“Consumer Reports’ made waves last week with its decision not to recommend the Verizon iPhone 4 because of the same ‘death grip’ antenna problem that plagues AT&T’s iPhone 4,” David Goldman reports for CNN/Money. “But the magazine may have made the wrong call: Tests show that Verizon’s version is significantly improved over its rival’s.”
MacDailyNews Take: Made waves with the Hoveround crowd, maybe. Consumer Reports’ demographic is the non-coveted “older than dirt” segment. Which probably explains why the rag has to grasp at Apple’s coattails in a desperate quest for relevance. If Consumer Reports thinks that this is a good way to get the interest of a younger demo, they’re sadly mistaken. Anyone under the age of embalmed now knows that Consumer Reports is a piece of shit. The National Enquirer has a sounder grasp of the scientific method. And, there’s no “may have.” Consumer Reports did make the wrong call because a) they’re desperate for readers who still possess a pulse; and/or b) their staff of pretend “scientists”/publicity whores did yet another shitty job.
Goldman reports, “Gadget analysis group AnandTech, which was the first to diagnose the iPhone 4 antenna issue, ran a thorough test of the new Verizon iPhone 4 and found that the ‘death grip’ problem has been mitigated. ‘Apple fixed the problem,’ said Brian Klug, author of AnandTech’s report. ‘You can use the Verizon Wireless iPhone with no case without any concern for losing signal because of how it’s held.’ AnandTech founder Anand Shimpi criticized the Consumer Reports study for failing to provide data to support its findings. Consumer Reports spokeswoman Melissa Valentino declined to offer the group’s test results, only saying that the Verizon iPhone and the AT&T iPhone performed ‘similarly’ in tests.”
MacDailyNews Take: Uh, gee, where’d the “test results” go, Missy? “Tests.” Pfft. The only thing that performed “similarly” in both cases is Consumer Reports. Their quest for free publicity long ago turned into a self-immolating vendetta as toothless as their decaying readership. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that shitty self-described “scientists” produce shit “science.”
Goldman reports, “The AnandTech study, however, showed that the Verizon iPhone performed roughly on par with its non-iPhone peers — and far better than the AT&T version — in terms of cell signal attenuation… So why does Verizon’s iPhone fare better than its AT&T cousin? A key difference lies in its antenna architecture.”
“A teardown analysis performed by IHS iSuppli revealed that the Verizon iPhone kept the same integrated antenna design of the AT&T iPhone, but Apple made several improvements to fix the signal problems that the earlier model. The Verizon antenna employs a ‘dual-antenna design that takes advantage of antenna diversity to improve reception,’ iSuppli said in its analysis,” Goldman reports. “Unlike its competition, Verizon requires that all of its smartphones have multiple antennas that can be switched depending on which one has a better signal. That so-called antenna diversity also allows the phone to average out the two antennas to get a better signal.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, the Verizon iPhone 4 does not have the same “death grip” issue as the AT&T iPhone 4 and, oh by the way, all cellphones attenuate when held in certain ways as Apple proved with numerous videos last summer and YouTube users prove daily. Therefore, big surprise: Consumer Reports is wrong. Again.
Hey, did we mention that Consumer Reports is a piece of shit? Tell your great, great grandma to cancel her subscription.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ken M.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Consumer Reports: Verizon iPhone 4 has antenna ‘problem’; not recommended – February 25, 2011
Consumer Reports continues laughable vendetta against iPhone 4 – January 14, 2011
Android sweeps Consumer Reports’ rankings as iPhone 4 is omitted – November 17, 2010
All of Consumer Reports’ ‘recommended’ smartphones suffer attenuation when held – July 19, 2010
Consumer Reports: Apple’s free Bumper case does not earn iPhone 4 our recommendation – July 16, 2010
Consumer Reports: Apple’s Bumper case fixes iPhone 4 signal-loss issue – July 15, 2010
Consumer Reports continues harping on iPhone 4 attenuation issue – July 14, 2010
Electromagnetic engineer: Consumer Reports’ iPhone 4 study flawed – July 13, 2010
The Consumer Reports – Apple iPhone 4 fiasco – July 13, 2010
Consumer Reports: Oh yeah, almost forgot, Apple iPhone 4 is also the best smartphone on the market – July 12, 2010
Consumer Reports: We cannot recommend Apple iPhone 4 – July 12, 2010
Consumer Reports: Apple Retail Store is the best place to buy a cellphone – May 11, 2010
Consumer Reports: AT&T dead last in service survey; 98% of iPhone users would buy iPhone again – December 01, 2009
Consumer Reports does their readership a disservice, says viruses target Apple Macs – December 13, 2005
Consumer Reports: Apple’s new iPod screens scratch-prone like iPod nanos – October 28, 2005
Consumer Reports dubiously finds 20-percent of Mac users ‘detected’ virus in last two years -UPDATED – August 10, 2005
Every time I see video of CR “scientists,” they look like college freshmen who don’t know what the hell they’re doing. The magazine itself may be useless, but they’re quoted endlessly in the media, whose audience doesn’t even get to read the whole thing in context to realize how incomplete or full of BS the rating assessments are.
