10 ms·

Lab tests: Why Consumer Reports can't recommend the iPhone 4

73 points by bensummers 16y ago

adolph 16y ago
The iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforeseen design errors of all time, I think.
- powrtoch 16y ago
  Maybe by HNers. I think a solid percentage of the general public at least vaguely knows about it, but most of my non-techie friends probably don't, or if they do they heard once and then forgot about it. It's certainly a screw up on Apple's part, but when you keep in mind that the rest of the world is seeing much less targeted news streams, I hardly think it's historical.
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    Most of the non-techie people aren't also that interested in Apple. They just care about the product. In this case, I know several non-techies (hair dresser, cake decorator, etc) who really don't care about Apple, the company. However, they have asked about the Apple phone screw up they heard about. Most non-techies, I find, will see a tech-oriented friend to guide purchases, and they will learn about it through those means.
  - Encosia 16y ago
    Almost everyone that has noticed my iPhone 4 and wanted to talk about it (strange how much attention it gets, compared to what the 3G and 3GS did) has asked about the antenna. The issue has been talked up enough in non-tech news that it's hard not to know about it.
    - risotto 16y ago
      Same here. "Ooh is that the new iPhone? Do you have antenna problems?" I say that while I do notice the affect, i've dropped no calls in my apartment with the new model, vs 70% dropped rate on my 3G.
  - recampbell 16y ago
    So much for that idea. I just heard this story reported on NPR.
  - hyperbovine 16y ago
    most of my non-techie friends probably don't You mean the ones who treat Consumer Reports' recommendations as holy writ?
- cschep 16y ago
  iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I haven't had an issue. I can't imagine that this is true. EDIT: Wow, Ok I get it. It's a real problem. But I guess I meant to say that it certainly seems like the iPhone will be remembered in a much more positive light.
  - ghurlman 16y ago
    iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I have had this issue. I can't imagine that this is false.
  - leviathant 16y ago
    I wonder who's done more research into the issue, cschep and his iPhone 4, or Consumer Reports, with decades of history of impartial product testing, three iPhones, and an RF isolation chamber? Well, since cschep hasn't had the issue, it can't possibly be true.
    - cschep 16y ago
      I really did not intend to be so dismissive, but was just trying to counter with the idea that the iPhone 4 is such a wonderful piece of design and engineering. That I just can't imagine it being remembered for anything other than that. Just an opinion.
    - tvon 16y ago
      [edited to be less dickish] First comment: > The iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforeseen design errors of all time, I think. The response: > iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I haven't had an issue. I can't imagine that this is true. What cschep can't imagine to be true is: That the iPhone 4 will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforseen design errors of all time.
      - leviathant 16y ago
        Here, let me quote the edit to the original post. "EDIT: Wow, Ok I get it. It's a real problem." That whirring noise you might hear when you read his edit is the sound of backpedaling. That said, I think that the post he was replying to is overblown. I don't think everyone will remember the iPhone for having antenna issues. I think that the most outstanding thing the iPhone4 brings to the table is the display, which is awesome and ahead of its time, by just a little bit. Let's go over this again, just so you understand the downvotes. [EDIT: I appreciate that you removed the bit where you called me and the other upvoters 'geniuses' - I would like to believe that the level of rehtoric on HN is above ad hominem attacks.] "The iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforeseen design errors of all time, I think." This guy thinks that the antenna issue is going to be very memorable. I personally disagree with what he thinks, but it is what he thinks. "iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I haven't had an issue. I can't imagine that this is true." This guy either can't imagine that it's true that the other guy thinks that the antenna issue is going to be very memorable, or he can't believe it's true that the issue he can't reproduce even exists. He is wrong on both counts. While certainly the original poster can change his mind about how important the antenna issue will be, at the moment he wrote that, is is true that he thought it was huge. At the moment he wrote that, the issue as described by Consumer Reports and now Engadget, exists and is true.
- theBobMcCormick 16y ago
  I gotta agree. Particularly because if the ceramic of the rest of the case had extended to cover the antenna (or if it'd been covered by plastic, or really by anything) this wouldn't have happened. IMHO, Apple got burned by two things here: 1) The got carried about by how cool using the Antenna as part of the case would look. 2) Their infamous obsession with secrecy meant that all the test phones were hidden in cases that masked the problem, thereby inadvertently tainting their test results and preventing them from discovering the problem. I wonder if they could apply a thin laquer or clear plastic coating to the antenna on future iPhone4's to fix the problem?
  - CamperBob 16y ago
