Consumer Reports still a 'thumbs down' on iPhone 4

If the Consumer organisation in the US is anything like the New Zealand one, it’s run by idiots who haven’t got half a brain cell to share among them. You do NOT test the performance of a Macintosh against a load of Windows machines by running Windows on it using an emulation program (Boot Camp). After all, would anyone test a load of Windows machines against a Macintosh by running OS X on them using an emulation program? Of course not! So what’s sauce for Windows machines should also be sauce for Macs.

"all phones suffer from signal loss when held. This is very very true."

"these issues have never been seen in other phones before."

It's like reading two different comments from two different people.

Consumer Reports is NOT government funded! It is a money making business, my friend. They should stick to rating dog food, toilet paper, can openers, washing machines and soap, which they do on a routine basis. Their ratings on electronics and cameras are laughable!

The main thing I am wondering is why Consumer Reports has only tested three phones for this so called 'grip of death' issue? The iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs and Palm Pre is a pretty small universe in terms of statistical significance, and could (intentionally or unintentionally) be subject to a sample bias.

So to make the report more statistically significant, Consumer Reports should test a much wider range of phones (Blackberry phones, some HTC etc Android phones, a few Nokia ones and so on).

If the iPhone 4 is an outlier even then, then the case Consumer Reports has made becomes much stronger. If not, then CR could be construed to have been exaggerating problems (for whatever reason).

I would like to know how much CR's readership has increased since saying this. I think they would keep talking poorly about Apple because they see it increasing their magazine sales.

As a kid in the 80's CR was something I always had to read but now I haven't bought a copy in over 20 years.

Yesterday I stood side by side to a co-worker with an iPhone 4. Guess who had the most bars!?! I even dropped to No Service.

The company with the 'black eye' here is Consumer Reports. They have really embarrassed themselves with this utterly nonsensical critique.

Consumer Reports will be hoisted on its own petard. Whoever wants to give up their iPhone 4G just send it our way. My husband is lusting after one. Mine rocks. When people discover that it's an iPhone 4 they want to start dissing it but then they find they can't because it out performs everyone else's phone in the room

My experience with the iPhone 4 over the last several days, and that of the few people I know personally who own one, is that we often experience lost reception when we hold the phone in a natural, comfortable way. I’m not just talking about lost bars, but about not having a connection at all - phone says “Searching...” and calls fail.

This is a very simple and straightforward thing:

I don’t care about Steve Jobs’ defensive presentation minimizing the problem for iPhone 4 users, making the problem about ALL smartphones, and telling us how much Apple loves its customers. I don’t care about the new algorithm for showing how many bars register. I don’t even care about Consumer Reports’ thumbs down.

All I want is to be able to make, receive, and successfully complete calls on my expensive and snazzy new phone.

If Apple’s free bumper does that for me, I’m happy. If not, the iPhone 4 goes back.

How ironic, I still have a "thumbs down" on Consumer Reports. :-P

As if CR's findings are gonna stop people from getting the iPhone4. Many will get it because it is a great phone and they know what they are getting. Many more will buy it because it will make them feel better about themselves. I couldn't be happier with my webOS phone and can confidently say I will never own an iPhone. Ever. Not because it doesn't make great products, but because of the way the company conducts itself.