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Consumer Reports Still Not Recommending iPhone 4

Consumer Reports Get Real!

Oh no don't but the iPhone 4 WHY oh because Consumer Reports says so. WHATEVER! My iPhone 4 has worked flawlessly and has not had any of these problems. Consumers Reports Blows! Maybe the complainers need to not use such a device if they cant handle it.
 
grassfeeder said:
go figure, I never listen to consumer reports anyway......grandma's and 50+ yr olds do.
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Heh. Not all 50 plus year olds listen to (or read) Consumer Reports.

Many years ago I read them for advice and after seeing the way they reported back then, I decided not to waste my time reading their reviews.

Bottom line. I would not base a purchase decision upon their review of a product.
 
Why should Consumer Reports change their stance..... Apple didn't fix shiate.....iPhone is still ****** for people who have the problem, glad mine works flawlessly. No dropped calls yet :apple:
 
aiterum said:
free cases? apple is so scraping the bottom of the barrel. Of course CR shouldn't change their recommendation. If you have to get an accessory for the product to work like it is "supposed to" in the first place, then I don't see why that would change their recommendation. Say what you will about the whole issue of this being something for smartphones and whatever unavoidable problems, that still does not make it relevant for the people reviewing it. If it is something unavoidable in the way it's designed, then of course they shouldn't recommend it!
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Your argument makes sense to me.

I guess the confusion comes from the CR themselves recommending a duct tape, yet insisting on "not recommending" the iP4 despite arguably very good solutions offered by Apple.

As for me, I'm not going to buy any iP4's since my wife and I still have perfectly working 2G and 3GS at home and see no 'need' to upgrade.
 
The iPhone4 has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any previous model or any other phone but Consumer Reports can't recommend it?
I guess this makes Consumer Reports officially irrelevant.
 
Hate to break it to consumer reports, but Apple isn't lying. All these phones have a death grip. Even the iPhone 2G.
 
WiiDSmoker said:
Good for Consumer Reports. The bumper is nothing but a band-aid. I don't/didn't need a bumper or a case for my 3GS, 3G, 2G. Why for the iPhone 4?
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And I (and apparently 99.45% of other owners) don't need one for my iPhone 4. They've lost what little credibility they had by starting with a good review then revising it to be a negative review as they saw the blogosphere explode. Another (and perhaps final?) nail in the "unbiased objective journalism" coffin.

Very sad indeed.
 
rgarjr said:
Yeah I wonder why they chose Sep 30? Why not until a permanent solution is made available? If iP4 owners are going to be stuck with this flaw they should extend that bumper deadline to when the next iphone comes out.
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That is probably when the batch that comes out that works with no bumpers is released.
 
Robert M. said:
Guys/gals we may not care about this report, but the average consumer will! Like I said before, I love my iPhone 4 and I'm not returning it. I already had a bumper... so I really wasn't effected.

With that said, I think Apple handled themselves poorly today. The event started off good, then it went downhill! Saying all smartphones have this problem felt like a cop out imho.

I tried to make my wife's Blackberry lose bars (by holding it how they were in the video) and I couldn't. It was silly and unprofessional trying to throw the other companies under the bus with them.

I love Apple and their products, but I refuse to defend them! They screwed up and their event today was pure fail! Some of these comments really make me ashamed to be an Apple fan. Some of you guys/gals remarks are making everyone think we're all nuts and will defend Apple to the death! Idk... :p
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Well said and correct. Steve pretty much tried the "we suck and so do they" argument. That does not build a brand.

Sure, the early adopters will buy the things. But in time the average Joe consumer will need to start buying them and they will be nervous about the bad pub. That is how brands go from hot to cool. It doesn't happen overnight.

I love Apple products, but Jobs is not a god to me. I didn't drink the kool-aid. He screwed up today and looked arrogant.

My wife has a 3GS and is not a techie my any means. She said she is happy she doesn't have the iPhone 4. That is not good for Apple in the long run.
 
Robert M. said:
Guys/gals we may not care about this report, but the average consumer will! Like I said before, I love my iPhone 4 and I'm not returning it. I already had a bumper... so I really wasn't effected.

With that said, I think Apple handled themselves poorly today. The event started off good, then it went downhill! Saying all smartphones have this problem felt like a cop out imho.

I tried to make my wife's Blackberry lose bars (by holding it how they were in the video) and I couldn't. It was silly and unprofessional trying to throw the other companies under the bus with them.

I love Apple and their products, but I refuse to defend them! They screwed up and their event today was pure fail! Some of these comments really make me ashamed to be an Apple fan. Some of you guys/gals remarks are making everyone think we're all nuts and will defend Apple to the death! Idk... :p
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You apparently are not in a "weak reception area", you did remember that they said that the problem occurs primarily in this scenario, right?

