Bottom line, the design and execution was suboptimal in one specific, limited areaand the phone is not recommended in its present incantation by CR. However, the overall design and implementation is the best ever seen by Consumer Reports.
Apple’s stock has been tanking against the rest of the market. This may be one of the very few times this has happened because of current product news. Now is the time to buy, because I’m sure it won’t last.
Yes a good buy for the savvy long-term investor! But, if history is any guide, AAPL will be all over the place for the next 10 days. Apple's earnings call is in one week, on June 20.
Typically, you see AAPL decline big for several days, then rebound big right before the call, then decline after the call-- despite blockbuster numbers beating analysts inflated numbers.
This is the time that the "Cramers" are having a field day.
So, while the bad PR is, likely, one thing affecting the price-- as you know, there are a lot of other things in play around an earnings call.
Except, that while I am an Apple fan, I am the furthest thing from an Apple apologist. That doesn't, however, mean that your thoughtless insinuation that a serious, yet not critical problem with the antenna makes it an overall bad design, isn't worth pointing out.
The iPhone 4 has flaws. But it is still rated as the best smart phone. Guess they got most of the 'incantation' right, after all.
The point you demonstrated is that your logic is as flawed as your grammar. Happy to have helped prove that for you.
Too bad that part of the rating system doesn't seem to include flexibility, like the ability to travel outside the country and change out the sim card so you can operate on a local network for a GREATLY reduced cost. Or the ability to change the battery.
For Apple, the biggest problem with the antenna attenuation issue with the iPhone 4 is that it's so easy to reproduce. Everybody knows that exact spot to touch to generate the problem. Apple states however, that all cell phones experience some loss of signal when held improperly. Does anybody have access to any other cell phones? Is there any way to locate that hot spot on other phones? Can the "wrong" way to hold other phones be easily identified? I'd think Apple themselves would have pushed for a comparison (assuming they really believe this assertion).
I certainly can't find a way to hold my BlackBerry (provided by my employer) to force it to lose signal strength.
Life is so simple to you isn't it? You're so smart and everyone else is so stupid, I'm surprised you have the patience to post with us fools.
I'm never going to walk around with a piece of tape on my iPhone to make you or Steve Jobs happy. This is the stupidest solution to the problem I have ever heard and for you to endorse it makes you fool.
Got it? Good.
Do you, personally, have an iPhone 4?
Are you, personally, able to reproduce this issue?
I'm guessing 'NO' to the first, and therefore 'NO' to the second.
"Well this is ironic," Paczkowski writes. "iPhone 4 is hands-down the best smartphone available today, but Consumer Reports advises against buying it."
Not ironic. First, it suggests just how important CR believes the antenna issue to be and how poor the competition is--because no others are seen to be recommended either. Second, CR isn't advising against buying the iPhone 4, except in the sense that customers should wait until Apple adequately resolves the antenna issue. The headlines are that CR can't recommend the iPhone 4, not that CR recommends against the iPhone 4.
Quote:
As one comment notes, "Isn't it interesting the people who are having this problem don't even own iPhones?"
Really? Someone wrote that? How completely lame of AI to repeat it.
Other reviews state just the opposite. Tape is not enough. Not scotch tape, not electrical tape, not duct tape. Of course, you're just quoting the Consumer Reports article - with much emphasis i might add.
Everybody should start doing that though. Just get a giant piece of ugly duct tape and stick it to the iPhone and then parade around the Apple Stores with it. That would encourage Apple more than anything to get a fix out.
Too bad that part of the rating system doesn't seem to include flexibility, like the ability to travel outside the country and change out the sim card so you can operate on a local network for a GREATLY reduced cost. Or the ability to change the battery.
Which smartphones have you owned over the past 3 years?
How many times have you bought new batteries for them?
What's that - never?
Gosh, if only Apple did a bit of market research before releasing a new product, they might have been able to see no-one (save a tiny percent) of users change their smartphone's batteries over its lifetime.
Here is my problem with CR, many times they have no clue what they are doing when it comes to testing and using a product, many times what they use as a reason to rate a product higher or low has not real world importance, like many places that review products they get caught up in the numbers and stats of product.
I too have had my complaints about Consumer Reports. At least once upon a time. They seemed to be far too concerned with creating little round circles and filling them in, rather than in honest reviews. My complaint at the time was with automobile reviews. They simply couldn't find a way to stuff "fun", "an effing blast to drive" and "wow" into those little circles. They simply couldn't judge intangibles. Of course, they could tell you how many cup holders the car had. One with more cup holders always seemed to get better reviewed than those with less.
