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Consumer Reports Can't Recommend iPhone 4
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.
"Does anyone really trust Consumer Report's opinion on technology?"
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?
I don't respond to AC's.
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.
Matthew P. Barnson
I learn what I think when I read what I write
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?
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.
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!
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.
I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off...