Apple built a network of very dedicated iPhone users because of its holistic vision: it controls the phones, the operating system, and the development environment and designs them to work seamlessly together. The only thing Apple doesn't control is the network on which its phones run.

Google has addressed that omission. Android runs on dozens of different phones, but since 2010, Google has its own line of Nexus phones, built in partnership with companies like Huawei, LG, and Motorola. Early last year, Google took the next big step: it launched Project Fi, its own phone service, running on Wi-Fi and Sprint and T-Mobile's cellular networks. It's now available without an invite, but only if you have a newer Nexus phone.

Time will tell if Google's holistic vision is as successful as Apple's. But if the measure of success is customer satisfaction, the plan is working like a charm. That's according to respondents to this month's PCMag Readers' Choice Survey on mobile operating systems, smartphones, and mobile carriers.

Our survey also reveals that the one-company-for-everything model isn't the only way to go. With a dozen different phone brands receiving enough responses to be included in our analysis, plus 14 different carriers qualifying, you have a lot of choices. While Google's approach is resonating this year, our survey responses indicate that you don't have to put all your eggs into one company's basket or even only look at putting them into the largest baskets. There are phone brands and service providers large and small delivering high levels of satisfaction. There are also several clearly missing the mark with their customers.

Our survey asks respondents to rate satisfaction on a wide variety of measures to help us try to understand what's driving overall satisfaction. We look at various aspects of mobile usage including basic factors of all products and services such as reliability, ease of setup, and quality of customer service, and support. For smartphones, we ask about things like satisfaction with messaging, browsing, apps, taking photos, and watching videos. For mobile carriers, we look at satisfaction with speed and quality of the service for phone calls and data.

Whether you're in the market for a new phone or simply want to see if your mobile experience jibes with others, read on.

The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for Smartphones and Carriers was in the field from February 15, 2016 through March 7, 2016. For more information on how the survey is conducted, read the survey methodology. Each person who completed the survey was entered into a drawing to win an Amazon gift card valued at $350.

You can win! Sign up for the Readers' Choice Survey mailing list to receive invitations for future sweepstakes.

Looking for expert opinion? Read The 10 Best Smartphones of 2016 and our annual coverage of the Fastest Mobile Networks.





Mobile Operating Systems

Asking someone how likely they would be to recommend a product or service is often a better measure of how satisfied they are, rather than to ask point blank. When our survey respondents were asked how likely they were to recommend their phone's operating system on a scale from 0 (extremely unlikely) to 10 (extremely likely), Android users gave their operating system (OS) an average rating of 9.0, identical to what it received in 2015 and the highest rating among all mobile operating systems. This earns the Android OS, currently hitting version 7.0, our Readers' Choice Award for the third year in a row.

Apple's iOS, the operating system for all iPhones, wasn't far behind with a Likelihood to Recommend rating of 8.7. This is down slightly from last year's 8.8 when it also won a Readers' Choice Award, but the rating is still good enough to garner Apple an Honorable Mention.

Mobile Phone Platforms/Operating Systems - Overall

Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system rated 7.8, a big drop from 2015's 8.4. This may be an indication that users of Windows-based phones no longer consider the OS as viable. A small group of users continue to use BlackBerry phones, but their likelihood to recommend the BlackBerry platform rated only a 6.0, the same dismal score the company received last year.

While Android users continue to be more likely than iOS users to recommend their operating system, they continue to be less likely to recommend the phones that run that operating system: Android smartphones rate an 8.6 on this measure compared to iPhone's 8.8. Apple also rates higher on most aspects of phone usage, but Android has gained ground. Last year, the only drill-down satisfaction rating in which Android rated better than iOS was in the availability of free apps (8.9 to 8.8). This year, Android did better in managing calendar (8.4 to 8.2) and managing email (8.6 to 8.5).

While Android rated higher than Apple on these latter two measures, it was not the highest rated operating system in either. That distinction goes to Microsoft, which received a rating of 8.7 for managing calendar and 8.9 for managing email. It's clear that Windows users' lack of overall enthusiasm does not come from dissatisfaction with the operating system and native apps. On measures related to these aspects, Windows is always competitive. Instead, it's Windows' lack of third-party apps that contribute to the OS's relatively low Likelihood to Recommend rating. Respondents only rated Windows phones a 5.9 for availability of apps and 7.1 for quality of apps, far behind Android and iOS.

