Quit Reading this Rag Years Ago

Have successfully expended lifetime of earnings on high quality products without trying to sort out their biased and often contradictory advice. Good one day and bad the next. Just another bunch of pimply faced wishy washy media hacks.

Why dont they test in different markets with diffe

It would be useful if they could determine if the issue is the network, the phone design or specific units.

It seems that the majority of those 3 million+ people who bought an iPhone are happy with their phone so that would seem to indicate faulty units or the network.

CR doesn't get it.w91t.com/ wi

This goes to show you what a bunch of bozos CR is and why one shouldn't rely on their assesments for tech devices. This is the best Apple can do. This is an industry wide issue regarding antennas and reception with cell phone companies that don't always have the best coverage in all areas.

A big raspberry for CR
Thbbbbbtttttt!

Sour grapes?

I didn't trust their report, still don't.

hey, Consumer Reports guys: you don't do radiated tests in a shield room. That's like measuring the light output of a desk lamp in a house of mirrors. It's amateur hour. Either you didn't really explain your experimental technique fully in your video and text on your website, or perhaps you did and it really stinks. In either case, we end up agreeing with each other, so let's not dwell on that too much.

-- Spencer Webb
http://www.antennasys.com/antennasys-blog/

So...

I'll look forward to checking back in when CR releases their next round of computer reviews, and MacNN dutifully posts the results -- the iMac in particular almost always scores very highly. If you go back in MacNN's archives, you can see that many MacNN readers praised CR's recommendations last time, and when they initially recommended the 3G and 3GS.

Guess they're only on the ball when you agree with the results, right? Poor showing, MacNN readers. You're earning your low reputation.

Well...

I understand that they are upset about Apple stopping this offer for customers who buy after Sept. 30th however the requirement that Apple refund the purchases of other cases is a bit much to require. Apple *is* offering a case - it isn't the best one, but it fulfills what they originally were asking for.

Do Apple customers ever read Consumer Reports?

The only people who really care about CR are those sheep who follow the crowd. Apple users are people who take risks and try new things.

When iPhones become boring and common place, maybe the crowd followers will gain some benefit from CR's gutless uniformed views. I have never used CR and the only people who did were those who could never afford an iPhone.

CR is not based on reality

This from a company that has kept endorsing Toyota over anything domestic. Good call.

only a tiny portion of users do it au naturel

It's mostly not a problem, because only a tiny percent of the users of iPhone (of any type) go au naturel.

Who cares?

I am a subscribe to Consumer Reports for over 15 years. Over these years I have learnt one thing. Consumer Reports is as good and as bad as the next review. They have their pet peeves and they have their blinders.

I use them only as a guide but remember your milage will vary for sure. They are wrong at least 20-30% of the time.

In this case they did a bad job testing the iPhone4 and don't have the decency to say so.

I am very disappointed in them.

avoid the droid like hemorrhoid

I am a poet
and I didn't even know it.

@cartoonspin

your right; CR gave the Lexus LS460 (Toyota) a 99 out of a hundred. Their reasoning behind the (lack of) a perfect score was that it rode like a boat, even with it's adjustable (self) suspension. Great elecrtronics (blah)...silently even Lexus has been hit by recalls, yet it still stands atop of the mountain, go figure.

Not far enough?

What they mean is replace all iPhone4's which just won't happen because this issue is without a doubt blown out of proportion.
In fact I'm glad CR will no recommend iPhone4 this way the demographics that typically relies on this publication will NOT be an iPhone/Apple brand user which typically too spells whiners.

I love my iPhone4 and get great reception and no dropped calls yet so there you have it.

Consumer Reports dis-recommend Macs before

Consumer Reports have had some shoddy recommendations against Apple in the past. They did once dis-recommend buying a Mac solely on their price. So this doesn't surprise me one bit, despite its a common issue among many modern phones.

Consumer Reports is for losers

I can't believe that people still read Consumer Reports. They generally know nothing about the products they test. No advertising...BFD!

I've seen them recommend Sigma digital cameras...quite possibly the worst you can buy.

Back 'atcha, Wrenchy....w91t.c

There's a reason why the vast majority of your comments get buried by negative votes. Why do you even bother reading and commenting on news, then, on a site about products you don't even buy, if you hate Apple and its products so much? You're the epitome of the Mac-bashing Windows enthusiast, and you accomplish nothing except to reinforce your own stereotype and show yourself for the troll you are. Worse yet, your juvenile name calling and "neener-neener" personal attacks don't accomplish anything except to reinforce to those of us who have been using Apple's products for years just how clueless you really are.

Do you really think you've said anything on these boards that Mac users haven't already heard a thousand times over? The fact that we've endure these childish taunts for years, and yet still go on using Apple's products, is proof of how great their products really are. We simply couldn't care less what you think of us- as if your opinion mattered in the first place.

I don't recommend Consumer Reports

I don't recommend Consumer Reports. Biased, make up stories with no facts to back there claims or tests. Did they test or even mention any other smart phones with the falling bars, NO.
Yet many people have posted the same issue on You Tube with other phones yet who doesn't recommend the iPhone 4, Consumer Reports.
Well I recommend that anyone with a subscription to Consumer Reports cancels it immediately!
You are not getting real facts to base your purchases on because they don't actually do fair fact finding. So the information you are getting is based solely on what they think, not on facts that are done in a lab or controlled environment.

