PCMag has conducted and concluded their annual readers’ choice awards for mobile phones and carriers with a surprising winner. That’s right Windows Phone 8 with an average score of 9.0 for user satisfaction was the highest, besting iOS at 8.6 and Android 8.1. Not only that, as PC Mag points out a score of 9 or higher for user satisfaction is quite rare, giving pause to just how pleased customers are with their Windows Phone.
Following up on the news was Nokia for AT&T which came in once again at 9.2 (out of 10), ranking higher than Samsung Android (8.7), Apple iOS (8.6) and other Android devices. Although that was the only carrier which had a winner for Windows Phone, its 9.2 score was significantly higher than the number one phone on Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint. That reinforces the notion that AT&T Windows Phone users have a lot to be happy about.
Last year, Windows Phone 7 shared the spotlight with iOS for the number one spot but this year, Microsoft seems to have finally edged them out. As pointed out, user satisfaction here has little to do with the “newness” of the device and user experience as that information was controlled for, resulting in the same score (9.2) for Windows Phones less than a year old and all phones.
Perhaps not too surprisingly, a lot of people buy Windows Phone for the camera—something for which Nokia is earning quite the reputation for delivering. Ease of use and display size (or quality) were also big factors, though none came close to the winner for Windows Phone: Operating system at 88%. As it turns out, the biggest motivator for people buying a Windows Phone was the OS itself and not any specific features.
That’s good news and bad as Microsoft’s reputation is mixed amongst the public and they clearly have an image problem with their mobile phones. But once someone “gets” what the OS is all about, it just clicks and users evidently become very attached to their choice. The good news though is Microsoft appears to be doing better this last year with the Surface, rebranding and Windows 8.
While readers’ choice awards don’t mean very much in the real world, it sure looks good to see the underdog come out on top as it gets people talking. And maybe trying, new things.
Source: PC Mag; Thanks, Lance, for the tip!
Reader comments
Windows Phone 8 wins readers' choice award at PCMag; Nokia nails AT&T
That's two Readers Choice wins for Nokia. Engadget and PC Mag.
Hell yeah
Hell yeah...
F**king right...
Nice win foe windows phone 8!!!!!love my Lumia
The bulk of the phone buyers are the consumers. Most know nothing about phones. Its the techie fan boys that coax them into buying whatever. The majority will steer them to Android or ios. Its all word of mouth. When they use it, its beautiful, simple, and they can make WP the way they want it. No WP user will ever have a screen looking like another. That's why they love it.
Picking up steam, yes!
I'm never surprised at consumer response to WP. WP will hit paydirt in 2015 as predicted 2 years ago by Gartner,
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9215597/Android_Windows_Phone_will_top_smartphone_OS_sales_in_2015_Gartner_says
The success story here likely is much more a reflection of Nokia's customer satisfaction, and less so that of Microsoft's.
Not surprising. :) WP8 is fantanstic. Althought there are still many things to do, it has a very good start.
Stupid Kindle Fire :|
Days right inter webs.
Is it possible it scored high because all of us fanboys aka wpcentral readers, are the ones buying windows phone thus skuing the results? A big majority of current windows phone buyers/users are us the fans of the OS.
You nailed it on the head, to quote you very roughly "....when windows 8 clicks...users become attached to it..." I had a android for one month after having a win 7 phone then moving to win 8. I wanted to try android, I regretted every day, so I saved up and got my win 8 phone back. I am very attached to my phone.
Nice!
King Elop...give us the heads of Tim Cook and Andy Ruben and his successor.
Were the numbers of votes tallied between each platform equal? Cause if four people voted for Windows Phone and gave it high scores vs four thousand voting for IOS with high scores then you have something that's not really comparitive. You know what they say about statistics...
one day god wanted to create an super human he searched searched and searched...... STEPHAN ELOP, now give me viber because i gave u ...
.. wtf moment
NOKIA IS AWESOME. Give them phone company of the year award too
Ok Sir..
Nokia here is your award ..
.. mission accomplished, PEACE
Awesome! Nokia is amazing, and Microsoft needs to realize they need to work harder for windows phone!
....can't tell the difference between 9.0 and 9.2? There are two charts with two scores. How difficult is it to accurately report information?
Check the title of the graphs. 9.0 refers to OS scores across all carriers whereas 9.2 refers to OS happiness with AT&T smartphone users.
I want pudding!!!!
If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding.