    Their infamous obsession with secrecy meant that all the test phones were hidden in cases that masked the problem, thereby inadvertently tainting their test results and preventing them from discovering the problem. It should've shown up in an EM simulator before the hardware design was even finalized. The fact that it didn't explains why Apple is just now getting around to hiring some RF engineers.
  - panacea 16y ago
    I remember seeing the leaked Gizmodo photos and thinking "Yep. that's the new iPhone for sure" even though the gaps in the frame seemed so... unApple like? It's certainly been entertaining following the drama from finding out that it was left in a bar ("Why would Apple let one off campus? Are they mad?") to Steve Jobs explaining the 'revolutionary' new frame as antennae design, to the eventual kerfuffle about bridging the gap and Apple's admission that they display arbitrary bars 'incorrectly'. They probably should have installed some Faraday cages of varying effectiveness in Infinite Loop methinks.
  - edkennedy 16y ago
    I kept wondering throughout the entire escapade: "I wonder if Apple is going to rush the iPhone out to the public now that it has been leaked?" It certainly seems like more testing was required.
- tomkarlo 16y ago
  If you think this rates high on the list of avoidable but unforeseen design errors, you need to study more engineering history. (And generally, all design errors are avoidable - otherwise they wouldn't be a design decision.) As far as I know, this hasn't killed, maimed or irradiated anyone quite yet. It's a slightly unfortunate design decision on an otherwise elegantly designed device. It's notable because our expectations are so high - if this was from any company other than Apple it wouldn't get so much press. But let's put things in perspective, it's not a Ford Pinto, Three Mile Island control panel, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Hyatt Skywalk, or DC-10. If you don't like it, you return the phone and get your money back. You don't end up six feet under.
SamAtt 16y ago
I'm sorry but this is just over reaction. The big deal about the antenna issue is that Apple tried to cover it up NOT the issue itself. The issue itself can be fixed easily and cheaply by either using masking tape (as they suggest) or by simply buying the $29 "bumper" accessory from Apple. To suggest someone buy a 3GS over an iPhone 4 because of this issue (as they do at the end of the article) is just a little silly.
- leviathant 16y ago
  Sure, because Consumer Reports is so prone to over-reaction. Do you think they have some kind of anti-Apple agenda? I can understand why people were skeptical when Gizmodo started posting reports they culled from the Macrumors forums, but this is Consumer Reports. Just because your phone works fine doesn't mean that the issue does not exist.
  - tvon 16y ago
    So you're saying that Consumer Reports is incapable of over-reacting and accusing them of such is to imply that they have an anti-Apple agenda?
    - mrkurt 16y ago
      So you're saying that you kill baby seals?
    - leviathant 16y ago
      What I'm saying is that Consumer Reports seem to have put their money where their mouth is. Countless bloggers, Youtubers, and Twitter users have made their anecdotal claims about having signal issues, and nearly every time they get published, a legion of Apple fanatics yells them down with "Doesn't happen on my phone/This is so overblown." There's already someone in the HN comments on this story who says it can't possibly be true because he's never had the problem with his iPhone. Seriously. Dinosaurs can't be millions of years old, because I read a book that said the earth is 4000 years old! Consumer Reports took the time and money to test three different iPhones in an RF isolation chamber, and presumably through scientific process, determined that indeed, the iPhone4 has signal attenuation issues that cause calls to be dropped. I think that if one believes they are fudging the numbers, either duplicate their effort, or contact Consumer Reports and ask for more details on how the experiment is run. I think it's good to question authority - and in fact that's what Consumer Reports often does, and is what they're doing here. The authority, Apple, is saying there's nothing wrong with one face, and with another face, they're hiring RF and antenna engineers. There are real people who paid at least $200 for this phone who are having real signal issues, but I shouldn't believe them because AT&T's coverage in Philadelphia is so widespread that I can use my iPhone underground in the subway? That's zealous, and I'm glad to see an organization with the means to test these things put some weight behind the bloggers and everyday users who are having real trouble with these phones.
handler 16y ago
i don't think apple has to worry, apparently people can't be swayed by facts (see: "How telling people the facts may not cause them to change what they believe" (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=full http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/... )). also, every iphone has had serious signal issues, it's a known problem, yet people still continue to buy them–why would this change anything... most people buy the iphone because of marketing not functionality.
technomancy 16y ago
It's a shame they don't mention the app store jail. I guess it's not high-priority because things like VoIP and tethering aren't really on the consumer radar yet, but hopefully that changes in the future.
- brk 16y ago
  I wouldn't call it a "shame" by any means. Owning both an iPhone and an Android phone, I can say that the app store "jail" also makes it 100x more usable, with better quality apps overall and more consistency among the apps. I hear a lot of developers bitch about the app store, but from an end-users perspective it has been one of Apple's best moves to-date.
  - drivebyacct2 16y ago
    Yes, Apple restricting tethering apps make the other apps better. I don't doubt that some Apple special sauce makes it easier to ignore the crappy apps, or that they are removed, but to imply that Apple's fart machine apps are better because you can't freely tether your device with 3rd party apps is just silly.
    - brk 16y ago
      While I have no first-hand knowledge (and I doubt you do either, please clarify if I'm wrong), I'd be willing to bet that overall Apple could care less about tethering apps. I believe that tethering is native to the OS, I remember doing some simple hack on my first 3G iPhone that enabled it for a while until a software update wiped it out. Other carriers (non-US) support it (a quick link I found re: Rogers: http://scilib.typepad.com/techreviews/2009/06/rogers-iphone-tethering-policy.html http://scilib.typepad.com/techreviews/2009/06/rogers-iphone-... ) So, your tethering restriction argument seems kind of straw-man to me. Additionally, it's not surprising that there are some bottom-feeder (fart) apps. Of course, the "fart-machine" apps are hardly the majority of the eco-system, but even so I could pretty much guarantee you that the fart apps would work 100% of the time on iOS, and probably 50% of the time at best on Android. As the app gets more complex, the probability of it working properly on all supported iOS devices, and NOT working properly on some subset of Android OS and hardware increases.
mcantor 16y ago
How is this hacker news?
- leviathant 16y ago
  From the HN Guidelines (linked from the bottom of every page on HN): "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. "
  - mcantor 16y ago
    Drat... foiled at my own game!
elblanco 16y ago
This is probably another advantage to the Android "lots of phones" strategy vs. putting all your eggs in one basket strategy. Even if you really like Apple's products, it's not like there's a good alternative phone you can turn to that's still an Apple product. While with Android, if a severe problem with a particular phone comes out, you can always just pick another phone. In the future, it might make more sense for Apple to release several flavors of phones, diversify what they are selling, rather than lumping their entire strategy with one product that might have unforeseen problems.
- jordanroher 16y ago
  In the future, it might make more sense for Apple to release several flavors of phones, diversify what they are selling, rather than lumping their entire strategy with one product that might have unforeseen problems. Technically they are: the iPhone 3GS runs the iOS 4 very well and doesn't have the lovely antenna bridging issue. That said, I'm having trouble imagining Apple going the iPod/iPod Nano/iPod Shuffle route with the iPhone. Whereas an iPod is used to play music 99% of the time, an iPhone makes calls, sends e-mail, surfs the web, and runs hundreds of thousands of apps, all of which expect a certain screen size and hardware components. An MP3 file doesn't require much. So, as neat as it would be to see Apple make many flavors of iPhones, I doubt it'll happen. This is the company that doesn't make a sub-$2,500 workstation with a replaceable graphics card, and whose netbook competitor costs $500. (Still, I would love to see an iPhone Shuffle. No screen. Press the button and it calls someone at random.)
- danieldon 16y ago
  Don't hold your breath. Apple has forever only released one model of each product at a time, with usually no more than 3 different options of slightly different specs. And it's not like this is the first time that a model has problems; long-time Apple users know to avoid the first revision of any redesign because of issues like this.
jeff18 16y ago
That's interesting that a piece of tape does indeed fix the problem. On last week's TWiT, one of the antenna engineers they had on kept saying how tape doesn't solve it.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- KirinDave 16y ago
  I'm skeptical of Consumer Reports methodology when it is in conflict with experts' predictions and tests. That it also is in conflict with AnandTech's review suggests to me that CR didn't have the expertise to adequaty test this. Which is not to say the problem doesn't exist. I just don't think they understand it.
nickpp 16y ago
Knew perfectly well about the issue, still got iPhone 4 last week. Crappy antenna is something I can live with. Crappy display, battery, software and user experience are not.
- jessriedel 16y ago
  I feel exactly the opposite about my phone. It just needs to make calls.
  - bingaman 16y ago
    If it just needs to make calls, don't get a smart phone.
    - nickpp 16y ago
      Bingo! I seldom talk on my iPhone. However I constanly do countless other stuff with it. If you are different, there is a vast number of alternative, seriously cheaper phones doing the phone part so much better. But if you want to do... anything else, well, there's an app for that.
    - enjo 16y ago
      I expect my smart phone to be really good at making calls too.
    - sophacles 16y ago
      So, you are saying that I have to choose between a smartphone and something I can make calls with?
- spot 16y ago
  so get an N1 and have it all.
- JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  Those other things weren't crappy last week. Funny how fast expectations change.
smokey_the_bear 16y ago
I actually really like this bug in the phone. I'm an app developer and it's great for testing going in and out of coverage. I only get one bar in my house, not enough to make calls, but enough to affect the connected flags. I can consistently drop that bar.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  We used a foil-lined box to do this at my last job.

