Consumer Reports Says iPhone 4 Flawed

Well, blow me over.  Consumer Reports is recommending you do not get the iPhone 4 because of design flaws.

Consumer Reports engineers are of the opinion that the reception problems with the iPhone are hardware, not software related and significant enough that they cannot recommend it:

Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4's signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that "mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength."  The tests also indicate that AT&T's network might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4's much-reported signal woes.

This is, incidentally, a reversal on Consumer Reports' initial take on the iPhone 4 reception problem.

Here is a video from Consumer Reports detailing the issues they have found:

For the full post from Consumer Reports:  Lab Tests:  Why Consumer Reports Can't Recommend the iPhone 4.

There is a fix and naturally it involves duct tape!  I have also heard reported, and this Consumer Report findings seem to bear this out, that using a non-conductive case (read "plastic") dramatically reduces, if not fixes the problem.

I have seen a lot of solo and small firm lawyers using iPhones and have a 3Gs myself.  Based on this report, however, I would certainly suggest to any lawyer looking at the iPhone 4 to wait until the dust clears though it certainly is looking like Apple will need to issue an iPhone 4.1 to address the problems outlined by Consumer Reports.  If you do still covet the iPhone 4 - get a case for it so you reduce the reception issue.

- Peter H. Berge

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