But in this case, I think they're probably right about the iPhone. Great potential spoiled by an inherent design flaw. Certainly a "bumper" or other case will mitigate the antenna problem, but that kills that intangible quality in the look and feel of the device.
I can reproduce the problem but it hasn't affected my use at all. Perhaps the way I already hold the phone, perhaps that I use the phone more for text messaging and entertainment than an actual phone. I don't know what the answer is but even though I can cause the phone to drop signal, it hasn't bothered me. Yet.
This why polls like the hardmac one are irrelevant. Many (perhaps most) iPhone 4 owners can replicatie the signal problem if they are instructed how to do it. If this really causes them a problem is another issue.
Are you, personally, able to reproduce this issue?
I'm guessing 'NO' to the first, and therefore 'NO' to the second.
Got it? Good.
I also will not walk around with a piece of tape on my iPhone 4. Yes I own one. Yes I can reproduce the problem and do so often. And I am right handed.
The simple fact is that it was a choice to put the antenna outside of the phone and another one to put the separation between the two antennas in a place that most people touch when holding the phone in a normal way. Is it unusable? No. Does that make it acceptable? NO.
If they want to admit the problem and inform buyers before they buy it then it is up to the customer to decide if it matters to them. But to pretend there is no problem and sell a product with a known problem is not right. Not from any company, and certainly not from a company know for quality products "that just work"
I like apple, I love the iPhone, but that doesn't mean they get a pass on a stupid mistake.
Comments
I don't understand why I can't duplicate this problem. I consistantly have 5 bars no matter where I hold the phone.
Obviously only the privileged people living in regions with poorer reception can play the "Death Grip"- game that comes packed with the iP4.
Bottom line, the design and execution was suboptimal in one specific, limited areaand the phone is not recommended in its present incantation by CR. However, the overall design and implementation is the best ever seen by Consumer Reports.
-Fixed your post up a bit.
You have proven my point exceedingly well.
Apple’s stock has been tanking against the rest of the market. This may be one of the very few times this has happened because of current product news. Now is the time to buy, because I’m sure it won’t last.
Yes a good buy for the savvy long-term investor! But, if history is any guide, AAPL will be all over the place for the next 10 days. Apple's earnings call is in one week, on June 20.
Typically, you see AAPL decline big for several days, then rebound big right before the call, then decline after the call-- despite blockbuster numbers beating analysts inflated numbers.
This is the time that the "Cramers" are having a field day.
So, while the bad PR is, likely, one thing affecting the price-- as you know, there are a lot of other things in play around an earnings call.
It's currently at about $250 down about 2.9%.
.
You have proven my point exceedingly well.
Except, that while I am an Apple fan, I am the furthest thing from an Apple apologist. That doesn't, however, mean that your thoughtless insinuation that a serious, yet not critical problem with the antenna makes it an overall bad design, isn't worth pointing out.
The iPhone 4 has flaws. But it is still rated as the best smart phone. Guess they got most of the 'incantation' right, after all.
The point you demonstrated is that your logic is as flawed as your grammar. Happy to have helped prove that for you.
For Apple, the biggest problem with the antenna attenuation issue with the iPhone 4 is that it's so easy to reproduce. Everybody knows that exact spot to touch to generate the problem. Apple states however, that all cell phones experience some loss of signal when held improperly. Does anybody have access to any other cell phones? Is there any way to locate that hot spot on other phones? Can the "wrong" way to hold other phones be easily identified? I'd think Apple themselves would have pushed for a comparison (assuming they really believe this assertion).
I certainly can't find a way to hold my BlackBerry (provided by my employer) to force it to lose signal strength.
Apple never ever said or stated that.
Apple never ever said or stated that.
Apple's Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4
"To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars."
Does bolding make factual inaccurate assertions more factual?
Obviously, your experience was at the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
AT&T and American Express are on my personal "until Hell freezes over" list. That goes for me and the companies I control.
There have been others. They went Chapter 7, deservedly so. Not likely with AT&T or AmEx, but I have a long memory... and principles.
Life is so simple to you isn't it? You're so smart and everyone else is so stupid, I'm surprised you have the patience to post with us fools.
I'm never going to walk around with a piece of tape on my iPhone to make you or Steve Jobs happy. This is the stupidest solution to the problem I have ever heard and for you to endorse it makes you fool.
Got it? Good.
Do you, personally, have an iPhone 4?
Are you, personally, able to reproduce this issue?
I'm guessing 'NO' to the first, and therefore 'NO' to the second.