73 points by bensummers 16y ago

The iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforeseen design errors of all time, I think.

powrtoch 16y ago
Maybe by HNers. I think a solid percentage of the general public at least vaguely knows about it, but most of my non-techie friends probably don't, or if they do they heard once and then forgot about it. It's certainly a screw up on Apple's part, but when you keep in mind that the rest of the world is seeing much less targeted news streams, I hardly think it's historical.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  Most of the non-techie people aren't also that interested in Apple. They just care about the product. In this case, I know several non-techies (hair dresser, cake decorator, etc) who really don't care about Apple, the company. However, they have asked about the Apple phone screw up they heard about. Most non-techies, I find, will see a tech-oriented friend to guide purchases, and they will learn about it through those means.
- Encosia 16y ago
  Almost everyone that has noticed my iPhone 4 and wanted to talk about it (strange how much attention it gets, compared to what the 3G and 3GS did) has asked about the antenna. The issue has been talked up enough in non-tech news that it's hard not to know about it.
  - risotto 16y ago
    Same here. "Ooh is that the new iPhone? Do you have antenna problems?" I say that while I do notice the affect, i've dropped no calls in my apartment with the new model, vs 70% dropped rate on my 3G.
- recampbell 16y ago
  So much for that idea. I just heard this story reported on NPR.
- hyperbovine 16y ago
  most of my non-techie friends probably don't You mean the ones who treat Consumer Reports' recommendations as holy writ?
cschep 16y ago
iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I haven't had an issue. I can't imagine that this is true. EDIT: Wow, Ok I get it. It's a real problem. But I guess I meant to say that it certainly seems like the iPhone will be remembered in a much more positive light.
- ghurlman 16y ago
  iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I have had this issue. I can't imagine that this is false.
- leviathant 16y ago
  I wonder who's done more research into the issue, cschep and his iPhone 4, or Consumer Reports, with decades of history of impartial product testing, three iPhones, and an RF isolation chamber? Well, since cschep hasn't had the issue, it can't possibly be true.
  - cschep 16y ago
    I really did not intend to be so dismissive, but was just trying to counter with the idea that the iPhone 4 is such a wonderful piece of design and engineering. That I just can't imagine it being remembered for anything other than that. Just an opinion.
  - tvon 16y ago
    [edited to be less dickish] First comment: > The iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforeseen design errors of all time, I think. The response: > iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I haven't had an issue. I can't imagine that this is true. What cschep can't imagine to be true is: That the iPhone 4 will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforseen design errors of all time.
    - leviathant 16y ago
      Here, let me quote the edit to the original post. "EDIT: Wow, Ok I get it. It's a real problem." That whirring noise you might hear when you read his edit is the sound of backpedaling. That said, I think that the post he was replying to is overblown. I don't think everyone will remember the iPhone for having antenna issues. I think that the most outstanding thing the iPhone4 brings to the table is the display, which is awesome and ahead of its time, by just a little bit. Let's go over this again, just so you understand the downvotes. [EDIT: I appreciate that you removed the bit where