Mobile Nations Weekly: Auld lang gadgetry

2015 is in the books and 2016 is under way, but there's no time to rest and look back. CES 2016 is nearly here! The team's on their way to Las Vegas to check out the latest wares from across the tech universe.

But in the meantime, BlackBerry won't have to hand over their servers to the Pakistani government and the Priv looks set to go to T-Mobile. iMore looked back at Apple's 2015, handing out the 2015 iMore Awards and adding new inductees to the Hall of Fame.

Android Central also capped off the year with the 2016 Readers' Choice Awards — and the rumor mill started to kick into high gear with the first reports about the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7.

Windows Central took a look at a new budget gaming laptop from Dell and offered a slew of tips for new Xbox One owners. Oh, and there's the new low-cost Microsoft Lumia 550 out now and the Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL coming to T-Mobile.

• Check out the latest coverage from CES 2016
• Dive deep into the smartphones that smartphone nerds want to buy

CrackBerry — Back to where we've been

We've made it through the holidays and have now kicked off the new year. Welcome to 2016 and thanks for being here with us. The first event of the year is CES and while things seem pretty quiet on the 'BlackBerry' specific side, we're expecting to hear quite a bit from QNX to get the year started on the right foot. Before all that takes place on January 6-9th, 2016, let's take a quick look at what happened to close us out of 2015.

• BlackBerry's Pakistan operations to continue after government drops access demands
• BlackBerry Priv reportedly heading to T-Mobile on Jan. 26
• The best file managers to download on your BlackBerry Priv

Android Central — CES-bound

It was a pretty slow week in terms of news, as is usually the case the week before CES kicks off. If you're looking to get ready for the show be sure to check out our CES preview, and keep up with all of the fun from our dedicated CES 2016 page.

The big rumors of the week have to do with LG and Samsung's new flagships, with LG dropping some info on a potential G5 and the smallest of leaks coming out for the Galaxy S7. It's still very early, and we can expect more in the way of solid rumors once we hit February.

On top of the big stories below, we encourage you to read through the results of our annual Readers' Choice Awards, where we show everyone what the Android Central readership thinks about the year that was.

• A quick look at the Fossil Q Founder in leather
• 'Productivity' isn't a feature, so stop trying to sell it
• Why the Pixel C isn't yet a 'productivity' device
• A year-end love letter to the Nexus 6P

iMore — The 2015 that was

2015 was one of the biggest and busiest in Apple's history. Apple Watch, new MacBook, iOS 9, OS X El Capitan, watchOS 2, Apple Music, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad mini 4, new Apple TV, iPad Pro, and much, much more. We can list it all here, so we're linking it all below!

• Best of the year: 2015 iMore Awards, 2015 Hall of Fame, Rene's favorites, and Serenity's favorites
• Year in review: Everything Apple did in 2015 and Apple's five biggest fumbles of 2015
• Year in preview: What we want from Apple in 2016

Windows Central — Affordability as a feature

Overall, it was a rather slow week as the holidays rolled on and came to a close. We were still hard at work as we reviewed a budget gaming laptop from Dell and gave you tips if you got a new Xbox One.

In mobile news we unboxed and got our hands on the new low-cost Microsoft Lumia 550. And evidently AT&T is letting Microsoft update their Lumia 950 without any carrier interference. In fact, monthly OS updates for the new phone should be expected. Firmware, however, is another matter.

Finally, Windows Central confirmed that T-Mobile (US) will be the first carrier to grab the new Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL.

As for next week we're headed to CES in Las Vegas. Our coverage will focus on many new PCs, laptops, two-in-ones, and even a few new Windows Phones. Make sure you tune in starting tomorrow night for our on-the-ground coverage!

• Dell Inspiron 15 7559 review: a solid gaming laptop for just $799
• Microsoft Lumia 550 unboxing, comparison and first impressions
• Microsoft CEO says phone share is 'unsustainable', thinks developers will embrace Windows 10
• T-Mobile's first Windows 10 phone will be the Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL