Android powers the highest regarded phone on all four US carriers and at least two of top three.
Going into the holiday shopping season, Consumer Reports’ latest Smartphone ratings have been published. Frankly, it is an Android bloodbath. Across the board Androids ran the table with only the iPhone 3GS tied for second on AT&T and HTC’s HD2 which runs Windows Mobile coming in third on T-Mobile.
Consumer Reports’ tests were based on voice quality, camera quality, ease of use, battery and a whole host of other criteria (see video below).
They also ranked the carriers on their ability to handle the smart phones in question. Verizon (VZ) took top honors followed by T-Mobile, Sprint (S) and AT&T (T) brought up the rear. (Update: I’m hearing that these are actually CR’s 2009 carrier rankings so take with grain of salt.).
Consumer Reports singled out the AT&T’s Samsung Captivate and T-Mobile’s Vibrant as the best with 76 ratings followed closely by the Droid X and Droid 2 with 75. Apple’s iPhone 3GS was the highest ranked non-Android phone and tied the HTC Aria for second on AT&T’s network with a 74. Consumer Reports still doesn’t reccomend the iPhone 4:
The iPhone 4 is a fine performer. However, Consumer Reports’ tests found that if you touch a gap on the phone’s lower left side, you could lose your connection. Apple says to call customer service to request a free bumper to alleviate the problem.
Sprint’s best phone was the EVO 4G though I’m surprised they didn’t like the Galaxy S Epic 4G which didn’t make the list (other Galaxy S phones made the top ranks on the other three carriers). The only other phones in the rankings were the HTC HD2 which runs Windows Mobile 6.5 which finished 3rd on T-Mobile and Blackberry Bolds which finished 4th or below and HP/Palm Pres which were generally at the lower end of the rankings.
The full rankings can be found here for Consumer Reports subscribers or in the magazine which hit newsstands today.
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Video via KWCH 12 in Kansas.
Among the top-rated phones in Consumer Reports’ tests are a number of Android phones, including the Samsung Captivate, used with AT&T service, and the Samsung Vibrant, used with T-Mobile service. Those phones were among the highest scoring models, particularly when it comes to their displays, which are especially adept at showing high-definition video.
For Verizon, Consumer Reports top rates the Motorola Droid X and Droid 2. They offer excellent navigation and displays.
For Sprint-Nextel, Consumer Reports top rates the HTC Evo 4G. The Evo is the first phone to work on Sprint’s 4G network, which is faster for browsing the Web and uploading video files.
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