you called me and the other upvoters 'geniuses' - I would like to believe that the level of rehtoric on HN is above ad hominem attacks.] "The iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue will be remembered as one of the biggest avoidable but unforeseen design errors of all time, I think." This guy thinks that the antenna issue is going to be very memorable. I personally disagree with what he thinks, but it is what he thinks. "iPhone 4 owner as of day 1 and I haven't had an issue. I can't imagine that this is true." This guy either can't imagine that it's true that the other guy thinks that the antenna issue is going to be very memorable, or he can't believe it's true that the issue he can't reproduce even exists. He is wrong on both counts. While certainly the original poster can change his mind about how important the antenna issue will be, at the moment he wrote that, is is true that he thought it was huge. At the moment he wrote that, the issue as described by Consumer Reports and now Engadget, exists and is true.
theBobMcCormick 16y ago
I gotta agree. Particularly because if the ceramic of the rest of the case had extended to cover the antenna (or if it'd been covered by plastic, or really by anything) this wouldn't have happened. IMHO, Apple got burned by two things here: 1) The got carried about by how cool using the Antenna as part of the case would look. 2) Their infamous obsession with secrecy meant that all the test phones were hidden in cases that masked the problem, thereby inadvertently tainting their test results and preventing them from discovering the problem. I wonder if they could apply a thin laquer or clear plastic coating to the antenna on future iPhone4's to fix the problem?
- CamperBob 16y ago
  Their infamous obsession with secrecy meant that all the test phones were hidden in cases that masked the problem, thereby inadvertently tainting their test results and preventing them from discovering the problem. It should've shown up in an EM simulator before the hardware design was even finalized. The fact that it didn't explains why Apple is just now getting around to hiring some RF engineers.
- panacea 16y ago
  I remember seeing the leaked Gizmodo photos and thinking "Yep. that's the new iPhone for sure" even though the gaps in the frame seemed so... unApple like? It's certainly been entertaining following the drama from finding out that it was left in a bar ("Why would Apple let one off campus? Are they mad?") to Steve Jobs explaining the 'revolutionary' new frame as antennae design, to the eventual kerfuffle about bridging the gap and Apple's admission that they display arbitrary bars 'incorrectly'. They probably should have installed some Faraday cages of varying effectiveness in Infinite Loop methinks.
- edkennedy 16y ago
  I kept wondering throughout the entire escapade: "I wonder if Apple is going to rush the iPhone out to the public now that it has been leaked?" It certainly seems like more testing was required.
tomkarlo 16y ago
If you think this rates high on the list of avoidable but unforeseen design errors, you need to study more engineering history. (And generally, all design errors are avoidable - otherwise they wouldn't be a design decision.) As far as I know, this hasn't killed, maimed or irradiated anyone quite yet. It's a slightly unfortunate design decision on an otherwise elegantly designed device. It's notable because our expectations are so high - if this was from any company other than Apple it wouldn't get so much press. But let's put things in perspective, it's not a Ford Pinto, Three Mile Island control panel, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Hyatt Skywalk, or DC-10. If you don't like it, you return the phone and get your money back. You don't end up six feet under.