All I have to say MacDailyNews Take’s: AMEN
Thanks Steve!!
Hey MDN – totally agree about CR, but seriously I don’t think you should criticize older people. We are all going to be there some day.
Lighten up, Francis.
My father called me Francis once. Once!!!
Oh shut up. You clearly miss the point entirely.
eh – what did you say, speak up son, I can’t hear you …..
I don’t think MDN meant it the way you think they did. What did you think when Maobama said he bowled like a “retard” on the Jay Leno show? Same outrage? And we hope we will all make there one day. The way the liberals are ruining the earth and world I don’t think so. Death panels in the MaobamaScare (the illegal healthcare take over for the slow ones) that is unconstitutional and worse. Gas and food prices sky rocketing. It’s all going exactly as planned as far as those Marxist lunatics are concerned. People at Costco where I buy bulk for my business we’re completely freaked out at what is happening. Those are the same people that voted for Maobama. I overheard large numbers of them complaining about food and fuel costs, and Maobama. These people buy most of their necessities at Costco/Walmart type places. They are extremely worried. As is anyone with a brain. Vote conservative next year and save the world!
I think you need to up the meds. And stay on track. This is about iPhones, not politics.
Thomas was trying to be “Politically Correct”. So Neddie’s take fits in perfectly Joe. You probably voted for Obama.
What part of ‘this is about iPhones, not politics’ did you not understand?
The best way to destroy Consumer Reports is to call their Experts ( credentials and all) to a public challenge on everything they portend and to profess to. Maybe another publication called Inside Consumer Reports is appropriate…
Call it “Consumer Retorts”
(great take, MDN! lol)
Hey MDN, tell us how you really feel.
CR is a piece of shit. Wow. That’s the type of comment that is usually reserved for us MDN commentors. You are absolutely right, however.
Haha, I love MDN for telling it like it is. CR you guys really, really SUCK!
What I would like to know is:
How does MDN feel about Microsoft…. I mean… really feel about em?
Hating Microsoft is like laughing at that guy from high school football team, who used to bully you and but is now in a wheelchair. Nobody does that. There is bigger evil than M$.
Jeez MDN you’re harsh. lol
Smack down! I want to know the truth behind what motivated CR to come out with that story. Some entity HAD to pay them to cook up it up.
CR for electronics? Not useful IMO. But CR also tests other things such as exterior paints and stains, hand tools, power tools, cars, etc. Some of the info is useful. I hate to see an across the board trashing of CR just because of their iPhone 4 garbage. That sort of thing should be saved for Microsoft 😉
Ahhh, a voice of reason. I totally agree with you. While CR’s taste in electronics is questionable, that isn’t the case for the thousands of other things they test.
To trash them the way they’re being trashed here, especially by MDN, is quite uncalled for and a bit nasty.
CR probably didn’t like Apple’s iPad subscription terms.
Consumer Reports should be forced by it’s readers to make a correction. They can do this by canceling their subscription, and describing to CR why this cancelation occurred.
I hate to correct you, correctu, but that apostrophe really needs to go.
