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'Consumer Reports' Holds Strong on iPhone 4 Non-Recommendation
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What a crock of nonsense.
Apparently, your idea of "corrupt" is to tell the truth about products instead of letting unsafe, Chinese garbage get pushed on the world with millions in advertising, but not a useful word in the bunch. Do you think Apple is going to advertise their antenna problem or Suzuki is going to brag that their vehicle is more likely to roll over than most other vehicles on the road? Heck no. Most magazines take money directly from the manufacturers that advertise in their magazines and thus have a total conflict of interests. Here's a magazine that doesn't take a dime from advertisers and thus has no reason to pick on anyone or lie about anything. But YOU call that "corruption." That's like Republicans saying they will create jobs (and leave out the "in China" part).
First off, Consumer Reports makes money by selling subscriptions which means free press is good for them. Sensational popular bad reviews gets them publicity - good reviews get them nothing. In fact their video review was so obviously biased and unprofessional it was a joke. The guy should have been wearing an "Down with Apple" T-shirt with the Android robot peeing on the Apple logo.
Second, the Suzuki Samarai is not a Chinese vehicle - Suzuki is a Japanese company.
Third, save your political slant for some other forum - we talk tech here - not politics.
Fourth, hate China much?
Fifth, I personally tried to verify Consumer Reports claims in multiple iPhone-4 units to no avail. I'm still holding off for iPhone-5 to save my budget, but all I can say about iPhone-4 is that it's the best phone I've ever seen.
And remarkably Consumer Reports recommended the 3GS. Which drops more calls just like other smart phones drop calls. What CR did was take advantage of the media hysteria and jumped on the bandwagon with a review that would put them in the spotlight. I would respect them much more if they did not recommend previous model iPhones that got worse reception.
But their biased unprofessional review with the reviewer's little demonstration with the masking tape showed their bias and intent. They were simply out to take advantage of an opportunity to take wall street's favorite child down in order to get the spotlight.
Where was the "non-recommendation" on the first review that rated the iPhone-4 as the best phone ever? That was when it was popular in the media to praise apple - before antenna-gate. CR came off on this one like a politician wavering with public opinion. I always expected CR to uncover issues with products, not simply ride the media public opinion wave or worse to publish fiction to sell their subscriptions.
I'm still "surviving" with what is becoming a slower and slower iPhone 3G. I've been out of contract since June but am holding off on buying a new iPhone at this time. I was visiting my brother in law who has an iPhone 4 and I put my index finger (not even my whole hand) over the bottom left corner where the seam is and his phone dropped from five bars to two. I let go and the phone went right back up to five bars. CR Reports seemed legit to me.
I'm a huge Apple fan. My wife and I both own the MacBooks (which CR LOVES), two of the new iPod Nano's and shuffles from a couple years ago, and we both have iPhones. So in no way could I be considered a "Droid"/Verizon guy here trying to cause trouble. Heck I couldn't even tell you how many Droid type phones there even are. I wouldn't have a clue.
My only general complaint about my iPhone 3G (wife has 3GS) is that I wish the speaker in the ear set (not speakerphone) was louder. Sometimes I can barely hear the others when I am driving my Acura TL....which is a fairly quiet car. My company blackberry (which I really only like for email) has a speaker that I cannot tolerate at full volume. I think half volume on that thing is as much as full on the iPhone. I'll almost absolutely stick with iPhone but I am waiting to see if Verizon does get it (because AT&T drops more calls than my Verizon blackberry) and I'd also like to see if Apple fixes this current iPhone design. I feel for certain the 2011 version will have "quietly" fixed this "supposed" non-issue.
I'm a huge Apple fan. My wife and I both own the MacBooks (which CR LOVES), two of the new iPod Nano's and shuffles from a couple years ago, and we both have iPhones. So in no way could I be considered a "Droid"/Verizon guy here trying to cause trouble. Heck I couldn't even tell you how many Droid type phones there even are. I wouldn't have a clue.
My only general complaint about my iPhone 3G (wife has 3GS) is that I wish the speaker in the ear set (not speakerphone) was louder. Sometimes I can barely hear the others when I am driving my Acura TL....which is a fairly quiet car. My company blackberry (which I really only like for email) has a speaker that I cannot tolerate at full volume. I think half volume on that thing is as much as full on the iPhone. I'll almost absolutely stick with iPhone but I am waiting to see if Verizon does get it (because AT&T drops more calls than my Verizon blackberry) and I'd also like to see if Apple fixes this current iPhone design. I feel for certain the 2011 version will have "quietly" fixed this "supposed" non-issue.
