackBerry Z30 - 257.5 points - "I took a lot of ribbing for using a BlackBerry. It's not as fancy as the other phones in the contest, apparently. But you know what? Doesn't matter. It's still a phone that can be used to cover a large electronics tradeshow. That’s pretty amazing. Technology is pretty amazing in general these days, you know? These things fit in your pocket! And they're like laptops except better."
  • 2nd Place - Christina Bonnington and the iPhone 5s - 147.75 points - "Keeping track of my iPhone’s battery life is probably the single most important thing during the day, because if my device dies, I can’t post. Luckily, I do have the iPhone, which gets good battery life. But using my phone as my sole means of computing means I'm fully recharging it at least three times a day, I’d estimate (although I try to never let it dip below 50 percent)."
  • 3rd Place - Robbie Baldwin and the Nokia Lumia 1020 - 145 points - "I’m very happy that I brought the Lumia 1020 along to CES. For me, it was a grand experiment to see what could be accomplished on a platform that's foreign to me. If Joe, Mike, and Bryan told me I had to use Windows Phone next year, I’d be perfectly fine with that. Hell, the keyboard is better than the iPhone and that was what really mattered most the time."
  • 4th Place - Mat Honan and the Moto X - 100 points - His Moto X got a cracked screen.  "This is supposed to be a real-world challenge. And I'm going to challenge myself to use this crazy cracked-ass Moto X just as you'd have to if it broke on you early in your contract. It’s going to suck. But I’ll deal."

Wired doesn't state how their scoring structure was broken down in the post but they do note that overall, the BlackBerry Z30 took the points for Overall Winner, Best Photography, and Most Posts. They also have wrap-ups from each their writers with further comments on their site, so if you're looking for the full details then by all means head on over to WIRED and check it out.

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