SamAtt 16y ago

I'm sorry but this is just over reaction. The big deal about the antenna issue is that Apple tried to cover it up NOT the issue itself. The issue itself can be fixed easily and cheaply by either using masking tape (as they suggest) or by simply buying the $29 "bumper" accessory from Apple. To suggest someone buy a 3GS over an iPhone 4 because of this issue (as they do at the end of the article) is just a little silly.

leviathant 16y ago
Sure, because Consumer Reports is so prone to over-reaction. Do you think they have some kind of anti-Apple agenda? I can understand why people were skeptical when Gizmodo started posting reports they culled from the Macrumors forums, but this is Consumer Reports. Just because your phone works fine doesn't mean that the issue does not exist.
- tvon 16y ago
  So you're saying that Consumer Reports is incapable of over-reacting and accusing them of such is to imply that they have an anti-Apple agenda?
  - mrkurt 16y ago
    So you're saying that you kill baby seals?
  - leviathant 16y ago
    What I'm saying is that Consumer Reports seem to have put their money where their mouth is. Countless bloggers, Youtubers, and Twitter users have made their anecdotal claims about having signal issues, and nearly every time they get published, a legion of Apple fanatics yells them down with "Doesn't happen on my phone/This is so overblown." There's already someone in the HN comments on this story who says it can't possibly be true because he's never had the problem with his iPhone. Seriously. Dinosaurs can't be millions of years old, because I read a book that said the earth is 4000 years old! Consumer Reports took the time and money to test three different iPhones in an RF isolation chamber, and presumably through scientific process, determined that indeed, the iPhone4 has signal attenuation issues that cause calls to be dropped. I think that if one believes they are fudging the numbers, either duplicate their effort, or contact Consumer Reports and ask for more details on how the experiment is run. I think it's good to question authority - and in fact that's what Consumer Reports often does, and is what they're doing here. The authority, Apple, is saying there's nothing wrong with one face, and with another face, they're hiring RF and antenna engineers. There are real people who paid at least $200 for this phone who are having real signal issues, but I shouldn't believe them because AT&T's coverage in Philadelphia is so widespread that I can use my iPhone underground in the subway? That's zealous, and I'm glad to see an organization with the means to test these things put some weight behind the bloggers and everyday users who are having real trouble with these phones.

handler 16y ago

i don't think apple has to worry, apparently people can't be swayed by facts (see: "How telling people the facts may not cause them to change what they believe" (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=full http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/... )). also, every iphone has had serious signal issues, it's a known problem, yet people still continue to buy them–why would this change anything... most people buy the iphone because of marketing not functionality.

technomancy 16y ago

It's a shame they don't mention the app store jail. I guess it's not high-priority because things like VoIP and tethering aren't really on the consumer radar yet, but hopefully that changes in the future.

brk 16y ago
I wouldn't call it a "shame" by any means. Owning both an iPhone and an Android phone, I can say that the app store "jail" also makes it 100x more usable, with better quality apps overall and more consistency among the apps. I hear a lot of developers bitch about the app store, but from an end-users perspective it has been one of Apple's best moves to-date.
- drivebyacct2 16y ago
  Yes, Apple restricting tethering apps make the other apps better. I don't doubt that some Apple special sauce makes it easier to ignore the crappy apps, or that they are removed, but to imply that Apple's fart machine apps are better because you can't freely tether your device with 3rd party apps is just silly.
  - brk 16y ago
    While I have no first-hand knowledge (and I doubt you do either, please clarify if I'm wrong), I'd be willing to bet that overall Apple could care less about tethering apps. I believe that tethering is native to the OS, I remember doing some simple hack on my first 3G iPhone that enabled it for a while until a software update wiped it out. Other carriers (non-US) support it (a quick link I found re: Rogers: http://scilib.typepad.com/techreviews/2009/06/rogers-iphone-tethering-policy.html http://scilib.typepad.com/techreviews/2009/06/rogers-iphone-... ) So, your tethering restriction argument seems kind of straw-man to me. Additionally, it's not surprising that there are some bottom-feeder (fart) apps. Of course, the "fart-machine" apps are hardly the majority of the eco-system, but even so I could pretty much guarantee you that the fart apps would work 100% of the time on iOS, and probably 50% of the time at best on Android. As the app gets more complex, the probability of it working properly on all supported iOS devices, and NOT working properly on some subset of Android OS and hardware increases.

