"Is CR testing signal attenuation, or an actual loss of functionality?" From the article: "When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone's lower left si

"Is CR testing signal attenuation, or an actual loss of functionality?" From the article: "When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone's lower left side - an easy thing, especially for lefties - the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you're in an area with a weak signal" They are testing both signal attenuation and an actual loss of functionality. I agree, actual data would be nice. What gives me confidence in the report is that, to quote Wikipedia, "Consumer Reports does not print outside advertising, accept free product samples, or permit the commercial use of its reviews for selling products" and that they've been doing this since 1936. Bose and Sharper Image have in the past attempted to sue Consumer Reports for showing some kind of bias or for presumably using inaccurate methods in their reviews - both lost their lawsuits. There are good reasons why CR has the reputation it has, and that's why I'm willing to take what they have to say at close to face value, even without raw data being published in the same blog entry.