That's my boy . . . :')
(I mean OS)
I need a notification center for all notifications. Other than that I'm good as I need not too many apps. Please Microsoft create that by right swiping.
I agree. Notification center is my #1 wish...
Someone needs to take those pictures from PC mag's site and follow up with the 2instawithlove hash tag because it doesn't matter how much ppl say that wp8 is not worthy enough for "top" apps, there are plenty of 3rd party stats and sites that say differently....the Lumia 920 also won a similar title with phone dog...
Good times!!! I have said since day 1 with my Samsung focus that they had something great to work with in WP. Now let's hope they continue to build on this momentum.
Maybe HTC will now consider working with MS on releasing the HTC One with WP8 running instead of the crappy HTC Tiara they are planning.
And what would be the HTC version of One be called for WP. HTC Alpha of course with 6MP Ultrapixel! Sweet!!
I think Elop is doing a good job ad CEO and Microsoft is doing a shitty job at improving the ecosystem..
+1
For sure
This is really good news!! I ask this not wanting to belittle the information in anyway, but does PCMag have a bigger readership of PC fans that might skew these results slightly....or is that completely unrelated as pretty much everyone has a PC and phones are a completely different thing?
The desktop and smartphone market are very different, a lot (most?) of Windows fans prefer iPhone or Android. In fact, given that Windows is the dominant desktop OS and Windows Phone's market share is in the single digits, it's no surprise that most Windows users don't have a Windows Phone. So no, I don't think the results are skewed.
I think you are right, guess i was just pre-empting someone trying to spoil this great result!!
For years PC Mag was known for having a pro Microsoft/ pro Windows slant. To say the sample its not still biased is ridiculous. Yes most people who own an iPhone probably own a Windows based PC, but the subscribers/readers of the mag(I think its online only now) are windows hardcore fans. Windows phone 8 is catching up, but don't take this poll in equal footing as a Consumer Reports that is more likely to follow a proper experimental design.
PC Mag is/was about PCs but for you to suggest that it's been shilling WP is absolutely laughable. They rarely acknowledge the existence of WP at all. These poll results are indeed unexpected and very welcome. You have no cause to dismiss them as you just did.
It's a great OS and glad readers of PC Mag gave it its due. Lord knows my Android and iOS friends are sick of hearing me yack about it! Great job MSFT, Nokia et al!
This is unexpected news.
I love it!! Hopefully U.S consumers see this and think twice about staying with their ios or android and make he move to WP.
Little wins!!!! We just need to sort the "issues" before the masses get on board. MSFT, you know what you need to do "SORT IT" Nokia give yourself a pat on the back. Coz your are doing Shit.
Wow. That's about all I can say here. Wish people would at least TRY the device and not make number of apps a priority over function.
People want apps...I tried it and have no real problems with the core os stuff but I missed my apps , so I jumped lol. I never veer people away from wp though
Cool. Just upgraded our 2 Sammy Focii to Lumia 920's, 1 Red & 1 Cyan. My 900 will hang around until the Surface Phone or aLumia 1000. Either way we are very happy.
Hey Daniel and the WPCentral team, we're waiting for that 'Like' option :)
@J Papi: LIKE!!! :)
Nokia deserves tons of credit! Now bring the 620 stateside! ;)
Very pleased to see people are pleased with the pleasant OS and please get the updates coming Nokia :)
This is huge publicity, the satisfaction ratings dethroned Apple marvelous
WindowsPhone all the way Baby !
Lord Elop and his efforts proving all the haters wrong, again and again. :clap:
+1 I'm a big fan of Mr Elop. He's doing a great job!
Yep. He's a very great leader... what he's done so far is not perfect though, but admirable!
This kind of reminds me of all the TV Shows I like - Shows like 30 Rock or Parks and Rec that get rave reviews from critics, but because it isn't some reality show or competition it fails to gain the following it deserves...
i hate reality and competition crap. its just cheap entertainment for the cable companies while charging the consumers more and more. its rather disgusting to me.
And community!
Trolls food! Go WP!
Nokia, you got the juice now...
Was just about to post that lmao.
Hopefully Lumia 928 on VZW will continue the trend for Nokia and WP8.
Nokia...You got the touch...You've got the powerrrrrrrrr!
Fuckin Hot Rod
They are doing Shit!!!
no they're doing *the* shit
One shall stand...One shall fall...
Why throw away your life so recklessly...
That's a question you should ask YOURSELF, RIM
+1 i lmao
Yeaaaaaaah! You seem to,know just what it takes your a fighter!