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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.
Right "impartial"... Lets face it, when consumer reports bashes or praises an item, it generates publicity (look at this /. article for example). While I agree that the iPhone issue is a real issue and is a pretty big one, saying that any magazine can be "impartial" is a joke.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
But my own ignorance does prove, to me, that I have no reason to trust them.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
No, they depend on subscribers who buy the next issue and keep a cover of "impartiality" and a supposed lack of sensationalism.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Disclaimer: I'm an Apple iMac and Macbook Pro user, but that's out of practicality -- my previous desktop OS was Fedora Core. I even own AAPL stock.
I don't have any iPhones, heck, I only have a prepaid Tracfone for emergency use. But I did play with iPhone 3G and iPhone 4 in the same location, and surely enough I could find many places where iPhone 3 had marginal reception or it'd drop calls or stall data. But iPhone 4 did work just fine in the same spot -- and surely enough, touching the magical spot on the metal band did cause it to drop out. By my very rough guesstimate, iPhone 4 receiver system drops back to iPhone 3G's sensitivity when you touch it like they wish you weren't.
How would that be considered a very bad thing -- I just don't know. The worst case is you're no worse off, reception-wise, than with iPhone 3G. That's from my limited experience, from tests done specifically to see WTF is going is on, since I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Apple's engineering would not test the darn thing. Well, my guess is that they did test it, and decided that this behavior is OK. It may be bad politically, and bad for the stockholders (yes, I'm one), but it's a passable engineering tradeoff methinks. Antenna engineering on mobile devices is pretty damn hard, or so I'm told.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
They test everything? Really?
About 12 million firearms are sold annually in the US. Which ones has CR tested?
I would be honored to go down in flame with you. Blow me, Jobs and your pathetic bitches.
AC
Just to clarify, when I wrote "go down", you know, I don't mean it that way - no connection with "blow me", it's separate and distinct sentiments, clearly.
Your post is a troll post. If Slashdot was moderated you would be banned. You think mature, unbiased posts saying things like "applefags" are what they let through on moderated forums?
Your post is useless trash. I modded you troll. I also think the iPhone 4 has major issues, and that the "fix" of admitting their signal meter was LYING all along is even worse.
I use a Macbook Pro, but I also use linux on my other laptop and my HTPC, Windows in a VM and on my desktop, and use Windows w/ Java at my current job. They all have their pluses and minuses, some more than others.
Judging from your OSS reference, you're the OSS equivalent of an "applefag". You'd probably suck Stallman's dick if he walked into a room, and you probably say GNU/Linux instead of Linux. You're actually worse than the "applefags" because unlike reality distortion field fanboys, YOU aren't a myth. You're the real thing, 100% biased troll, and you don't even know it.
oh good it's whisper jeff!!!!
so tell us jeff, it seems that your favorite corporation has become so arrogant and confident in its ability to pull the wool over the eyes of its followers that it has gone and shot itself squarely in the foot!!!!!!
how do you compute this data...?
why not stop attacking the anti-apple mob and tell us how this makes you feel...?
is that a spinning beach ball of death i can see in your eye?
Why, pray, is it "broken" if it fits the user's needs?
"But it doesn't fit the user's needs, that's why they have to buy a case," you say.
Your home doesn't wash dishes or laundry by itself, you have to add accessories for that. Your home is broken.
Your PC doesn't power itself, you have to add electrical service for that. Your PC is broken.
Your printer doesn't print on its own, you have to add paper and ink for that. Your printer is broken.
Why the hell are you buying all of these broken things?!
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
"We're talking about why Apple doesn't and give away free Bumpers, which seems like the simplest solution for everyone."
For the same reason the pope will never admit he has to wipe his nasty, stanky butt after dropping a papal deuce into a golden toilet.
Apple infallibility, papal infallibility...different sides of the same delusional coin.
At least the Jobs doesn't molest kids.
blah blah blah
It is Never a good idea to buy anything new
I disagree.
Actually buying an iPhone 4 was and is a really good idea. Despite potential issues, in practical reality the large external antennas mean better reception of all sorts of signals (WiFi or cellular). And the display is far, far nicer. And of course it's also a lot faster...
There are a lot of really excellent reasons to buy the new iPhone, exactly because it is new - they've refined a lot of things from the old. I don't see why people are put off by a small potential problem that doesn't really impact you in normal use.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Massive amounts of invective and foul language here, along with some serious (and seriously demeaning) generalizations about iPhone users. Very few discussions on the merits or level-headed opinions. I don't recall ever seeing anything like these posts about Microsoft or even SCO. People are taking this much more personally.
I own only one Apple product (my phone) and am an iPhone late arriver (last year) having been a multiple Palm user before that, and primarily LG/Nokia before that. I feel that the iPhone 4 (and the 3Gs before it) have been the most useful and most productive phones I've ever owned and when asked I express to friends that they seriously increased my ability to work and connect on a mobile basis by orders of magnitude. I use my phone in a full-body silicon case (that cost all of $5 with free shipping from eBay) as I have done with all my other phones, and I have experienced absolutely no signal issues in NYC, indoors or outdoors.
To read the comments here, I and many others with a similar experience am now a @#$(*^ douchebag and ^$%#^#$*ing Apple "fanboi" who's completely $^(*#ing got my head up my @$$ or up Steve Jobs @$$ or something, and the anti-gay (or anti-"fag") jokes, which are quite offensive actually and ought to be modded down like the endless rush of GNAA posts, are flowing freely. "Linux is for gay niggers" gets modded down over and over, but "Apple is for cocksucking fags" style posts can get modded right up.
WTF?
Slashdot's demographics have clearly shifted since the '90s; it appears that there are a lot of teens and pre-teens here now whos entire egos are tied up in the products that they buy and their ability to denigrate members of another "tribe" (read: people who make other purchasing choices). It's not just sad, it's embarrassing, and I think rather than stopping telling people that the iPhone 4 is the best phone I've ever owned, I'm going to stop telling people that Slashdot is a good place for non-techies to survey what's going on in the science and technology world.
Seriously people, it's a phone and a computer company, neither of which has a majority share of the market. Your hate isn't justified. Just don't buy the products and if you're asked, don't recommend them. I guarantee you that people will think less of you if when asked you tell them, "iPhone 4? No @#$(*^@*(^ way, what are you a total $#^(*#$%*ing fag, a Steve Jobs @#$(@*^sucker, or a brainless @#$(*^*#$@ing moron? Get your head out of your @$$ you total @#$(*^ing prick, and (*@#$* the @#$ @#$(*(%ing iPhone!"
Much more effective and friendly to say, "iPhone 4? No, I don't recommend it, it has been demonstrated that many people will experience signal issues, and in combination with the closed nature of the platform, I think the negatives outweigh the positives. If you do buy it, test it well and be sure to return it within the 30-day window if you experience dropped calls or find that you dislike the closed platform."
I guess that would just hurt Slashdotters' images of themselves far too much.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW