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'Consumer Reports' Satisfied that iPhone 4S Fixes Antenna Issues
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Cant say calls are any better on my 4S than my 4. The only change that's affecting me daily is the battery life...please fix Apple
I've been wondering about that. Do you use the find my friends or location reminders? Seems to me those are leaving the GPS services icon on all the time.
Of course, the difference is that no one seriously thinks that Apple products are "100% perfect". The only people using those words are angry straw-man argument wielders on tech comment sections, from what I've seen. Now, people may think Apple's products are "better"- which is completely different than claiming they are "perfect".
His first post pointed out that Apple clearly worked on the antenna. The fact that he got downvoted for posting a simple truth says a lot. Spin it anyway you want. If you've been on the forums long enough - and you have - you know the score.
I really don't understand your beef with Consumer Reports. They look at product buying from the consumer's point of view (rather than the seller's point of view). Many on here are stuck in the seller's (Apple's) point of view.
I personally use Consumer Reports as one of my decision making factors in almost any big purchase.
I've had 5 replacement iPhone 4's, 3 of them because of antenna issues and signal drops etc. My 5th replacement has the same issue, i'm so sick of it that I haven't bothered to ask for another one.
The most frustrating part was that my first one worked perfectly, but then the home button became defective. I had a lot of great memories, me and that phone.
I would love to get my hands on a 4S.
The most frustrating part was that my first one worked perfectly, but then the home button became defective. I had a lot of great memories, me and that phone.
I would love to get my hands on a 4S.
Consumer Reports has provided a useful service to the masses on the functionality of about anything you may purchase. However I think that customer reviews at places like Amazon will quickly replace the relevance of Consumer Reports.
You MUST be doing something wrong. 5 replacements? Seriously? I bought one...works perfectly. Wife got a 4s, works perfectly. Now I'm sure there are many out there that everything works perfectly and you're saying to yourself "well, good for you". But come on...one single person has to replace 5 iPhone 4's? If this were true, then you'd think many more would have this problem and the iPhone 4 would be a failure.
Seriously, 5 replacements? Come on...
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Apple's handling of the antenna issue didn't hurt my opinion of Apple or the iPhone. But how Consumer Reports handled it completely and forever changed my perception of that organization. I will never think of them the same way again. It should have been a minor caveat attached to a strong recommendation - instead they went with childish attention whoring.
I now have to question their other reviews and recommendations, which is very sad.
I now have to question their other reviews and recommendations, which is very sad.
They should- that's the only way they could work
The location reminders definitely uses a lot of battery power. It's probably best used for reminders you think of when the destination is only an hour or so away, as opposed to using them for things far in the future.
I just think it's possible for two situations to exist at the same time. Seems like CR was probably correct that there WAS an issue with the iPhone 4 and a "death grip"; and CR, for whatever reason, also seems to be slightly predisposed to downgrade iPhones in general.
Glad to see CR now says the iPhone has redeemed its reputation. It's official now, the world can now buy the 4S.
I am typically a fan of CR but recently questioned some of their choices. I was in the market for a car, and while they 'recommended' my car, they were not crazy about it, and ranked it lower than other cars I test drove and found to be blah. I am glad I did not go with their recommendation.
To each their own I guess...
To each their own I guess...
Whether or not Consumer Reports was right or wong in how it handled the iPhone 4, it wasn't good for Consumer Reports. It really hurts the legitimacy of any reviewer when a product they criticize turns out to be very successful. Next time, people go to a different source for their reviews - and rightly so. It makes CR seem old fashoined -- they are stuck in the past -- they don't understand what is important to me. There are plenty of other, and good, sources for electronics reviews.
CR isn't bad and niether is the iPhone 4. The ironic thing is that CR was pretty impressed by the iPhone 4. The antena issue was essentially the only issue CR pointed out. In not certifying the iPhone 4, CR essentially said that the despite everything good, the antena issue made it a bad phone. It turned out that for a whole lot of people, CR was wrong. And that leaves CRwith a black eye.
CR isn't bad and niether is the iPhone 4. The ironic thing is that CR was pretty impressed by the iPhone 4. The antena issue was essentially the only issue CR pointed out. In not certifying the iPhone 4, CR essentially said that the despite everything good, the antena issue made it a bad phone. It turned out that for a whole lot of people, CR was wrong. And that leaves CRwith a black eye.
I've never had any issues with my iPhone 4 reception-wise. Always seemed much like any other phone.
I'm half the complaints about the problem came from people in areas where reception is patchy, especially if they were using 3G for the first time, which doesn't penetrate indoors as well as 2G. Probably would have dropped calls on any smartphone.
I'm half the complaints about the problem came from people in areas where reception is patchy, especially if they were using 3G for the first time, which doesn't penetrate indoors as well as 2G. Probably would have dropped calls on any smartphone.
Same here
I envision a retirement group sitting around a table. Their grandchildren bought all the gadgets that are in fashion and explain to them what does what.
Then they all nod their heads and say : Wow, really it does all of this?
" hey bill, remember when we didn't even have a phone?
Yes the good old days, had to walk everywhere!
Anybody need this?
