“The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests,” Paul Reynolds and Mike Gikas write for Consumer reports.
“The problem is similar to the one we confirmed in July with the AT&T version of Apple’s newest smart phone. It can occur when you hold either version of the phone in a specific but quite natural way in which a gap in the phone’s external casing is covered,” Reynolds and Gikas write. “The phone performs superbly in most other respects, and using the iPhone 4 with a case can alleviate the problem.”
“With the iPhone 4, we placed a finger in contact with the lower-left-side gap. Reception typically dropped notably within 15 seconds or so of the gap being bridged. The iPhone eventually dropped calls when touched at very low signal strength—that is, at levels of around one bar in the phone’s signal-strength meter.”
MacDailyNews Take: All smartphones attenuate when held.
“At each level at which calls were dropped, we subsequently tried to place calls from the iPhone with our finger covering the gap,” Reynolds and Gikas write. “In all such cases, we couldn’t initiate a call… When we placed the Verizon iPhone 4 into the Apple iPhone 4 Bumper, a $29 frame-like cover sold by the company, the problem was essentially eliminated, as it was in our original tests of the AT&T iPhone, when it was placed into a Bumper.”
Reynolds and Gikas write, “We are not including the Verizon iPhone 4 in our list of recommended smart phones, despite its high ranking in our Ratings.”
MacDailyNews Take: “High ranking,” as in: Atop.
Full article – Think Before You Click™ – here.
MacDailyNews Take: And so concludes Consumer Remorse’s latest attempt to ride Apple’s coattails to free publicity for a rag we wouldn’t recommend to anyone for anything.
Related articles:
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
IPhone 4 antenna problem? Yeah, as believable as global warming, heh
@jjjj Fur real. What a rag. They’ve been that way for decades. Even their early computer reviews of TRS-80, Apple II, etc. were horrible- not even factually correct, let alone their conclusions.
hehe! I used to have a TRS-80 COCO 2 when they went on sale… my first computer owned got it for Christmas. That was such a fun system to play with!
Interesting that Consumer Reports has an iPhone app called “Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper.” It sells for $9.99. It has average customer rating of 2 (out of 5) stars. How’s that for “recommendation”?
DUDE I USED TO LIKE THEM!!!!!
they /have/ to be getting payed
either that or they just don’t understand computers
how could you understand that /and/ recommend the android
there is no f*cking problem!!!!!!
my mom has an (at&t) iphone4
my uncle has one
my other uncle has one
and guess what? they all don’t see any of this
at all
shut the hell up consumer reports
and even if this did exist the android is /still/ worse
gah I can’t even believe they did this, where did quality go?
oh, and please pardon my french
The funny part is: I don’t think CR’s dissing the iPhone is an attempt to ride its popularity. They actually believe they’re providing a public service. They have no idea that not recommending a phone so highly and universally praised is suicide for a review-based publication.
Sayonara, asshats!
Asshats! Love it. New word for my vocabulary next to the other new word I learned today, dick barnacles.
Regardless of CR’s obsession with the iPhone antenna, every review testing the Verizon iPhone has praised the phone performance. I didn’t see a single review that brought the attenuation issue. I do not own an iPhone 4 (still 3GS), but it is obvious that CR burr up its A$$ where Apple is concerned.
@ Spark
I agree. You have to question their objectivity given their past history of iphone reviews and when no other single reviewer has found a problem.
Why doesn’t somebody find some of the phones that consumer reports recommends and show via youtube that they also have antenna problems?
SUCK IT VERIZON!!!!!
What is the big deal , it only Consumer Reports.
We all know Consumer Reports = National Enquires= more garbage journalism.
I do thank than for getting me a free IPhone case.
I’ve told every single person I know personally to drop CR if they haven’t already. Asked them to spread the word also.
You know people who subscribe to CR? Everybody I knew who ever subscribed to CR has been dead for more than 10 years.
