All of Consumer Reports’ ‘recommended’ smartphones suffer attenuation when held

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wonders why Consumers Reports’ list of “Recommended” smartphones includes all of the smartphones suffering from ‘holding it wrong’ attenuation?

Palm Pre, HTC Incredible, Google (HTC) Nexus One, RIM BlackBerry 9650, Apple iPhone 3GS, HTC Droid Eris, and RIM BlackBerry 9700.

Curious.

Consumer Reports’s web page for this list is “behind a paywall that their coverage of the iPhone 4 antenna is not,” Gruber reports. “I’m sure they’ve been performing the exact same attenuation testing with all of these phones that they have with the iPhone 4, and that they have published precise technical standards regarding how much attenuation is acceptable to still qualify for a ‘Recommended’ rating.”

Full article – definitely on our “Recommended” list – here.

MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, at Consumer Reports, Apple’s iPhone 4 is held to a double standard.

33 Comments

  1. It does sound like a “grudge double standard” – they set a ranking, get called on it, then refuse to budge.A bit immature, perhaps, and perhaps MDN (and many posters here) could be a bit forgiving of that.
    As for the “pay-wall”, THAT is how they earn their money. They openly publish some information in blogs or get called to comment on articles by other news sources, but the articles for the magazine are for paying customers only. Nothing “hidden” there. Oh, or you could buy a printed copy!

  2. Maybe Consumers Reports has to be able to see and touch the antenna to know that it is there. And the laws of physics are laws everywhere.

    If Apple wants, they can invite a Consumers Reports lab tech to Apple’s testing labs and test they other phones for a real side by side tests.

    If you all keep pushing, Apple will back up and sit on you!

  3. I had the experience of traveling with my iPhone 4 and my iPad 3G this last week. On several occasions when I was either unable to get on the Internet with the iPad due to poor 3G signal strength, my iPhone tore into the Internet at incredibly fast upload and download speed. I tested them side by side on at least 8 occasions and the iPhone was always much more nimble than my iPad. I do use bumpers, but I tested this without, as well and the iPhone continued to be screamingly fast. I couldn’t squeeze off the signal. Consumer Reports is full of crap. This is the coolest phone/pocket computer I have ever used. I love my iPad, but am equally thrilled with my iPhone.

  4. Is it a double standard??

    I thought what they were saying is that yes, all phones suffer attenuation, but it’s much more noticeable and prominent on the iPhone 4 because of the antennae design.

    Isn’t that why MDN went on a rant about it on iPhone 4 launch day, because they noticed the attenuation much more than they ever did on iPhone 3g, or 3gs?

  5. Interesting that MDN hates Consumer Reports when the say anything negative about the IPhone or Apple in general. So how is MDN a credible news source when the can’t accep criticism of any kind. It seems instead of Mac Daily News the should be called MacHeads daily News so when people subscribe they know this is a biased website and won’t give you the truth about anything Apple if it is negative. Prove me wrong MDN.

  6. ‘Antennagate’ is a ludicrous non-story story if there ever was one. It has been the result of Gizmodo and other sites throwing everything possible against the wall to see what sticks, in order to denigrate Apple and iPhone 4. Four of us in my family and extended family have iPhone 4s, and each and every one of them has performs flawlessly for the past three weeks.

  7. @truthbetold,

    You’re absolutely right. MDN helped ignite the fire and then threw gasoline on it – I remember reading about this (with my brand new iPhone 4) on 24 June. Click-whoring? I think so!

  8. Perception is 90% of everything. We all know that the CR “non-recommendation” is bullcrap, but it gets press. Then the mainstream media picks it up and runs with it. Funny thing though – it isn’t hurting iPhone 4 sales one bit. I was in two Apple stores within the last week – one in Chicago, the other California. And both stores were PACKED. Every other person that walked in asked if iPhones and/or iPads were in stock.

    There is no attenuation problem with the iPhone 4 – at least not any different from any other smartphone, period.

    Look for this to backfire on CR big time. I bet in a short time they will retract and recommend the phone. What publication does not recommend a smartphone then turns around and gives it the highest score of ANY smartphone?

  9. Consumer Reports is using the Green Peace Model to drive free publicity and in hopes of driving more subscribers and more sales. For Consumer Reports the iPhone 4 issue is not about protecting customers or even providing customers with the best non-biases information. It’s about driving their bottom line and saving their bacon as a viable enterprise. No one under 70 pays for consumer Reports content and well no one under 60 is influenced by Consumer Reports.

    Consumer Reports say the iPhone 4 hyped Antenna issue as a way to gain some free publicity and build their subscriber base hopefully with a younger demographic.

    Where was/is Consumer Reports on the long standing issues with Toyota cars. Did Consumer Reports find and report the issues? Did they recreate the issue after someone else found it? Do they give Toyota a pass on the issues you bet that they do, why because Toyota is a big customer of Consumer Reports. So, is Consumer Reports un-bias you bet they are not.

  10. Didn’t Steve Jobs say something like Apple is looking for investors who are looking at then long term?

    Well all those long term Apple investors know Apple and should know better than to give any attention to this fabricated fiasco.

  11. Same thing they did with the Ford Explorer/Mazda Navajo years ago. Said the Navajo was in the Good and Better category, while the Explorer was ranked as Poor. Somebody at CR forgot that they were the same vehicle built in the same factory. Oops.

    CR sucks.

  12. Let’s take a look at Consumer Reports testing facilities and staffing, while we are grateful for their work they should not be considered the omnipotent source they have moffed into. They have been riding on their reputations too long. What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander (I don’t believe I just wrote that, I must be channelling my great auntie)

  13. Consumer Reports:

    Take a group of journalists on stour of your testing facilities, then publicize your technical standards and engineering credentials so that we can all compare them to Apple’s or any other testing authority.

    WE WANT TO KNOW HOW QUALIFIED YOU REALY ARE.

  14. Hi All

    I for one have asked Apple to appoint a charity that we can choose in place of receiving a bumper. Maybe to help restore wildlife ad nature back in the gulf rather than use resorces to produce bumpers most if not all of us do not need. this would show great support for Apple as well

  15. Hi All

    I for one have asked Apple to appoint a charity that we can choose in place of receiving a bumper. Maybe to help restore wildlife ad nature back in the gulf rather than use resources to produce bumpers most if not all of us do not need. this would show great support for Apple as well

  16. Consumer reports refuses to change their tune re iPhone. Steve refuses to change his tune re iPhone. Seems like lots of folks just do not want to face reality. One reality I am facing is huge loss on my biggest stock holding with AAPL. Steve needed to get on this day one, not act like Bush and Obama both did on LA problems.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.