mcantor 16y ago

How is this hacker news?

leviathant 16y ago
From the HN Guidelines (linked from the bottom of every page on HN): "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. "
- mcantor 16y ago
  Drat... foiled at my own game!

elblanco 16y ago

This is probably another advantage to the Android "lots of phones" strategy vs. putting all your eggs in one basket strategy. Even if you really like Apple's products, it's not like there's a good alternative phone you can turn to that's still an Apple product. While with Android, if a severe problem with a particular phone comes out, you can always just pick another phone. In the future, it might make more sense for Apple to release several flavors of phones, diversify what they are selling, rather than lumping their entire strategy with one product that might have unforeseen problems.

jordanroher 16y ago
In the future, it might make more sense for Apple to release several flavors of phones, diversify what they are selling, rather than lumping their entire strategy with one product that might have unforeseen problems. Technically they are: the iPhone 3GS runs the iOS 4 very well and doesn't have the lovely antenna bridging issue. That said, I'm having trouble imagining Apple going the iPod/iPod Nano/iPod Shuffle route with the iPhone. Whereas an iPod is used to play music 99% of the time, an iPhone makes calls, sends e-mail, surfs the web, and runs hundreds of thousands of apps, all of which expect a certain screen size and hardware components. An MP3 file doesn't require much. So, as neat as it would be to see Apple make many flavors of iPhones, I doubt it'll happen. This is the company that doesn't make a sub-$2,500 workstation with a replaceable graphics card, and whose netbook competitor costs $500. (Still, I would love to see an iPhone Shuffle. No screen. Press the button and it calls someone at random.)
danieldon 16y ago
Don't hold your breath. Apple has forever only released one model of each product at a time, with usually no more than 3 different options of slightly different specs. And it's not like this is the first time that a model has problems; long-time Apple users know to avoid the first revision of any redesign because of issues like this.

jeff18 16y ago

That's interesting that a piece of tape does indeed fix the problem. On last week's TWiT, one of the antenna engineers they had on kept saying how tape doesn't solve it.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
KirinDave 16y ago
I'm skeptical of Consumer Reports methodology when it is in conflict with experts' predictions and tests. That it also is in conflict with AnandTech's review suggests to me that CR didn't have the expertise to adequaty test this. Which is not to say the problem doesn't exist. I just don't think they understand it.

nickpp 16y ago

Knew perfectly well about the issue, still got iPhone 4 last week. Crappy antenna is something I can live with. Crappy display, battery, software and user experience are not.

jessriedel 16y ago
I feel exactly the opposite about my phone. It just needs to make calls.
- bingaman 16y ago
  If it just needs to make calls, don't get a smart phone.
  - nickpp 16y ago
    Bingo! I seldom talk on my iPhone. However I constanly do countless other stuff with it. If you are different, there is a vast number of alternative, seriously cheaper phones doing the phone part so much better. But if you want to do... anything else, well, there's an app for that.
  - enjo 16y ago
    I expect my smart phone to be really good at making calls too.
  - sophacles 16y ago
    So, you are saying that I have to choose between a smartphone and something I can make calls with?
spot 16y ago
so get an N1 and have it all.
JoeAltmaier 16y ago
Those other things weren't crappy last week. Funny how fast expectations change.

smokey_the_bear 16y ago

I actually really like this bug in the phone. I'm an app developer and it's great for testing going in and out of coverage. I only get one bar in my house, not enough to make calls, but enough to affect the connected flags. I can consistently drop that bar.

mbrubeck 16y ago
We used a foil-lined box to do this at my last job.