With products as personal, and multifaceted as smart-phones, it isn't surprising that a ranking of them—such as the one in our Ratings, available to subscribers—prompts debate and sometimes disagreement. Such has been the case in recent days on the blogosphere, where we've been flattered to follow vigorous commentary about our smartphone Ratings from a number of bloggers, some of whom delivered trenchant criticism.

We were taken to task by Gizmodo, who said "[Consumer Reports] don't get software. And guess what? We've reached a tipping point where software is the most important part of a phone." Boing-Boing said our "clinical detachment just isn't that interesting for things that inspire communication and encourage cultural anarchy in ways that fridges and televisions never can—software, particularly, simply isn't an appliance." Meantime, the New York Times weighed in, saying that "Consumer Reports has tackled an impossible job. Picking a phone is dependent on so many factors which service provider you want, the quality of reception in your area, and what features you value. There is no way to create a rating system that has all of the answers." ZDNet and Engadget both expressed surprise that the Samsung Blackjack II, an older smartphone, topped our Ratings, while also weighing in positively about the phone.

One theme of the responses is the difficulty of (from our supporters) or our deficiencies in (from our critics) addressing the diverse use and orientation of today's smart-phones. It's true that our Ratings scores for these devices, more than those of some other reviewers, do tend to more reflect the phones' performance on what might be perceived as a closely defined set of tasks over the device's overall look, feel, and ecology, including its software.

Also, the Overall Scores that determine our Ratings order sometimes yield, as in this case, a closely ranked group with many fine performers. The Recommendations aim to help readers navigate and choose among the many fine models, based on their diverse needs. The recommendations for smartphones (available to subscribers), for example, include considering the iPhone for its superb multimedia capabilities, even though, as some bloggers pointed out, it isn't among the very highest-scoring models.

For more general guidance on buying a cell-phone or smartphone, see our buying advice.

We welcome all scrutiny and suggestions. Weigh in below, if you're so inclined.

—Paul Reynolds and Mike Gikas