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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 b

by 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.
    - leviathant 16y ago
      Oh nice. See that paragraph where I said "do it yourself"? Looks like Engadget had the same idea, and they found that every iPhone4 they have suffers from signal attenuation issues. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/consumer-reports-confirms-iphone-4-antenna-problems-and-so-do/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/consumer-reports-confirms... That's how you refute -- or reinforce -- a published study. Not with rhetoric that a high school student would be embarrassed to get behind, but with independent study, publishing your methods and findings.
    - tvon 16y ago
      > (...) a legion of Apple fanatics yells them down with "Doesn't happen on my phone/This is so overblown." Anyone who doesn't have this problem or thinks it is overblown is an Apple fanatic, obviously, and of course they're all yelling all the time. > 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. I can't seem to find that. Weird. > 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. Nobody said they were fudging numbers, nobody even implied it. > (...) and with another face, they're hiring RF and antenna engineers. Ah right, that whole conspiracy theory. > 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? I haven't seen any comments recently (here or on reddit) which suggest that the problem does not exist, only that the problem does not affect them.
      - rmc 16y ago
        >> 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. > I can't seem to find that. Weird. Further down the page http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1508566 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1508566
        tvon 16y ago
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- dualboot 16y ago
  A small flaw in your logic. I don't think Consumer Reports has an anti-Apple agenda. I do think they have a Pro-"Get everyone talking about Consumer Reports again" agenda though. How do you make that happen? Make a splash with a polarizing article making the case for why the object everyone is in love with sucks. It's sensational journalism 101. They show their hand by recommending people buy the now mostly inferior 3GS instead of the 4. It's like their way of saying "We still love the iPhone!" Because duh.. it's obviously already a huge success.
gmac 16y ago
I have an iPhone 4 and don't regret getting it, but neither of these easy and cheap fixes is really satisfactory. Two of my favourite things about the iPhone are that it's slim and looks nice. The suggested fixes (in my view) compromise those things. Plus, in the bumper case, 'cheap' isn't really good enough -- you're still paying extra money to make the thing work as it should.
GiraffeNecktie 16y ago
So the options are to apply duct tape/masking tape to a new $600 designer phone or pay the manufacturer another $30 for an off the shelf kludge? Call me silly, but I'd say that's reason enough not to buy it.
- keltex 16y ago
  Apple still has a choice of doing 1 of 2 things: 1) Dither around like they're doing now. Blame AT & T, the software, etc. 2) Acknowledge the issue. Offer a free piece of plastic to all users who want one. Their cost no more than $5 per phone. Most people won't bother because they'll get their own case. Which do you think in the long term will be more beneficial to the company? To their user's loyalty?
  - keltex 16y ago
    Or if Google was really clever, they would create a green bumper to go on the iPhone with the text, "iPhone Reception Problems Fixed by Android."
    - ynniv 16y ago
      Or if any company wanted cheap advertising, they would give away free bumpers with their name on it. HINT HINT. ;-)
- adam_albrecht 16y ago
  I bought a protective skin for mine (which I was going to buy anyway) and, as a side effect, it prevents the antenna issue. It's also barely noticeable. I got mine from BodyGuardz, but I think there are a few companies who make them. Just make sure it covers the sides.
SHOwnsYou 16y ago
I think to suggest that they are over reacting is peculiar when their history is so well known. They have been surviving for over 75 years based on their objective approach to rating consumer goods. In their attempts to be unbiased, they don't accept product sample or event print outside advertising. That means they have been surviving for 75+ years simply on their reliability. I'd think suggesting they over reacted is quite a stretch, yes.
bobbyi 16y ago
The point of Consumer Reports is to tell if the product actually works under unbiased testing and provides a good value. If a product doesn't perform its core function (making phone calls) without spending $29 more than the base price and the manufacture doesn't tell you that when you buy it, then it is a defective product and doesn't meet their standard for recommendation.
- elblanco 16y ago
  Exactly, which is why they put a condition at the end. > But Apple needs to come up with a permanent—and free—fix for the antenna problem before we can recommend the iPhone 4. If this was a piece of software wouldn't we all demand a patch?
- squidsoup 16y ago
  From my perspective, making phone calls isn't the core function of a smart phone. Things like internet connectivity, and applications are much more important to me. This is why I am still considering the iPhone 4 despite being aware of this flaw, as for everything other than making calls, it is arguably the best device in its class.

