Consumer Reports offers scathing critique on Verizon iPhone 4

Apple Insider ^ | January 14, 2011 | Daniel Eran Dilger

[Swordmaker]

While awarding Apple's iPhone 4 its highest ratings across the board last summer, Consumer Reports is now warning users to wait, calling it "middle aged" and doubting whether Verizon will offer the unlimited data contracts it is said it would.

In a blog posting, Paul Reynolds and Mike Gikas write that the Verizon iPhone 4 is "promising, but likely to be short-lived," saying that "it may be quickly replaced by a newer, cooler version more quickly than is customary even for the die-young life expectancy of most smart phones."

Apple has historically rolled out a new iPhone model once each year, making the Verizon iPhone 4 a mid-year carrier expansion, not a new phone release. However, most observers expect Apple to release iPhone 5 as an update for GSM/UMTS carriers this summer, rather than aiming at replacing what will be the less than six-month old iPhone 4 on Verizon.

When Apple dramatically lowered the price of the original iPhone within months of its release, it gave customers a refund in the form of a store credit, something that's nearly unheard of in the fast moving world of technology products.

Other smartphone makers release new models every few months, with Motorola, for example, releasing the Droid X just months after its original Droid launched, then following up with the Droid Pro and Droid 2 models within another six months. Consumer Reports does not warn users not to buy Motorola's Droid phones because a new model will be released within six months, making its warnings about Verizon's iPhone 4 seem inconsistent.

To 4G, or not to 4G?

The blog posting also criticized Verizon's iPhone 4 offering as being 3G "at a time when carriers—Verizon among them—have launched faster 4G networks and phones that work on them." However, while Verizon began rolling out its new "4G" LTE data network in December, it doesn't offer widespread coverage and isn't yet usable for voice calls.

Additionally, the 4G phones Verizon showed at CES earlier this month aren't yet available and won't be "launched" until the middle of 2011. If Consumer Reports is worried about iPhone 4 being refreshed, it should also be warning all Verizon users to hold off buying phones because of the new batch of LTE models being offered within six months.

If it starts doing that, it can continue to warn users to never buy a new smartphone because Motorola, Samsung and HTC will continue to release new and improved models every few months.

Inventing issues for iPhone 4

Similarly, the posting complains that iPhone 4 on Verizon suffers from "CDMA's shortcomings," including an inability to use voice and data simultaneously and the lack of a global roaming option, without similarly warning that every phone on Verizon and Sprint has the same characteristics.

Also highlighted as a strike against iPhone 4 is its 3.5 inch screen, "in an era where the number of smart phones with 4 inch-plus screens has swelled." In reality, Verizon only offers two Android models with 4 inch or larger screens, the Droid X and Samsung Fascinate, although the Droid 2 is in the middle at 3.7 inches.

Verizon's Droid Pro is actually smaller at just 3.1 inches, with a much lower 480x320 resolution. And of course, all of the large-screen smartphones offer far lower pixel density than iPhone 4 because they offer lower resolutions on a bigger panel.

Among Verizon's mass market Android models, only one is slightly larger than iPhone 4: the HTC Droid Incredible, with a 3.7 inch screen. Other models all offer smaller screens ranging from 3 inches to 3.4 inches, and again offer lower pixel counts, some with only a quarter of the pixels of iPhone 4's Retina Display.

Question marks against iPhone 4

The group also said it expects "Verizon will use the phone's launch to make its promised switch from unlimited data plans to the tiered or metered plans now used by AT&T," prevening iPhone 4 users from signing up on its unlimited data contracts.

Verizon says in its iPhone 4 FAQ that "iPhone customers will need to choose from any of the current Nationwide plans. Customers will also be required to activate a data package, pricing will be announced at a later date," suggesting that the carrier is still in the process of determining whether it should charge iPhone 4 users more for the same service, or restrict them from buying unlimited contracts.

"That may not necessarily mean higher costs for data than with an unlimited plan," the group wrote. "The AT&T metered plans actually lowered bills for many users, according to our analysis."

It also worried whether Verizon would be able to handle the influx of new iPhone users, claiming that "some iPhone owners are data hogs, with consumption that's significantly above owners of many other smart phones." According to Verizon however, Android users actually use more data on average than iPhone users on AT&T.

Verizon iPhone for fanboys only

In language uncharacteristic of the normally objective-sounding Consumer Reports advice, even when concerning products like cars and cameras where buyers might have strong affiliations with a given brand, the posting described potential Verizon iPhone 4 adopters as "breathless" fanatics who were spendthrift and ignorant "addicts."

"You may want snap up this new offering if you've been waiting breathlessly for the iPhone to come to Verizon and don't much care about 4G speed, a bigger screen, or other features found on current cutting-edge phones," wrote Reynolds and Gikas. "Or if you're prepared to pay an early termination fee to trade in the Verizon iPhone 4 for its successor when it appears.

"The less iPhone-addicted consumer, on the other hand, may want to hold off for a newer version of the iPhone before even considering whether to buy one," the report concluded.

Consumer Reports Antennagate waffling

The magazine's increasingly apparent lack of objectivity in smartphones began when the group embroiled itself in the Antennagate "controversy" last July.

After first writing that significant signal attenuation issues could not be scientifically observed, were not unique to the new phone, and concluding that there's "no reason not to buy iPhone 4" despite the rumors about its antenna problems then being floated by Gizmodo, the group's opinion changed dramatically on the basis on non-scientific observations.

Two weeks later, the company's blog posted a retraction based on videos posted on YouTube and new observations made by its bloggers, who changed their stance to say that it "can't recommend" iPhone 4 until Apple addressed their concerns with a free fix.

