As if to cement their total irrelevance, with millions upon millions of iPhone 4s flying of store shelves worldwide, “Consumer Reports is now warning users to wait, calling it ‘middle aged’ and doubting whether Verizon will offer the unlimited data contracts it is said it would,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider who notes that Consumer Reports awarded “Apple’s iPhone 4 its highest ratings across the board last summer.”
“In a blog posting, Paul Reynolds and Mike Gikas write that the Verizon iPhone 4 is ‘promising, but likely to be short-lived,’ saying that ‘it may be quickly replaced by a newer, cooler version more quickly than is customary even for the die-young life expectancy of most smart phones,'” Dilger reports. “Other smartphone makers release new models every few months, with Motorola, for example, releasing the Droid X just months after its original Droid launched, then following up with the Droid Pro and Droid 2 models within another six months. Consumer Reports does not warn users not to buy Motorola’s Droid phones because a new model will be released within six months, making its warnings about Verizon’s iPhone 4 seem inconsistent.”
MacDailyNews Take: There is no doubt, Consumer Reports doesn’t just “seem” inconsistent, they are inconsistent.
Dilger continues, “The blog posting also criticized Verizon’s iPhone 4 offering as being 3G ‘at a time when carriers—Verizon among them—have launched faster 4G networks and phones that work on them.’ However, while Verizon began rolling out its new ‘4G’ LTE data network in December, it doesn’t over widespread coverage and isn’t yet usable for voice calls.”
“Additionally, the 4G phones Verizon showed at CES earlier this month aren’t yet available and won’t be ‘launched’ until the middle of 2011. If Consumer Reports is worried about iPhone 4 being refreshed, it should also be warning all Verizon users to hold off buying phones because of the new batch of LTE models being offered within six months,” Dilger reports. “If it starts doing that, it can continue to warn users to never buy a new smartphone because Motorola, Samsung and HTC will continue to release new and improved models every few months.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Consumer Reports has no credibility (see related articles below). We wouldn’t recommend the rag to a grandma looking for a new vacuum cleaner, much less to a smartphone buyer.
What is this Consumer Reports you speak of?
They remind me of what happened with the buggy whip business. not only are they inconsistent, but are no longer needed. It is really easy and free to research products online. I dumped them for being idiots, and have never regretted it.
I once saw a Consumer Reports at my Grandma’s next to her Woolworth’s Catalog and Saturday Evening Post.
No wonder CR is screwed up. They write to keep consumers [who are] stuck in the past with green carpeting, plastic on their couches and, if married, sleep in separate beds.
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incontinent actually.
Honestly, as a Consumer Reports magazine and online subscriber, I’ve appreciated the magazine and it’s unbiased ratings for years. But, their odd vendetta (good word) against iPhone4 has me doubting their organization and publication. The fact they have not admitted they’re antenna testing was flawed strikes me as alarmingly concerning.
Worse, the magazine’s very liberal/left wing direction is making the now very opinionated rag very hard to read – or trust. I guess not even CR is unbiased these days. <sigh>
@ stophobophobia
Indeed. I used to read it. Used to even belong to their website subscription. No more. We quit about two years back. They’re just doing this because they know Apple news gets hits.
They are like the Sears catalog, no longer.
A bunch of wanna-be-scientist dilettantes. They make up “tests” by the seats of their pants and pass the results off as “scientifically tested.” They wish they were Underwriters Laboratories, but they just weren’t qualified.
Consumer Reports should change their name to FUD Reports so consumers properly know what kind of advice they’re actually getting. Perhaps Consumer Reports could warn users against using Consumer Reports. They would get my respect that way.
I agree with all the above comments, but CR may be right about one thing. It may be a good idea to wait until June to see if Apple releases the new yearly upgrade to the iphone in two versions. One for Verizon and one for ATT. It’s only a four to five month wait.
Back home in the hills of Kentucky, the Consumers Report was the first magazine to be sacrificed in the good old 3 seater shithouse.
I can see things haven’t changed much since then.
I think CR uses the same lab procedures as those 2 guys on Discovery channel that blow everything up when they test it. What’s that show called?
They should be banned from the magazine racks and the internet. They are useless and non creadible.
CR will be livid after apple reports sales of 20+ million unitsand an EPS of $7+.
If everyone waited to buy new phones because the new model is coming, no one would ever buy new phones… Or computers for that matter. Buy what you want when you want.
And yet they are promoting there App for iPhone in the February issue for $9.99. Not available on Android. Please
I wonder…if Consumer Reports did a report on magazines, would they recommend their own magazine to consumers?
I dropped my CR subscription after their iPhone fiasco last year. Just could not take it any longer. They keep begging me to renew: like I want to keep paying them a fee to lie to me? I think not. CR has always had anti-Apple bias. They no longer get my money or my attention.
My parents used to get that magazine. It was good years ago, but they have been clueless for many recent years. Who needs them when there are on line reviews of people using stuff.
What’s going on ,check out The article in The new york times on the iPhone exposed on verizon network.wow when you get to the top people can’t stand it .what a hack job
The folks who run Consumer Reports are too embarrassed to admit they fell for the anti-Apple “antennagate” hype last year. iPhone 4 goes on to become the most popular consumer electronics product of all time, despite their so-called “recommendation” that contradicted even their own product evaluation. Now, while everyone else (even “bloggers”) have conveniently forgotten about the whole “non-issue” from just six months ago, Consumer Reports can’t resist the opportunity to make fools of themselves once again.
‘ it doesn’t over widespread coverage and isn’t yet usable for voice calls.’
OFFER! Read before publishit
Yes – publishit – apt description of today’s writers.
I have a iPhone 4. I love it, the only thing I dislike is the lack of non annoying text tones
I recently received an email from CR asking me to resubscribe to their online service (I was on it a few years when looking to buy a car). I told them “No thanks,” and that I wouldn’t resubscribe until they retract their flawed and biased iPhone 4 crap. After that publicity-seeking episode I don’t trust anything they say any more.