Consumer Reports Can't Recommend iPhone 4 507
jbezorg was one among many readers to send word that Consumer Reports has concluded that they cannot recommend the iPhone 4. (They still enthusiastically recommend the 3G S.) "It's official. Consumer Reports' engineers have just completed testing the iPhone 4, and have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone's lower left side — an easy thing, especially for lefties — the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you're in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can't recommend the iPhone 4. ... Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4's signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that 'mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.'" The comments on the article don't display any of the vitriol the Apple faithful have been known to unleash upon anyone daring to question the Cupertino way. Perhaps they are moderated.
Yes (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, I certainly do. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to test the antenna problem. But it does take an impartial organization, that has nothing to gain or lose from the report. Who would you prefer to believe, Apple?
Jives with co-worker's experiences (Score:5, Interesting)
This jives with the experiences of my co-workers who've bought the phone. Overall impression of the iPhone 4 is that it looks and feels great, has an amazing screen, so-so battery life, but reception problems that drive every one of them bonkers.
It's enough to make me want to stick with my iPhone original release -- aluminum case and all -- just a little longer. From where I sit, unless you really want the forward-facing & higher-res camera and higher-resolution screen, stick with the 3GS. It does everything else pretty well. The main things I need from my phone are the same things I needed ten years ago:
* Contact list
* Calendar
* Email
* Light web browsing
* Good phone service
After having Palm devices alongside a mobile phone for years and years to suit, and wading through several years of crap-tastic Windows Mobile phones, the iPhone original release fit the bill perfectly for me. The real compelling thing the 3GS has over the original for me is a real GPS so that I can geocache without using a dedicated GPS unit. And maybe the extra RAM so that I don't have to clear memory to start certain apps.
Nice to see Consumer Reports calling Apple on their crap this time. Just like when they blamed short battery life in the 3GS on over-usage and push settings... what a load of CYA corporate malarkey! They gotta get the lead out on this one, if the several people I know -- admittedly, all tech geeks so it's a very small sample size -- who own the phone are any indicator, they're really unhappy about this.
It is Never (Score:3, Interesting)
It is Never a good idea to buy anything new. The only reason to do it is to placate emotion. This applies to Furniture, cars, and for god's sake yes, electronics.
The iPhone 4 is awesome and I will likely have one someday. But problems like these, founded or not, are the kind of thing you sign up for if you want to be an early adopter. That, and spending way too much money.
How does it compare to other phones? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Shut up and take my money! (Score:3, Interesting)
- Okay, it's 500 dollars, you have no choice of carrier, the battery can't hold the charge and the reception isn't very
- Shut up and take my money!
Wait.. was that the iPhone video or the Evo one?
I have one, here's my take (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Apple (Score:4, Interesting)
Well you felt the anger of the homogeneous mass of brainless apples.
anyway, this is serious bug that we are not used to experience from Apple. Although advantage of Apple products is very discussable, quality or basic product usability was not. I wonder how they managed to screw up so badly. Some internal testing had to show that iPhone 4 signal reception isn't as good as previous version were. Did middle management slide it under carpet like how it is done everywhere?
Re:With such a simple solution at hand.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I have been forming this notion for a while and I think I'm concluding that Apple is a company that can only successfully cater to a limited type of personalities. These people have a very particular set of attributes. Some of them may include a lacking critical nature and more apt to see the positives than the negatives in any given situation. I don't want to use the word gullible as it implies too much as these same people are reasonably intelligent.
This range of people that are good and loyal Apple fans are limited in percentage of the population and is decreasing. Apple has survived this long on that range of users but society is shifting and becoming increasingly negative and increasingly sceptical and increasingly critical. Apple's attempt at expansion of its market has been interesting to watch and appears to be aimed finding more of these fans that for whatever reason may not have tried to join the Apple Club previously. It is clear that Apple isn't interested in the enterprise market or they would offer more enterprise-friendly services and options.
