
Consumer Reports continues to savage iPhone 4 - suprgeek
http://247wallst.com/2010/09/14/consumer-reports-continues-to-savage-iphone-4/
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danilocampos
It used to be impossible for me to use my cell phone in my apartment. To save
my life, I couldn't get a call started most of the time. Calls I brought in
from outside would drop as soon as I hit my kitchen.

Then I bought my iPhone 4.

Calls go through immediately and don't drop. It's like I moved or something.

It's an outstanding phone. I haven't had a single issue with the antenna or
call quality.

------
InclinedPlane
I've never met an iPhone 4 owner who wasn't immensely satisfied with the
device, and not because they are brain dead Apple fanboys. It has its
imperfections but it seems to be an all around incredibly solid device. The
antenna issues don't seem to be as big a problem in practice as one might be
led to believe from all the press.

Overall, I don't think this is a very good issue for CR to stake it's
credibility on.

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gojomo
Don't trust 247wallst.com's summaries of other sources to be the full and
balanced story. Compare this summary of the eBay-Craigslist ruling --
<http://247wallst.com/2010/09/09/ebay-gores-craigslist/> \-- with a more
detailed analysis of what the ruling actually meant:

[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/11/...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/11/BU0G1FBA95.DTL)

Perhaps Consumer Reports is no more 'savaging' the iPhone in its latest
reporting than eBay 'gored' Craigslist?

~~~
lzw
As of 2 days ago they still were:
[http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/09/apple-i...](http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/09/apple-
iphone4-free-bumper-cases-program-ending-finishing-dropped-calls-antenna-
design-issue-problem-iphone-4-cases-giveaway.html)

~~~
gojomo
CR's own wording is pretty dry and matter-of-fact, just reiterating: their
testing suggests the antenna issue can be serious, and a fix should not
require individual consumer appeals to Apple. (No need for a word like
'savaging' to describe CR's consistent position.)

Maybe Apple even agrees with CR -- by September 30, perhaps all new iPhone 4s
will have had some subtle new hotfix applied, or offered. With Apple, we'll
only know then.

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some1else
"Everyone else can buy a Palm Pre" ?? :-D Interesting way to end an article. I
did like how the author kept summaries of recent events one sentence long
though. High signal/low noise is what I like in writing.

Honestly though, Apple shouldn't have retracted from it's promise of free
iCondoms. The margins are high enough to accommodate for them, and taking away
features is never accepted well by the consumers.

~~~
ugh
You will still be able get a free case. It will just be a more involved
process, you will have to call Apple and ask for one.

”A small percentage of iPhone 4 users need a case, and we want to continue
providing them a Bumper case for free. […] Users experiencing antenna issues
should call AppleCare to request a free Bumper case.“ —
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/case-program/>

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grkhetan
I have talked to 15 iphone 4 users, and they are really happy with the device.
CR is trying to stay ideological here, whereas in practice this issue does not
have any significant impact. CR also may be just wanting some attention
(eyeballs) here.

If you look at the list of so many positive points of the phone, the small
antenna issue is of hardly any significance in the overall evaluation of this
phone.

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moomba
You can buy a Palm Pre if you don't like the iphone? Nice that the author of
this article disposed of all the smatterings of leftover credibility in the
that last little morsel of a sentence.

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guelo
Let the CR hatefest begin.

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lzw
Consumer reports used to have credibility. I remember trusting them for years.
I stopped over a decade ago when I thought they were slipping... but this
latest fiasco shows they are all about the links and the hype and not about
the integrity.

The iPhone 4 is the highest rated phone they have tested, yet they refuse to
recommend it. IF there was a problem with the phone, this still wouldn't make
sense, as this problem would legitimately cause the phone to have lower
ratings. Every handset maker deals with this problem in various ways, and by
all accounts the iPhone 4 is at the top range for doing it right.

There is no problem with the iPhone 4 that every other cellphone on the market
doesn't also have, yet consumer reports is capitalizing on this fake
"controversy" for attention.

Shameful.

~~~
philwelch
To be fair, this isn't Consumer Reports itself writing this article, this is a
(likely heavily spinned) summary by a third party.

~~~
lzw
Ah, I haven't checked recently, but back when I first heard about consumer
reports saying this, I went and checked their website directly.

Just found a recent confirmation:
[http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/09/apple-i...](http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/09/apple-
iphone4-free-bumper-cases-program-ending-finishing-dropped-calls-antenna-
design-issue-problem-iphone-4-cases-giveaway.html)

Despite having great reception, they reiterated that they continue not to
recommend the iphone 4.

I continue to say they have no integrity.