Got it? Good.
"Well this is ironic," Paczkowski writes. "iPhone 4 is hands-down the best smartphone available today, but Consumer Reports advises against buying it."
Not ironic. First, it suggests just how important CR believes the antenna issue to be and how poor the competition is--because no others are seen to be recommended either. Second, CR isn't advising against buying the iPhone 4, except in the sense that customers should wait until Apple adequately resolves the antenna issue. The headlines are that CR can't recommend the iPhone 4, not that CR recommends against the iPhone 4.
As one comment notes, "Isn't it interesting the people who are having this problem don't even own iPhones?"
Really? Someone wrote that? How completely lame of AI to repeat it.
Other reviews state just the opposite. Tape is not enough. Not scotch tape, not electrical tape, not duct tape. Of course, you're just quoting the Consumer Reports article - with much emphasis i might add.
Everybody should start doing that though. Just get a giant piece of ugly duct tape and stick it to the iPhone and then parade around the Apple Stores with it. That would encourage Apple more than anything to get a fix out.
Too bad that part of the rating system doesn't seem to include flexibility, like the ability to travel outside the country and change out the sim card so you can operate on a local network for a GREATLY reduced cost. Or the ability to change the battery.
Which smartphones have you owned over the past 3 years?
How many times have you bought new batteries for them?
What's that - never?
Gosh, if only Apple did a bit of market research before releasing a new product, they might have been able to see no-one (save a tiny percent) of users change their smartphone's batteries over its lifetime.
Apple's Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4
"To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars."
Does bolding make factual inaccurate assertions more factual?
That doesn't make it improper. If it did, it would be a STANDARD warning or in the description of use for every mobile phone.
Again, nothing in anything that Apple has said or stated was the word 'improper' used or implied.
That doesn't make it improper. If it did, it would be a STANDARD warning or in the description of use for every mobile phone.
Again, nothing in anything that Apple has said or stated was the word 'improper' used or implied.
Oh. I see. You were just wanting to play a semantics game. Very valuable insights.
Mine works great as a phone and even people with the problem note they can make calls better than before.
My only issue with calls is the proximity sensor issue muting and hanging up calls.
Have you tried exchanging your phone? I have no proximity issues whatsoever.
Here is my problem with CR, many times they have no clue what they are doing when it comes to testing and using a product, many times what they use as a reason to rate a product higher or low has not real world importance, like many places that review products they get caught up in the numbers and stats of product.
I too have had my complaints about Consumer Reports. At least once upon a time. They seemed to be far too concerned with creating little round circles and filling them in, rather than in honest reviews. My complaint at the time was with automobile reviews. They simply couldn't find a way to stuff "fun", "an effing blast to drive" and "wow" into those little circles. They simply couldn't judge intangibles. Of course, they could tell you how many cup holders the car had. One with more cup holders always seemed to get better reviewed than those with less.
But in this case, I think they're probably right about the iPhone. Great potential spoiled by an inherent design flaw. Certainly a "bumper" or other case will mitigate the antenna problem, but that kills that intangible quality in the look and feel of the device.
I can reproduce the problem but it hasn't affected my use at all. Perhaps the way I already hold the phone, perhaps that I use the phone more for text messaging and entertainment than an actual phone. I don't know what the answer is but even though I can cause the phone to drop signal, it hasn't bothered me. Yet.
This why polls like the hardmac one are irrelevant. Many (perhaps most) iPhone 4 owners can replicatie the signal problem if they are instructed how to do it. If this really causes them a problem is another issue.
think of AI as being like fox news and reading their articles will become humorous instead of irritating.
Or simply view AI for what is... a squirrel trying to get a nut (IOW: they are a business trying to maximize their profits in a crummy economy).
Do you, personally, have an iPhone 4?
Are you, personally, able to reproduce this issue?
I'm guessing 'NO' to the first, and therefore 'NO' to the second.
Got it? Good.
I also will not walk around with a piece of tape on my iPhone 4. Yes I own one. Yes I can reproduce the problem and do so often. And I am right handed.
The simple fact is that it was a choice to put the antenna outside of the phone and another one to put the separation between the two antennas in a place that most people touch when holding the phone in a normal way. Is it unusable? No. Does that make it acceptable? NO.
If they want to admit the problem and inform buyers before they buy it then it is up to the customer to decide if it matters to them. But to pretend there is no problem and sell a product with a known problem is not right. Not from any company, and certainly not from a company know for quality products "that just work"
I like apple, I love the iPhone, but that doesn't mean they get a pass on a stupid mistake.