This issue is getting old. As far as I am concern no death grip on my iPhone 4. It time Consumer Report to move to magneticgate, where the magnets for the Smart Covers to cause the iPad 2 to loose reception.
gee whiz! nice to know MDN has such contempt in general for us aging Baby Boomers. so, it’s ok if i call MDN a little “wet behind the ears” itself? huh, Sonny?
CR is really good at evaluating some things, but not everything. and because they never publish their ubiquitous point ranking system methodology, there is no transparency. plus they treat all gadgets like commodity products, looking for specs and metrics to rate and ignoring other more qualitative differences.
for the iPhone, they got into an ego spat with Apple about the antenna and now are too dug in to back off. yeah, they’re acting like kids, really.
So, I wonder if Consumer Reports is planning on selling iOS subscriptions to a Consumer Reports iPad edition?
Who’s on board with that?
Consumer Report has been around longer then MacDailyNews. Many more consumers take its evaluations seriously then they do of yours.
That’s EXACTLY the problem. They’re spouting bullshit as it were fact. MDN didn’t do the tests. The respected establishment AnandTech did. They are VERY exhaustive with their testing. Nowhere near the same can be said of C(rap)R(ag).
Go MDN! Hold their feet to the fire!
…and sadly, that they’ve been around a long time gives some people the impression that they MUST be right. seniority, you know, means “they know best” when some enterprises actually do change with the times, others simply don’t have the leadership or vision. i know my Pops and maybe even his dad used to swear by cr for their tools and outboard motor reviews, but it is totally clear they are not understanding the dynamically changing mobile tech fields…and as someone said, they are dug in too deep on this one to back off..so how do they save face? “stand by their *secret* data.”
All I have to say is what credibility can they have after the whole Suzuki Samurai fiasco. Watch it on Youtube if you don’t know.
They just make crap up to draw headlines.
I could never do that “death grip” thing and get the bars to drop, even when I tried intentionally with BOTH hands. So I don’t think Apple “fixed” anything that needed “fixing.”
What antenna problem? I’ve never had an antenna problem. It’s all click-whoring bullshit.
This post just made my morning! Right on MDN!
Consumer Reports has been close to useless for electronics for decades. 30 years ago they used to recommend General Electric VHS decks over Panasonic decks even though GE just rebranded Panasonic manufactured decks. There was no difference, in price or anything! As a half-century person I found the MDN editorial comments here very funny.
How can anyone take CR serious? Perhaps they’ve doing fuzzy math since they started.
They should be investigated for giving consumers make-up test info.
Many years ago CR rated electric razors and the Remington came out head and shoulders above the competition, earning high praise from CR. Remington chose to trumpet those results in its advertising, which CR “forbids.” Despite complaints from CR, Remington continued to do so.
Lo and behold, next year the Remington was rated below average. CR’s defense? “It’s not a retaliation in any way! All the others simply got a lot better.”
Okay, so now we know:
1. you are superior to older people.
2. You hate CR.
3. You have a very foul mouth and apparently your mommy didn’t teach you how to express yourself in any other way.
@Menow
more like the popular high school football star that bullied people whom now works over night stocking shelves at the same local grocery store he grew up going to..
@ken1w
The only time I could replicate the death grip is after seeing a youtube video of how to actually death grip your phone. For some reason… I still didn’t get it to drop bars when holding it in any weird manner up to my ear.. but if I put my fingers across the antennas and squeeze tight.. then I would see it.
I’m right handed though I hold the phone the same way on either hand..
My right thumb is on the sim card
index and middle finger are on the right side of the phone and ring finger is on the bottom.. kinda like a support.
I don’t know how some people can actually grip the thing full handed and still have it up to their face.. it felt like I was making a fist and holding it up to my ear.
very unprofessional. After my response I will never visit this site again. Consumer Reports is a voice for the consumer. They buy the product and test the product. Nothing is given. They fight for the consumer. We need that voice. If you think they are bogus that is your prerogative. No consumer reports? No voice for the consumer? Sounds like big business heaven.
Except their “Testing” is based on their opinion of the product PRIOR to testing.
the Death Grip is FUD, Remember when CR pulled the vids of them accidently showing that the EXACT same thing happens to a blackberry they praised? remember when they said this blackberry doesnt show a signal loss like the iPhone does? whoops… pull video.