by SamAtt 16y ago

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.
  - leviathant 16y ago
    Oh nice. See that paragraph where I said "do it yourself"? Looks like Engadget had the same idea, and they found that every iPhone4 they have suffers from signal attenuation issues. http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/consumer-reports-confirms-iphone-4-antenna-problems-and-so-do/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/consumer-reports-confirms... That's how you refute -- or reinforce -- a published study. Not with rhetoric that a high school student would be embarrassed to get behind, but with independent study, publishing your methods and findings.
  - tvon 16y ago
    > (...) a legion of Apple fanatics yells them down with "Doesn't happen on my phone/This is so overblown." Anyone who doesn't have this problem or thinks it is overblown is an Apple fanatic, obviously, and of course they're all yelling all the time. > 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. I can't seem to find that. Weird. > 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. Nobody said they were fudging numbers, nobody even implied it. > (...) and with another face, they're hiring RF and antenna engineers. Ah right, that whole conspiracy theory. > 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? I haven't seen any comments recently (here or on reddit) which suggest that the problem does not exist, only that the problem does not affect them.
    - rmc 16y ago
      >> 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. > I can't seem to find that. Weird. Further down the page http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1508566 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1508566
      - tvon 16y ago
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
dualboot 16y ago
A small flaw in your logic. I don't think Consumer Reports has an anti-Apple agenda. I do think they have a Pro-"Get everyone talking about Consumer Reports again" agenda though. How do you make that happen? Make a splash with a polarizing article making the case for why the object everyone is in love with sucks. It's sensational journalism 101. They show their hand by recommending people buy the now mostly inferior 3GS instead of the 4. It's like their way of saying "We still love the iPhone!" Because duh.. it's obviously already a huge success.

gmac 16y ago

I have an iPhone 4 and don't regret getting it, but neither of these easy and cheap fixes is really satisfactory. Two of my favourite things about the iPhone are that it's slim and looks nice. The suggested fixes (in my view) compromise those things. Plus, in the bumper case, 'cheap' isn't really good enough -- you're still paying extra money to make the thing work as it should.

GiraffeNecktie 16y ago

So the options are to apply duct tape/masking tape to a new $600 designer phone or pay the manufacturer another $30 for an off the shelf kludge? Call me silly, but I'd say that's reason enough not to buy it.

keltex 16y ago
Apple still has a choice of doing 1 of 2 things: 1) Dither around like they're doing now. Blame AT & T, the software, etc. 2) Acknowledge the issue. Offer a free piece of plastic to all users who want one. Their cost no more than $5 per phone. Most people won't bother because they'll get their own case. Which do you think in the long term will be more beneficial to the company? To their user's loyalty?
- keltex 16y ago
  Or if Google was really clever, they would create a green bumper to go on the iPhone with the text, "iPhone Reception Problems Fixed by Android."
  - ynniv 16y ago
    Or if any company wanted cheap advertising, they would give away free bumpers with their name on it. HINT HINT. ;-)
adam_albrecht 16y ago
I bought a protective skin for mine (which I was going to buy anyway) and, as a side effect, it prevents the antenna issue. It's also barely noticeable. I got mine from BodyGuardz, but I think there are a few companies who make them. Just make sure it covers the sides.

SHOwnsYou 16y ago

I think to suggest that they are over reacting is peculiar when their history is so well known. They have been surviving for over 75 years based on their objective approach to rating consumer goods. In their attempts to be unbiased, they don't accept product sample or event print outside advertising. That means they have been surviving for 75+ years simply on their reliability. I'd think suggesting they over reacted is quite a stretch, yes.

bobbyi 16y ago

The point of Consumer Reports is to tell if the product actually works under unbiased testing and provides a good value. If a product doesn't perform its core function (making phone calls) without spending $29 more than the base price and the manufacture doesn't tell you that when you buy it, then it is a defective product and doesn't meet their standard for recommendation.

elblanco 16y ago
Exactly, which is why they put a condition at the end. > But Apple needs to come up with a permanent—and free—fix for the antenna problem before we can recommend the iPhone 4. If this was a piece of software wouldn't we all demand a patch?
squidsoup 16y ago
From my perspective, making phone calls isn't the core function of a smart phone. Things like internet connectivity, and applications are much more important to me. This is why I am still considering the iPhone 4 despite being aware of this flaw, as for everything other than making calls, it is arguably the best device in its class.