I have a Verizon iPhone, and it consistently has an attenuation issue. I have a case on it now, so it doesn’t bother me. I’m not sure if I ever dropped a call because of it, but I can definitely watch the signal drop by touching the right spot. I still love my phone though.
I used to trust Consumer Reports to give me recommendations for consumer electronics. I never bought an issue; I’d just dig through issues in the library. The shine began to come off for me when I tried to use their report to buy a new microwave. I couldn’t find any of the recommended models in the stores, and the guy at Best Buy told me that by the time CR gets around to publishing their report, the manufacturers have retired all the models they’ve tested! What a waste of time.
Then this bullsh*t with the iPhone. The very popularity of the iPhone makes their review laughable. If the antenna issue was really so bad that phone merited a “not recommended”, the iPhone would be a laughingstock. It’s not an obscure product owned by only a few people, after all. It’s the single most popular phone in the world. If the antenna problem was truly that bad, we wouldn’t need CR to tell us so! We’d all know someone who had the problem!
This is one situation where CR really needs to shut up. If they want to note that their tests showed a less-than-satisfactory antenna performance, fine. But to claim the problem is so serious as to merit a “not recommended” rating just makes them look silly.
——RM
Amen! My sentiments exactly.
Consumer Reports has credibility problem- not recommended.
They lost my respect. And this is not the only category they keep screwing up. At one point in time- I truly trusted them. It’s not just that I dislike their Apple problem- their ratings are incomplete, inaccurate, contradictory, and, in Real World testing, inferior to those of people who actually buy and use the products that are “tested.”
Consumer Reports often has an agenda on products. But they are just giving opinions, many of which I am happy to ridicule ;))
I love when I see CR ads on MDN. I chuckle a bit.
You want real reports? Read Amazon reviews not CR.
OK oh Great one Master Steve. Its flawed but I accept and understand its not flawed.
long live JUCHE and the Father of JUCHE!!!!!!
Well, so much for Consumer Reports. When the iPhone hits Sprint, it’s over.
Too bad, I liked when a few years ago, Sharper Image were selling their Ionized Air Purifiers and claimed they had “scientific backing”. Consumer Reports took them to task and then Sharper Image deicded to go to court. When the court found in favor of Consumer Reports, this was the beginning of the end for Sharper Image and their overpriced MADE IN CHINA gear that can be bought at discount stores for lot less. Sad to see they have veered so far just to get attention for themselves.
If I hold my iPhone backwards I cannot seem to see the retina display. This is a know problem. Therefore buying an iPhone is not recommended. Consuming unleaded gasoline can cause death. Purchasing is thus not recommended. Walk instead of drive. I also noticed if one holds a gun from the wrong end pointing towards you it can cause serious injury or death. Police are hence not recommended to posses handguns. This is a known problem. Attenuation is an industry problem and is well known. Thus no cell phone of any brand is recommended. CR makes ridiculous findings and recommendations. This is a known problem. Cancel your CR subscription.
Yes, cancel your CR subscription – all four of you.
Oh yes! And I bought an electric mixer based on a CR review, and it had several settings, “mix, blend, puree, liquify” but the end results were EXACTLY the same on each setting! This too is an industry wide problem that CR has failed for decades to reveal. Everyone: cancel your subscription!
Consumer Reports = The current Dvorak/Enderle/Thurrott monstrosity. BFD whatever they have to say.
:-Q*********
Consumer reports biased and is not recommended for truthful reviews. They don’t do any research either. If they had, they would have found that ALL CELL PHONES HAVE ATTENUATION AND LOSE SIGNAL STRENGTH. if you subscribe to this biased garbage I suggest you cancel immediately!!!!!!
IPhone 4= best phone period. Buy NONE of you would make a phone that got hammered with the whole Antennagate thing on the second go around. Come on…. And the same place. Gotta admit, they deserve any and all criticism. You’d be fired from your job if you gave that same performance with a second client. Shame on Apple. Get the iPhone 5 right!
Ps: sent from my iPhone … Typos and all. And loving it. Bumper and all. Just imagine the reviews if there was no antenna issue.