Given that iOS generally ranks better than Android in the drill-down categories, one has to wonder if part of the reason iOS is less likely to be recommended is that iPhones and iOS are so tightly connected—iOS only runs on Apple phones—that it's difficult to distinguish satisfaction with one from satisfaction with the other. Knowing that there are so many choices in Android brands and model of phones, it might be easier to disconnect satisfaction with a phone from satisfaction with the OS.

Put another way, should you find fault with your phone hardware, you can become more satisfied by changing phones without changing the OS you like. There was only a difference of 0.1 between the likelihood of recommending iOS (8.7) and the likelihood of recommending iPhones (8.8) whereas with Android, the difference was 0.4 (operating system: 9.0; Android phones: 8.6). It's food for thought.

WINNERS: MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Google Android

Android users remain very loyal and enthusiastic towards their smartphones' operating system, earning the platform its third straight Readers' Choice Award.

Readers' Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Apple iOS

Respondents' likelihood of recommending iOS slipped slightly this year, but iOS continues to earn more top satisfaction ratings in various areas of smartphone usage than any other mobile operating system.





Smartphones Overall

Last year, Sascha Segan, PCMag's esteemed lead analyst for mobile, described Google's Nexus smartphones as "small in sales, but mighty in influence." The phones show where Google is "trying to drag Android manufacturers." Android manufacturers, take heed. PCMag readers tell us Google is doing smartphones right. This year, the search giant wins its first PCMag Readers' Choice Award for mobile phones.

Smartphones Overall

This win comes despite the fact that Google doesn't actually manufacture its own phones. It has always partnered with established manufacturers from HTC for the original Nexus One in 2010, to LG and Huawei with the current Nexus 5X and 6P($144.99 at Amazon), respectively (the latter is a PCMag Editors' Choice). However, the phones are built to Google's specifications and feature the company's vision of what an Android phone should be without the customizations and bloatware found on phones from other makers and carriers. That vision earned Google the highest ratings among all phone brands this year for overall satisfaction (9.0, up from 8.4 in 2015), likelihood to recommend (9.3), overall reliability (9.0, tied with Huawei and Microsoft) and ease of setup (9.4, tied with Microsoft).

Last year, OnePlus, a small Chinese phone company, won the Readers' Choice award for smartphones with a very impressive overall satisfaction rating of 9.5. Unfortunately, not enough OnePlus users responded to our survey this year to include them in our results. However, OnePlus continues to impress. The OnePlus 2 phone, released last July, also earned a PCMag Editors' Choice award for unlocked smartphones.

Because of OnePlus's limited availability last year, we felt compelled to give a Readers' Choice Award to a more mainstream brand as well, thus Apple shared the award. Back then, Apple's overall satisfaction rating of 8.7 was far behind OnePlus but best among all other brands. This year, no one shares the award with Google but a few companies, including Apple, receive honorable mention.

Apple's overall satisfaction rating dipped slightly in 2016 to 8.6; it's likelihood to recommend was also down from 8.9 to 8.8. These are still very good ratings. Respondents were very pleased with the way Apple stood behind its phones. The company's ratings for satisfaction with tech support (7.7) and satisfaction with repairs (8.0) were the highest among all smartphone brands. (Satisfaction with tech support and repairs are rarely as high as other satisfaction ratings in our results.)

In addition to manufacturing Google's flagship Nexus 6P, Huawei also makes phones under its own name. This is the first year that the company received enough responses to be included in our survey results and it makes a strong entrance, earning the second highest overall satisfaction rating (8.8) and an honorable mention. Huawei got high marks for ease of setup (9.1) and reliability (9.0), but we're a bit concerned that likelihood to recommend (8.5) didn't keep pace with the company's other scores. Huawei needs to work on getting its customers more enthusiastic about its hardware.