The problem with this plan appears to be that they are dragging in too many sceptical and critical users and reviewers. This would represent Apple reaching its limits... perhaps overreaching its limits as it has now risked its reputation far too much with iPhone4.
Re:11 (Score:4, Interesting)
I went from 3G to an Android phone (Score:5, Interesting)
I got a used Verizon compatible Droid Incredible for about $300, and got a prepaid plan from Page Plus for $29 a month. It only comes with 50MB of data, but I'm usually under a WiFi umbrella. I still have used it when I needed directions or a phone number, and I think I've used 10MB in two weeks. (I got the idea from some blog, but can't find it for some reason.)
It hits everything on your list, costs less than just the data plan for AT&T (1200 min/1200 texts), and the coverage is great. Much faster than my iPhone 3G in general (e-mail, web, etc), though the intelligence of the touch keyboard was better on the iPhone. I do miss the ease of direct downloading podcasts, but I haven't really looked for a replacement yet.
Plus, it sends and receives phone calls like a champ. Which is, you know, a good feature for a phone to have.
no to 4GS (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:With such a simple solution at hand.. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's about meeting the clients expectations.
The "client's expectations" with Apple is that they never do wrong. That's their brand image, and what their marketing is all about. If they admit failure, sure, they might gain support of some unhappy people that are just in for a ride - or might not, because those people are of the kind who will use whichever phone they consider best for themselves, and will switch to Android/Bada/WP7/whatever else as soon as they believe it to be superior...
But what they lose is the support of those who buy Apple stuff for the Apple logo - because those people motivate their buying decisions by unshakable belief that Apple is always better. If you shatter that illusion by admitting wrong, they'll spit in your face as they walk away. And those are the people who are guaranteed to go back for iPhone 5, iPad 2 etc. You don't alienate your most loyal customer base like that!
Re:With such a simple solution at hand.. (Score:5, Interesting)
The iPhone rubber bands are where all the money is for Apple's partners, because the iPhone nets the retailers something like $1 per unit sold, but the ridiculously-overpriced rubber bands probably net them $29 each.
I work for a national cellular retailer in Canada, and you're guess on our margins is way off...
My company makes close to $300 in margin on 3 year voice contract, and considerably more on voice and data, in additional to monthly residuals, as well as load bonuses when we meet our network targets.
Selling the phone, is WAY more important to my companies margin than an accessory is.
How it happened (Score:3, Interesting)
We had a previous story here about how the strongest ATT coverage is right at the Apple campus. So, it worked nice there. The prototypes got used "out in the field" while in cases, so the antenna bridging problem never occurred.
They screwed up, plain and simple, just slap missed it.
Re:With such a simple solution at hand.. (Score:3, Interesting)
We're talking about why Apple doesn't and give away free Bumpers, which seems like the simplest solution for everyone.
Bumpers are obviously dirt cheap to make and they prevent physical contact with the antenna, preventing the problem from occurring, but they also cost a ridiculous $30 retail. Do you ever wonder why every retail store sells every iPod/iPhone case for around $30, instead of the more reasonable $2?
The accessories like the Bumper are where the retailers make the money in selling the iPhones. They only get a couple of dollars on the phones themselves, and their profits rely on upselling you with accessories. Apple won't undercut their retailers by giving the Bumpers away for free.
This is different than Nintendo automatically replacing every Wiimote strap because they were dirt cheap to make and weren't a profit center for retailers.
This is also different than if Apple was making all the money on the Bumpers, because with one free Bumper for every iPhone, the retailers won't sell a single bumper, and, robbed of their opportunity to make any profits from carrying the iPhone they will be very pissed at Apple.
Coat the steel at the factory (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Jives with co-worker's experiences (Score:3, Interesting)
Funny thing is, according to Mac Rumors, Consumer Reports rated iphone4 higher than all other smartphones... including Androids. http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/12/aside-from-signal-issue-consumer-reports-rates-iphone-4-highest-amongst-all-smartphones/ [macrumors.com]