Bullcrap. WTF looks through CR to read bad reports? I look in it to find the BEST performing and quality products, not the worst. I only care about the worst if it was something I was considering at which point I take a much closer look.
I wasn't referring to a specific product, but the fact that most crap comes from China these days (vehicles are one of the few exceptions).
Sorry, but EVERYTHING is politics. You cannot discuss economics and manufacturing without bumping into it.
I hate their government. They are nuclear armed Communists and Communism goes against most of the things I believe in from all forms of freedom dictatorships. Admittedly corrupt democracies aren't night and day better, but they're still better. You apparently like Communism (so long as it's good for the wallet?)
Most people take warnings as warnings. You apparently think the rest of the review (highest rated smart phone ever) doesn't even exist. You'd rather waste your time arguing about a magazine that most people find useful at times.
I agree with you on that point -- nobody looks through CR for a bad report -- but you missed my point. If I am NOT a CR subscriber and the news comes out with some big thing CR uncovered then I am more likely to think "Wow, CR is a great publication -- I should subscribe". But if CR releases yet another glowing review of something from Honda, Apple, Toyota then I would think "I already knew that -- those are good brands".
CR gets notoriety in the media when they uncover something on one of the brand favorites. It also helps give them credibility with the masses by going after these guys. Sometimes they are over-zealous in their efforts. Their reviewers have personal bias too and I fully believe that comes to play in their reviews. It was just over obvious in the video they released on iPhone-4. The reviewer's little attempts at humor tipped his hand. Watch the video again and ask yourself "was this an unbiased reviewer?" The answer is an obvious "No".
The reviewers at CR make their mark by uncovering the missteps by the big-name brands. Its how they build their career. Apple is a big target for any of their reviewers (as are any automobile manufacturer when it comes to safety issues -- these are big news).
I've never seen the 11:00 news lead with a story on "Consumer Reports says the new iPhone is the best", but they are certainly going to lead with "Consumer Reports says Apple's new phone is fundamentally flawed". The reviewers know this and they look to get the big story. They are human and their personal motivations play into what they do, just like everyone else.
I respectfully disagree. Politics to me is a bunch of idiots trying to sway my opinion with unbelievable arguments so they can garner my vote and maintain their little sphere of influence in government. Politics effects everything, but political arguments are generally a poor characterization of reality. In politics these days everything is demonized. People are polarized on one end of the extreme or the other. The day of bi-partisan compromise seems to be over.
Hence, I'd prefer it if folks saved their political debates for the threads in the political forum. I read this mostly to escape that garbage (i.e.: the unreasonably demonization of the half the population because of how they might feel about some social issue).
I have my own political views, and likely we agree on many things, we could rant forever on this forum -- but that's not what this forum is for and I'd hate for it to deteriorate into yet another place for such debates.
EDIT: Your remarks on my feelings on Communism are not correct. I feel very differently than you stated. But this is not the place to discuss that further. I doubt anybody who comes here cares.
Do you have a clue what you're talking about? It's pretty well-known now that Consumer Reports framed the Suzuki Samurai to sell magazines and to tear down a Japanese company (and SUVs in general). They had to design a custom test course to get the results they wanted, designed specifically to get the Samurai to tip. The article about how unsafe it was, was written BEFORE they drive tested the car.
I can tell you, I know a lot about a lot of things, and the things I know about, when I read Consumer Reports I am AMAZED at the sheer incompetence of their testing. At best, it's severely flawed, hearsay, and/or simply meaningless. At worst, it's severely biased.
I can tell you, I know a lot about a lot of things, and the things I know about, when I read Consumer Reports I am AMAZED at the sheer incompetence of their testing. At best, it's severely flawed, hearsay, and/or simply meaningless. At worst, it's severely biased.
What a crock of nonsense.
Apparently, your idea of "corrupt" is to tell the truth about products instead of letting unsafe, Chinese garbage get pushed on the world with millions in advertising, but not a useful word in the bunch. Do you think Apple is going to advertise their antenna problem or Suzuki is going to brag that their vehicle is more likely to roll over than most other vehicles on the road? Heck no. Most magazines take money directly from the manufacturers that advertise in their magazines and thus have a total conflict of interests. Here's a magazine that doesn't take a dime from advertisers and thus has no reason to pick on anyone or lie about anything. But YOU call that "corruption." That's like Republicans saying they will create jobs (and leave out the "in China" part).
LOL. Yeah, sure they did. I suppose we didn't actually go to the moon either, eh?
You don't watch Fox "News", per chance do you? Or perhaps Mr. Limbaugh is your source of knowledge of the world?
Yes, I can tell from you post that you know a LOT about all kinds of things.
