Consumer Reports publishes top smartphones – operating system diversity is here to stay

As reported by IntoMobile, Consumer Reports just released their top rated smartphones:

1. Samsung Blackjack II (AT&T) – score: 69 (out of 100)
2. T-Mobile Wing – score: 66
3. Motorola Q 9c (Verizon) – score: 65
4. T-Mobile Shadow – score: 65
5. Pantech Duo (AT&T) – score: 63
6. AT&T Tilt – score: 62
7. Palm Centro 685 (AT&T) – score: 61
8. Palm Treo 800 (Sprint-Nextel) – score: 61
9. Palm Treo 577P (Sprint-Nextel) – score: 61
10. Apple iPhone 3G (8GB) (AT&T) – score: 61

The list may seem a bit surprising. Despite excitement about iPhone and Android, Windows Mobile devices did very well, with the Blackjack II topping the list. Apparently the HTC (AT&T) Fuze (very similar to the HTC Touch Diamond) didn’t quite get released in time to be reviewed. That’s too bad – its a fantastic device. In general it’s clear that it’s still at least a five platform market for smartphones: Windows Mobile, Blackberry, iPhone, Android and Symbian. Plus, with the strength of these Palm devices, if they do a good job on their new operating system Nova and associated device updates, they will still be a contender. Wow, six device operating systems. Is there any other way to be a mobile app developer without a crossplatform toolkit?

For what its worth here are our favorite devices in various categories:

• best overall multipurpose device: HTC Fuze.
  This was an easy choice. It has a great keyboard (better than the G1 even), fast processor, and is extremely small and lightweight

• best for phone and camera: Nokia N95.
  This is still the best phone Nokia makes, has voice quality and usability for voicecalls, and is replete with highend options. It is a faster device than the Nokia N96. When the Nokia N97 comes out that will probably win these first two categories

• best for web browsing, music and consumer apps: Apple iPhone 3G
  Love the iPhone for surfing, listening to music app and all those great apps on the iPhone store. It’s still a little awkward as a voice phone. And, despite becoming reasonably adept at the soft keyboard, I wouldn’t want to be away on a trip without my laptop and only be able to send emails with this device.

This is a fairly arbitrary category list I guess. Like many other people I find that I carry multiple devices most of the time. These three devices are my stalwarts and I find that I use them all the time and no single one of them is best at each. For me it’s validation that the mobile device market market will continue to be fragmented, er, diverse.

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