Consensus: No!
Leave that modern stuff to the youngens.
Meeting adjourned.
Maggie, write something. Check the papers and use only headlines.
Done.
I hope customer reviews don't replace professional reviews, and I don't see it happening, especially in electronics. If I'm a mom and I want to know if my kids will like a video, it's good to know what other mom's think. But if I'm me and I'm looking for a new TV, I want to see what a reviewer that I respect has to say about it. Joe Shmo who can't see the difference between SD and HD isn't going to be helpful.
Even if Consumer Reports is declining -- and that's open for debate -- there are tons of alternative, professional reviewers out there.
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They should- that's the only way they could work
Find My Friends and location reminders have had little or no affect on the battery life of my iPhone 4.
If Apple doesn't want to lose the market it invented, it needs to get with the program and get back on top of the ratings chart. It's revealing that the 4S is not the highest rated phone. Apple would do well to incorporate the popular features of the competing phones or it will start losing market share as people perceive that it's no longer "the best".
Sounds wonderful. Not to bash the 4S, but as it stands the improvements in navigation and processing haven't alleviated the poor battery life I've been experiencing. Glad to know it will be fixed most ricky tick
You are the one with the spin. Unless you are a mindreader, you have no idea why he was downvoted. Could just be that he's been condescending and annoying to a lot of posters in the past. Could be that they don't like his name. Could be that people just like to downvote.
Personally, I made his ignore list for disagreeing with him that the only acceptable definition of the term "open source" is the one provided by OSI. I'm evidently a completely biased fanboy for using it to simply mean that the source code is openly licensed.
Then why are you surprised? Why the off topic post to point it out?
Again, the issues for some people are more nuanced than "Antenna bad, antenna fixed."
An accurate, informative service to consumers would have included:
a) Admitting that their own tests were anecdotal and they don’t have the resources to test this kind of issue truly scientifically.
b) Admitting that losing bars is not the same as losing calls, and that losing calls for this issue is very rare, happening to some people in some circumstances but not universally.
c) Admitting that all other phones share similar symptoms, whatever the cause (external antenna being one, gripping the bottom at all being another)
d) Admitting that the iPhone isn’t the first to have an external metal antenna built into the shell, and pointing out the Nokia at the time that shipped with a note about not touching the metal part of the case.
e) Admitting that despite the problem the iPhone 4, on average, holds a signal and a call better in good conditions and better in borderline conditions than some other phones—such as the testers who found it could hold a call in remote places where the beloved 3GS could not.
f) Admitting that a cheap case fixes the metal-band issue, and that most phone users use a case anyway, making it a non-issue. (Their top-recommended dream-phone should have been an iPhone 4 + a $10 case.)
g) Refraining from implying that this issue somehow puts the iPhone 4 into an un-recommendable class apart from other phones.
h) Admitting that the many advantages the iPhone 4 had over all other phones are huge, compared to this issue which is small.
i) Admitting that one platform is not like another, and that specs matter less than experience and results, and therefore helping uninformed users last year judge between iOS + App Store vs. Android. Because choosing Android is often the result of lack of information.
j) Admitting that they messed up, and opting for accuracy over protecting their ego.
k) Admitting that the iPhone 4GS, this year, offers 4G speeds with only 3G battery drain, and that while the speeds are only available to some people in some areas, the same is true of 4G LTE speeds. Recommending a phone based on a feature only “some” people experience would be like not recommending the iPhone 4 based on antenna issue experienced only by non-case users, occasionally, in certain specific locations/situations, that was no worse than what many other phone users experience.
l) If solving the grip problem is that important that they wouldn’t recommend the iPhone 4, then surely being the first company to address it by smart-switching dual antennas should vault the 4S to the top of the pack
Apple didn’t solve “their” problem, they solved every phone company’s problem!Can we see some stats on that? It was very rare. Many/most people who tried to make bars drop could do so (as with all other phones). Not all people can even do that: I can't where I live: gripping will drop bars—not calls—but touching the band between the metal pieces does nothing whatsoever.
The percentage of people for whom the metal band making calls drop was a significant real-world problem has to be tiny. I don’t have stats any more than you do, but I believe that because:
a) Apple users in online forums are a hyper-sensitive, hyper-critical bunch of perfections. (Guilty!) They don’t let any perceived Apple issue slide, they howl on rooftops.
b) When an issue comes to your attention, that suddenly makes you see it! It might have been true for years (LCD flaw, grip issue with all phones, whatever), but now you notice it. And THIS issue got absolutely massive attention, inevitably leading to far more people than normal noticing the problem if they have it.
c) The iPhone 4 sold in record-breaking massive numbers. The pool of users who could complain about this FAR exceeded that of most Apple products.
d) AND YET, despite those factors, there was no significant level of complaints online from iPhone 4 users! Lots of people (bloggers, pundits, trolls) who didn't have one gleefully spreading dire warnings, though....
I can compare this to much more trivial issues that had many more complaints from users, and complaints that lasted much longer. The iPhone 4 antenna complaints from actual users (I’ve seen maybe 2 or 3 ever) have been astonishingly rare.
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