Remember when they Rallied against Toyota for months…. then NASA proved them wrong? wait, did they say sorry? nah, they continue to bash Toyota.
Oh really? If Consumer Reports is a voice for the consumer, then explain why the hell they don’t recommend the iPhone 4? Because consumers sure recommend it. Can you say cognitive dissonance?
You demonstrate exactly why the world would be better off without CR, by the way: their “scientific tests” are made-up bullshit and yet you implicity trust them. Voice for the consumer? Give me a break. They’re trying to manipulate the consumer by exploiting the trust people have in their publication.
It doesn’t matter what the truth about the iPhone 4 is, they just don’t wan’t people buying it, period. I wonder why. *Cough cough, bribery, cough*…
what is popular is not always right – what is right is not always popular.
Consumer reports have given highest marks for all apple computers including cinema display.
and here is a tour of their lab:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/aboutus/labtour/index.htm
where are you facts? on this bribery claim? and exploiting? or are you just a crazed conspiracy theorist?
and…. the brand loyalty on this board is depressing. Everyone has their pitchforks and torches yelling kill whitey. You all may be too dense or narrow minded to realize how insane and scary this all appears.
Sad things is, people (old people) listen to CR..
CR attacks Apple, proven wrong. the attack Apple Again…
CR attacks Toyota, NASA proved them wrong, CR attacks Toyota anyway.
CR has always been a pointless publication in my opinion. 30 years ago I sold hi-fi gear and every time CR did a comparison of say, speakers. they would pick the worst product on the market because of the “specs”. We would then have tons of people show up looking to buy the lousiest sounding product on the market ’cause the “consumer bible” told them to
Consumer reports is just wrong period! There biased which is the first rule in reporting that you shouldn’t break but they did! So there worthless and If you subscribe I suggest you cancel right away. They will only give you there bias opinion and not the facts which is exactly NOT how to do reporting.
No test results=did not happen. Simple.
So sad. Consumer Reports can’t test. So what are they good for?
I am compelled to throw my two cents in here. But read through before thinking you should flame this post.
Consumer Reports ‘for the most part’ has been a very useful organization. I have disagreed with few of their findings (over 30 years) and they can, at times, very much help positively with purchases in a broad range of categories. I have really only found two non-Apple related reviews to be blatantly wrong. When they rely on user feedback for items, they’re almost always right. After all, it’s us, you and I who are deciding what we like or don’t, and why. When they add their (Iinternal) opinions, it’s a mixed bag at times. They sometimes don’t seem to see the whole picture, and in fact, seem to lose objectivity. It’s hard to say whether this is deliberate (corporate) or just a weakness with those individuals who are charged with analyzing things.
That said, it would seem that with regard to Apple and most related products, it (the organization or a part of it) has its collective head in the sand (which is something ostriches don’t really do). With regard to cars they will even offer opinions on ease of use and functionality…something dear to anyone who has ever used a Mac. For some reason, they have a blind spot when it comes to the solidity, functionality (ease of use and efficiency), reliability (both hardware and software) and positive visual impact of Apple products. They seem to go out of their way to find something…anything to screw up an otherwise good review. It’s like the left-handed compliment computer users would give to Macs, 10 years and more ago, that they were the best with graphics. It made us laugh, but others believed it. Fortunately, the public seems to have ignored THIS particular fault with CR and continues to support the platform with an increasing market share. It might be that many see these reports as the blatantly erroneous news items that cause AAPL to drop 4% in a day, only to recover when it is found to be an obvious attempt at stock manipulation.
So, I’ll believe them (most of the time) when they review blenders, televisions and alkaline batteries. When it comes to Macs and other Apple products, I know better.
How much publicity are these clowns getting outside of the Apple world? Very little. Why even comment on their foolishness?
@ Richard Wolfert: Fair enough, you have found them useful in the past – the problem for most users is that when you find them so far amiss on something you know about, that it brings into question their judgment on everything else too. Reliable advice is no longer hard to find – so why waste your time with an organisation that has demonstrably let its standards slip so badly?
You
r points are well taken but the use of profanity is uncalled for to make your point.