Last year, Microsoft's Nokia brand earned an honorable mention. Since then, Microsoft has phased out the Nokia name for its own. Nokia customers apparently weren't thrilled by this decision; overall satisfaction dropped from 8.6 to 7.9 and not surprisingly, likelihood to recommend dropped as well, from 8.7 to 7.9. Customers with Nokia phones may not like Microsoft's decision, but those holding Microsoft-branded phones were very pleased with their devices, rating the company an 8.7 for overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend this year. These high scores earn Microsoft an honorable mention. As we noted in the mobile operating system section, readers feel Microsoft's main shortcoming is the lack of apps for its phones. Otherwise, Microsoft users are very pleased.

See all of our survey results for Smartphones.

WINNERS: SMARTPHONES

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Google running Android

Google's Nexus phones are designed to show Google's vision of what an Android phone should be and PCMag readers like what they see. They gave the company the highest rating for overall satisfaction and its first Readers' Choice Award for smartphones.

Readers' Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Huawei running Android

You may not recognize the name Huawei Technologies or even know how to pronounce it (it's 'wah-way' ), but readers who have bought phones from this Chinese company seem to be quite pleased, giving Huawei the second highest overall satisfaction rating.

Readers' Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Microsoft running Windows Phone

Microsoft's Windows phones haven't been able to garner huge market share but those who have taken the dive remain very happy with their decision, although they sure wish Windows (from Windows Phone 7 up to the current Windows Phone 8.1, with Windows 10 Mobile around the corner) had were a lot more mobile apps.

Readers' Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Apple iPhones running iOS

Apple's iPhone users are very satisfied with their phones and are happy to recommend the brand to others. Apple's support continues to set a bar that others so far have failed to meet.





Smartphones by Carrier

Phone manufacturers now generally offer the same phones on each of the major carrier networks: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. However, we still see small differences in the ratings that the phones receive on each carrier, and so we break it down here to help you choose.

AT&T Smartphones

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Apple iPhone

This is the seventh straight year that Apple has been rated the best phone brand for AT&T by our readers. Apple had the highest ratings for overall satisfaction (8.7), satisfaction with reliability (8.9) and likelihood to recommend (8.8). Only Microsoft rated better for ease of setup (9.4 to 9.0).





Sprint Smartphones

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Apple iPhone

Apple has earned its second straight Readers' Choice Award with Sprint (it had an off year in 2014). The company handily beats Samsung for overall satisfaction (8.6 to 8.3) and satisfaction with reliability (8.9 to 8.4) but Samsung actually rates slightly higher for likelihood to recommend (8.8 to 8.7)—keep that in mind, Android users.





T-Mobile Smartphones

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Apple iPhone

Apple, LG, and Samsung received enough responses to be included in our analysis for T-Mobile users, but the two Android phone makers couldn't match Apple in overall satisfaction (8.8), satisfaction with reliability (8.9), or likelihood to recommend (9.0).





Verizon Wireless Smartphones

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Apple iPhone

Apple's ratings are down slightly this year on Verizon Wireless, but the company still rates highest in overall satisfaction (8.5) and satisfaction with reliability (8.8).

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Samsung running Android

The only time an Android phone maker was good enough this year to share the by-the-carrier rating with Apple: Samsung users didn't give as high a rating for overall satisfaction (8.4) as Apple users (8.5) did, but they are more likely to recommend the brand to others, if only by the same small margin (8.8 to 8.7).

See all of our survey results for Smartphones by Carrier.





Mobile Carriers

It seems counterintuitive that a company that is completely dependent on the services of its competitor could provide a more satisfying customer experience than that competitor. However, that's exactly what we have seen in our PCMag Readers' Choice Award survey results for the last few years. Mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) provide phone service to their customers over another (bigger) carrier's network: primarily T-Mobile and Sprint. Since 2014, our Readers' Choice winners for carriers have always been MVNOs that have left the big boys in the dust. Some of them are featured in Sascha's look at The Best Cheap Cell Phone Plans You've Never Heard Of.

This year's two top service providers are no exception. One, Consumer Cellular, wins a PCMag Readers' Choice Award for the third straight year. The other service provider, Project Fi, is brand new. While you may not have heard of it before, you certainly know the company behind it: Google.