I've got 2 ip4's, one for me and one for my wife. They drop calls quite frequently, I wouldn't say a huge amount more than our old 3GS', but definitely noticeable more drops. It's funny how people who have no problems say that no one has any problems, but they do. I can noticeably drop my signal bars by just pressing my thumb on the antenna seam, and if I'm in a low signal area I can usually make the phone drop a call by putting my hand on that seam.
Now I still own my ip4, I like it, don't love it, but like it for what it does enough for me to keep it. I'm not complaining, but there is a need to temper both the "there is no problem" AND the "sky is falling" camps. Invariably, as with most other stuff in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and there are some problems with the iphone4 but they aren't deal breakers. I think this is the vast majority of users who follow along on these forums and are amused by the vitriolic camps on both sides who fight to the bitter end to prove their point, I know I'm certainly amused at how much energy some put in to prove their point.
This isn't necessarily directed at you, but to all of you comparing Apple/Phone manufacturer to Toyota/Car manufacturer.
So the deal with the "SAFETY" recall of the sticking accelerator, the way it works in the auto industry, generally they catch these things in testing "ON TRACK", but this was one that slipped thru the tracks, just the same as software issues Apple had with iOS4.0 and 4.1 on the older iPhones. So the customers experienced the problem, and it was reported. Toyota(the same as all other greedy, self righteous companies out there, deny everything), then had to create a software fix for the problem in the computer of the car. They then mail out letter's to everyone, because this is a safety issue. You can bring your vehicle in, if you feel safe, and if not, they will tow it at cost to warranty.
Now there are also other things that are problems with cars, and are reported by many consumers, but it isn't classified as a recall, because it is not a safety recall. Take the Chrysler 2.7 engine. It was unfortunate, because it was a good engine, but they had a flaw. The cylinder heads over time got oil buildup from the scorched oil around the overhead valvetrain. It was caused by the heads having a flaw in design that caused them to get hot spots and scorching the oil. So it was noted to Chrysler, and they decided if the engine had this problem and the owner kept sufficient evidence of oil changes, and it was within a certain mileage. They never sent this information out to anyone, and most don't know of this replacement, but the dealers know about it, and the company knows about it as well, and they will pay to replace it under certain circumstances, so long as you do your studying, and find what you can on this engine. As I said this is not safety related, and doesn't apply to everyone, so they don't let everyone know, or don't replace everyone's engine.
I was an early adopter on iPhone 1st gen. I upgraded to iPhone 3G 18 months later. Skipped 3GS, and ordered the iPhone 4 on June 15th during the big frenzy.
My iPhone 4 was delivered to my home the day before launch day.
Granted I have always had a cheap thin rubberized case around my iPhone 4 (but I have also had one on all my other iPhones as well)...but the iPhone 4 has given me BETTER service...fewer dropped calls...increased versatility...amazing battery life...better screen...faster response...than any of my other iPhones...
While long ago, I generally enjoyed Consumer Reports, I believe their stance is nothing more than a blatant attempt at sensationalism based on initial reports of iPhone issues.
Personally, over the years, I have seen Consumer Reports almost imperceptibly slide into what it is today...a largely commercialized rag which long ago lost its "pro-consumer, anti-establishment" focus.
My iPhone 4 was delivered to my home the day before launch day.
Granted I have always had a cheap thin rubberized case around my iPhone 4 (but I have also had one on all my other iPhones as well)...but the iPhone 4 has given me BETTER service...fewer dropped calls...increased versatility...amazing battery life...better screen...faster response...than any of my other iPhones...
While long ago, I generally enjoyed Consumer Reports, I believe their stance is nothing more than a blatant attempt at sensationalism based on initial reports of iPhone issues.
Personally, over the years, I have seen Consumer Reports almost imperceptibly slide into what it is today...a largely commercialized rag which long ago lost its "pro-consumer, anti-establishment" focus.
The only thing that bugs me, is that I quite believe that iOS fakes cell reception. For example, having a FULL 3G signal could be anywhere from 500k-2mbps, where my old phone, aircard, others peoples phones, show 1-2 bars, maybe 3. I get the same speeds with it as I do with my aircard in particular places, but the iPhone shows a stronger signal?
So while it appears to have better reception, I don't think it actually does.
That said, I've never dropped a call. It's definitely no worse than any other device, I just don't think it reports accurately.
So while it appears to have better reception, I don't think it actually does.
That said, I've never dropped a call. It's definitely no worse than any other device, I just don't think it reports accurately.
Pre-Antennagate it used to fake the signal a lot.
But as of current firmware, it's probably one of the most honest indicators out there.
The iPhone 4's antenna does provide stronger signals than most other phones. It just drops the signal when held a certain way, but generally it gives a stronger signal than other antennas.