I think Steve Jobs and Apple proved that today that all smart phones have the same exact issue therefore Consumer Reports should have said we can't recommend any brand of smart phone because they all have falling bars.

When I was selling c*** 15 years ago, CR was point

It still is. Move along.

(my IP4 is working wonderfully by the way)

BS from AndrewBW

Your criticism of MacNN readers is pretty unfounded: the criticism is mostly of CR's conclusions (and gaps in logic), not CR itself for the most part.

I might think the world of CR generally, but when they refuse to recommend a product that:

a. Scores the highest on all their tests in every way they can think to test it, and
b. Offers a simple fix for a problem that affects other smartphones as well

I think I'm well within my rights to criticise the leap of illogic there. And I would do the same for another company if it were handled the same way.

Apple's proofs are pretty irrefutable: this problem affects other smartphones. Where was CR on the issue when they tested the Blackberry Bold?

Am I being a fanboy in asking that? I don't think so.

Finally, Apple's solution for now (regardless of whether they do something different in future) is agreed by all parties (including CR) to WORK. As in, nobody who owns an iPhone 4 has to live with this issue; they indeed have several different options, which is more than any other company with the same issue (I'm looking at you, RIM) has done.

CR's continued refusal to recommend smacks of "can't win" and, frankly, PR manoeuvring to gain attention and sales.

"while trying to offend non-Apple users by claimin

That's a new one!! (Pssst Wrenchy: U know what: U can have ALL the fun today. Buy a mac mini - keep your pc-monitor and peripherals and it'll set U back only 699 - it's so small U can easily hide it if Ur pc-friends come to visit - and guess what U can dual boot so keep Ur pirated Win7 and have it installed 2 and keep it running - nobody else will know)

Defense of CR

CR isn't perfect (like Apple) but they do their best to assess products independently. Their recommendations are certainly more trustworthy than advertisers' recommendations. They usually publish data to accompany their recommendations, so that buyers can make their own decisions based on what features are important to them. And, it's untrue that CR always recommends Toyotas.

re: "while trying to offend non-Apple users by cla

igroucho, why don't you give your spiel to ElectroTech. Maybe his mommy and daddy can buy him a cheap new Mac Mini and he can go on insulting other "poor people".

Gimme a break

What does Consumers want? I full recall? That is out of the question. The bumper fixes the minor issue. Get over it.

Tabloid journal

I came to the conclusion back in the 1990's that the only thing CR was good for was its annual car recommendations and reliability surveys. Everything else, whether it was cameras, computers, dishwashers, TVs, etc., wasn't worth even a pitcher of warm spit.

Another Master Stroke

A grand scheme once revealed will never die.
The death grip videos on other cell phones is spreading like wild fire across the web. Talk about dumping on the dumpers. Consumer Reports may well be bankrupted by the testing costs required to be fair to all. There sure are a bunch of death gripped other brands that need testing. Absolutely skewered. I love it. I love it. I live it.

@wrenchy & iHatters

i feel sorry for U... DUDES
that U have to still live in your mother's basement ... that U can't afford
Apple products and have to stick with HTC androc^rp... I realy do !!!
but U arn't gonna change it by biting at Apple and its fans like a mad dogs
grow up... DUDES!!!
the major money that CR is making comes from hidden product advertisement...
which could be even deadly - like TOYOTA cars- CR don't mind
in US also from hidden anti-advertisement like this one...
the big ? is : who did pay for it: Googlevil, NoKIA or Mr.$oft ???

@ electronista staff: if U delete this coment again
U will prove - that U arn't an independend organization !!! DUDES

Recommended

We recommended the iPhone before we recommended against it.


... but they were right in their rating of Toyota's, stupid drivers ≠ bad cars.

@wrenchy

..goodness, sounds as if you need a hug.

Makes Sence

It's there choice and the iPhone has a reception issue so I can see there reasoning. Will it keep the sheep from lining up to buy the latest shinny Apple thingy, I think not. Apples marketing/advertising budget way out strips CR.

Making an actual great cell phone has never really been Apple's goal with the iPhone anyway. They have always suffered from call quality issues and then there is choice of getting in bed with AT&T. Where it has always shined is a a hand held computer with phone capabilities being a nice add-on.

Re: BS from AndrewBW

I might think the world of CR generally, but when they refuse to recommend a product that:

a. Scores the highest on all their tests in every way they can think to test it, and
b. Offers a simple fix for a problem that affects other smartphones as well


Sorry, but putting 'bumpers' on the iPhone is NOT a fix. It is a work-around at best.

The funniest part here is thinking what all you "It isn't a problem" and "They have a fix" would be saying if the exact same 'feature' were present on a device by Microsoft. You'd be climbing all over each other to make fun of their fix being to add a case, or that they never tested the product.

@Barking dogs don't bite..w91t

"It isn't a problem"... DUDE
because its experienced by only 0.55% of all users!!!
" is NOT a fix and is NOT a work-around"
but it symply does eliminate the issue !!!
and iHaters like tstudo und wrenchman have to find
something else to moan about... DUDES...&fckoff...