Mobile Carriers

Consumer Cellular continues to receive excellent satisfaction ratings from its customers on nearly every aspect of wireless service with many marks of 9.0 or higher. The company, which offers service on either AT&T or T-Mobile's network, sees its overall satisfaction improve this year from 9.1 to 9.2 and likelihood to recommend going from 9.3 to 9.4. Satisfaction with fees actually went down slightly from 9.3 to 9.2 but that's still pretty remarkable.

It's rare that survey respondents ever rate spending money so positively. The company's basic rates are pretty low, but they also offer discounts to members of AARP. Respondents were very pleased with Consumer Cellular's support, rating it 8.4, down a bit from 2015's 8.7.

Google's Project Fi first rolled out in 2015 as an invitation-only service but is now available to anyone. Project Fi was designed to use Wi-Fi whenever it's available and when it's not, to switch the user to either the T-Mobile or Sprint network, whichever is available or stronger. It's the first MVNO to combine the two seamlessly. Google's rates are very reasonable—it only charges Project Fi users for the data they actually use. If you sign up for 4GB and only use 3GB one month, you'll get a credit for the unused data on your next bill.

So far, Project Fi's users are thrilled. Satisfaction with fees rated even better than Consumer Cellular at 9.6. Overall satisfaction (9.2) and likelihood to recommend (9.4) were tied with Consumer Cellular. Google's network switching seems to be working since respondents gave the service the highest satisfaction ratings for the speed (9.2) and reliability of the network (9.2). Satisfaction with coverage within the user's home area also rated highest (9.3). However, Consumer Cellular bested Project Fi on satisfaction with minimizing dropped calls (9.2 to 9.0) and satisfaction with coverage outside the respondent's home area (9.0 to 8.8). Project Fi's weakest rating was in satisfaction with choice of phones, where it only earned a 7.0—one of the lowest ratings in the survey. This is because Project Fi only supports three phones currently, the Google Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X and the older Nexus 6.

Last year, Republic Wireless shared the Readers' Choice Award with Consumer Cellular. The MVNO, like Project Fi, biases usage to Wi-Fi and refunds the cost of unused data to its users. Republic doesn't earn the award this year, but it does get an honorable mention; despite its overall satisfaction rating being unchanged at 8.8, it couldn't keep up with the other two. Most astounding is that it improved on its 2015 satisfaction rating for fees from an already excellent 9.5 to a near perfect 9.8! This is one of the highest ratings we've ever seen for any satisfaction measure in all the years that we've been fielding our Readers' Choice Award surveys. Unfortunately, the company gets dragged down by the lowest satisfaction rating for choice of mobile phones (6.5; it only sells two phones, the Motorola G and Motorola E) and middle-of-the-road ratings for the quality of its network (which is actually Sprint's).

Note, however, that Republic Wireless customers are substantially more satisfied than Sprint customers on every aspect of the network, from making calls to using data.

Among the four major U.S. carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless), T-Mobile rates highest in overall satisfaction (7.9) with Verizon Wireless close behind (7.8). These are far lower ratings than those of our award winners. Verizon Wireless receives the highest marks for calling coverage and speed and reliability of the data network, but respondents gave it an abysmal satisfaction rating for fees (5.3). AT&T and Sprint customers weren't especially satisfied with the fees their carriers charge either (6.0 and 6.5, respectively). T-Mobile rated the best among the big four for fees (7.9), likelihood to recommend (8.1), and customer service (7.7).

See all of our survey results for Mobile Carriers.

WINNERS: MOBILE CARRIERS

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Google's Project Fi

The new kid on the block, Project Fi is shaking things up with very affordable pricing and an innovative network that's always looking for the fastest, most reliable connection. So far, users are thrilled. When they open it up to some more Android phones (chances are slim of iPhone support), it will probably be even more popular.

Readers' Choice 2010 Award

Consumer Cellular

Consumer Cellular continues to show the value of good service at an affordable price backed by solid customer support. The company, known for its focus on retired/older customers, wins its third straight Readers' Choice Award.

Readers' Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Republic Wireless

Consumers are very sensitive to the fees they have to pay for their wireless service and they're thrilled with what Republic Wireless is charging them. However, Republic is going to need a better network to get back on top.

Further Reading

Mobile Phone Reviews