I'm surprised (though maybe I shouldn't be) that no one has said anything about Apple's "numbers" as in the number of people actually reporting an issue. Now, I myself have run into this problem, and I haven't complained to Apple (since it was pretty obvious that they were fully aware of the problem and adding my voice wasn't going to make things happen any faster), so the number of folks affected is going to be well beyond the .55% that they mention. But assuming the number stays relatively low, why would they go to any more extreme measures than what they've currently done? And as they've mentioned, the return rate for the phones is extremely low (though I suspect that there will be a bump as many folks who were on the fence about returning were waiting to see what Apple was going to do, and now that they know, will go ahead and return theirs). So from a business standpoint, I can fully understand why they've taken this approach.
 
iPhone 4 customer here with no real issues. Yes, I can make the bars drop, but I have yet to drop an actual call as a result of holding the phone in the "death grip."

Honestly, Steve's numbers were entirely credible, and I didn't think that this was a case of him "arguing the problem out of existence." Even Steve said... It's still a problem for all smart phones, and they admitted to the signal reception algorithm problem... Which really wasn't a big deal, except for the fact that people thought they were getting more bars than they actually were. Which MEANT that if you held the phone in the "death grip", your reception would appear to drop dramatically... When, in fact, you had crappy reception to begin with and you were really only losing one or two bars because of the "death grip." Since updating to 4.0.1, I can now confirm that my reception from home is only 3 bars normally. Trying the "death grip" still drops me to one bar, but I don't drop the call.

Long explanation, but the backlash here is ridiculous. Haters blame Apple for not being "transparent"... But then, when they come out and explain the situation with hard numbers, the haters find something else to whine about. Personally, I appreciate the care and attention that Apple gives its customers. Great customer service, and my Apple products have always worked as advertised from day one. And they keep getting better. Yes, they should ditch AT&T, but I've always found that when there's an issue to be resolved that's within Apple's control, they'll attack it head-on.

Call me a fanboy, haters. I really don't care. I don't have any real problems with my iPhone 4, so if you're a Blackberry user that's riding the Apple-bashing bandwagon, I have no patience for you. It's a phone, people. And now you're getting a free case from Apple. If you STILL have a problem, or if you just don't like the phone, return it for a full refund. It's that simple.

I don't remember getting bumpers from Microsoft to fix my copy of Vista. But then again, that's why I'm a Mac user.
 
macmyworld said:
Well said and correct. Steve pretty much tried the "we suck and so do they" argument. That does not build a brand.

Sure, the early adopters will buy the things. But in time the average Joe consumer will need to start buying them and they will be nervous about the bad pub. That is how brands go from hot to cool. It doesn't happen overnight.

I love Apple products, but Jobs is not a god to me. I didn't drink the kool-aid. He screwed up today and looked arrogant.

My wife has a 3GS and is not a techie my any means. She said she is happy she doesn't have the iPhone 4. That is not good for Apple in the long run.
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He gave facts, admitted mistakes, offered solutions. You must be one that cannot be pleased.
 
Just use the iPhone 4. If it works for you, great. If you have reception issues, try a free case courtesy of Apple. If it still doesn't work, return it.

Case closed.
 
Robert M. said:
I tried to make my wife's Blackberry lose bars (by holding it how they were in the video) and I couldn't. It was silly and unprofessional trying to throw the other companies under the bus with them.
:p
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And I've tried to replicate the iPhone 4 antenna issue and I can't. Now if I bear hug grip it, I kind of can, but even then it takes a while and then my hands hurt so I just don't hold it that way.

Fact is some iPhones are doing this and some are not. Just like some other phones are doing it and others aren't. I assume it's a collection of factors that cause the problem, not just the antenna design.

Use whatever phone you like though, I don't understand all the rage on either side.
 
This is now a dead issue. Apple has responded. You can accept the response and enjoy your iPhone 4 or you can move on.

Rational people saw today's press conference as more or less a statement of facts and should come away reassured that the iPhone 4's antenna design is basically a good one and won't cause major issues in areas with a passable signal.

the less rational should at least feel like their girlfriends have finally admitted to cheating on them, and now the anxiety of not knowing should be gone and the healing can begin.
 
SeaFox said:
Ignorant comments are ignorant.

Consumer Reports is held in high regard because they don't accept "review samples" of products. They buy what they review anonymously through third parties. They also don't accept industry perks. This is exactly why you have to be a subscriber to view most reviews of their website. They have to find a way to make the money required to do all this. They aren't industry brown-nosers like Macworld, and since they are a general product-review company (not Apple or even computing-focused) they wouldn't be at an Apple event to begin with.
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THANK YOU. Goodness this was so refreshing to read. Agreed 100%.
 
Why the hell are people getting so excited about Consumer Reports?

I love using Apple products but I don't take personal offence when anyone dares criticise what the company is doing. They are far from perfect after-all, and most of their products have flaws of one kind or another.

Some people really need to snap out of their :apple: obsession and get with the real world.
 
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