We can't recommend our highest rated smartphone

At the same time, Consumer Reports was assigning iPhone 4 its highest rankings of all the phones it tested. Despite its official rankings obscured behind a pay wall, the group also noted that, while it refused to officially recommend the phone, "its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest ratings of smart phones that were released today."

John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal "Digital Daily" blog noted that the site's paid evaluation rated the display, navigation, web browsing, multimedia and battery life of iPhone 4 as "excellent," gave its phoning and messaging a "very good" ranking, and described voice quality as "good."

"Well this is ironic," Paczkowski wrote. "iPhone 4 is hands-down the best smartphone available today, but Consumer Reports advises against buying it."

Even after Apple released free bumpers for iPhone 4 users, Consumer Reports continued to refuse to officially recommend the phone, even as it did recommend models that also exhibited the same signal attenuation issues, including RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC's Android Droid Eris, Samsung's Windows Mobile Omnia II, Nokia's N97, and Motorola's Droid X, all of which Apple included on its Smartphone Antenna Performance page.

[Terpfen]

The point is that Consumer Reports is inconsistent on the topic of the iPhone, not that they’ve conceived some sort of legitimate and convincing criticism.

[newfreep]

Read “Consumer Reports” with a HUGH grain of salt. In my industry (high end audio), the CR reviews are an absolute joke and do not relate to overall sound quality.

[reagan_fanatic]

I actually like to use phones to make phone calls with sometimes...

LOL - me too. I use an old Verizon Palm Treo 700W. Works fine for me.

I guess we're just not 'cool' since we don't breathlessly leap at whatever the newest flavor of the month is.

[Yo-Yo]

I'm a dinosaur - using an LG VX8300 for three years now - and I do all the above via my PC with Bluetooth and BitPim. Your results may vary.

My results do vary, because after 4 years of enjoying BitPim with my Samsung SCH-A650, I found that BitPim was locked out of everything with my LG-VX8360.

BitPim hasn't had a new release since January of 2010, and it appears that the project is now dead.

So enjoy your BitPim, but don't expect it to work with your next phone.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

bookmark

[null and void]

Those who can, do
Those who can’t, teach
Those who can’t teach, teach teachers
and
Those who can’t teach teachers, criticize...

[Future Snake Eater]

Consumer Reports has been garbage for a long time. This isn’t surprising.

[SonAboveAnItch]

You are exactly on the mark — well said.

They’ve always been a good source to figure out which dish detergent or sponge to buy, but have no credible expertise in any technical areas.

I, too, stopped reading them long ago when their reviews of stereo equipment became too painful to read, and their opinions of cars were so politically correct that they couldn’t ever recommend an 6-cylinder engine over a four-banger (gas guzzler and all that).

For another laugh, go dig up a 1980’s version of their car comparisons and ratings for all models and find that they rated the Corvette below average for body rust-through — pretty sure they didn’t survey too many FIBERGLASS owners on that one...

[oh8eleven]

So enjoy your BitPim, but don't expect it to work with your next phone.
Sorry for your demise.
By the time I buy another phone we'll all be doing the Vulcan mind meld.

[Dr. Sivana]

For another laugh, go dig up a 1980’s version of their car comparisons and ratings for all models and find that they rated the Corvette below average for body rust-through — pretty sure they didn’t survey too many FIBERGLASS owners on that one...

That is hilarious. I purposefully left out ANY reference to the reader surveys as being inherently unreliable. The kinds of people who buy different types of cars have different expectations, and there is no way to compensate.

In the case of Apple, I believe they were offended that Apple dared question CR's judgment. For one thing, why is a six-month old unit too old when the ONE YEAR OLD 3gs was rated second best after the iPhone 4 in their last review, if I recall correctly?

[Swordmaker]

Mrs. Whiskers is due to get a new cell phone from Verizon. Personally, would you recommend a Droid X or an iPhone4?

I've played with friends' android phones and they do not come anywhere close to the quality or ease of use of my iPhones. You don't find anywhere near the ecosystem for Android that you do for the iOS devices.

[SunkenCiv]

..."its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest ratings of smart phones that were released today." ...Even after Apple released free bumpers for iPhone 4 users, Consumer Reports continued to refuse to officially recommend the phone, even as it did recommend models that also exhibited the same signal attenuation issues, including RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC's Android Droid Eris, Samsung's Windows Mobile Omnia II, Nokia's N97, and Motorola's Droid X...

Just because that rag doesn't accept ads doesn't mean it doesn't accept bribes.

[rmlew]

The Droid 2 Global has a 1.2 GHZ processor. (I wish I had gotten this instead of Droid 2 the month before its release.)

[Swordmaker]

Works for me—my Verizon “new every 2” doesn’t come into play until August.

Verizon is canceling the "New Every 2" promotion, sad to say. . .

[Swordmaker]

All the negative stuff on the blogosphere & now these kind of articles stinks of AT&T trying to do whatever it can to retain subs - they are going to take it in the shorts - big-time.

Not just AT&T. The Android phone makers, too. Android phone sales at Verizon have flatlined since the announcement of the Verizon iPhone.

[grey_whiskers]

Those who can, do
Those who can’t, teach
Those who can’t teach, teach teachers join the Union
those who can’t teach teachers join the Union, run for office as a Democrat
and
those who can't even make it in elected office get a show on MSNBC!

Cheers!

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

After reading what it was all about, the New every 2 will go away for all contracts signed AFTER January 16th. Those with them in place will not lose them. F

[Keith in Iowa]

The way I have it figured, I can upgrade now - and in 20 months when there’s 4G/LTE service in my area finally, there should be a new iPhone to upgrade to. :)

[OCCASparky]

Whew—you had me going for a minute there.

[Swordmaker]

Those who can’t teach teachers, criticize...

And those who really can't ... Go to work for regulatory agencies and make rules to prevent those who can from doing it effectively, inexpensively, or quickly.