Consumer Reports, a popular product review and comparison organization has just reported that Verizon iPhone 4 has a similar reception problem to the GSM iPhone 4, which could cause drop calls in areas with weak signal.
Back in July 2010, Consumer Reports had declined to recommend iPhone 4 due to its widely publicized reception problems.
Consumer Reports is reporting:
The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests.The problem is similar to the one we confirmed in July with the AT&T version of Apple's newest smart phone. It can occur when you hold either version of the phone in a specific but quite natural way in which a gap in the phone's external casing is covered. The phone performs superbly in most other respects, and using the iPhone 4 with a case can alleviate the problem.
Consumer Reports put the Verizon iPhone 4 and 5 other Verizon smartphones; such as the Samsung Fascinate; Motorola Droid 2 Global; HTC Droid Incredible; LG Ally; and Motorola Droid X through the special tests it carried out last year on the GSM iPhone 4 and observed that the only phone in which the finger contact caused any meaningful decline in performance was the iPhone 4.
Due to this reason, they’re not including the Verizon iPhone in their list of recommended smartphones even though its highly rated.
As noted earlier, there have not been widespread reports of reception difficulties with the Verizon iPhone 4, and Verizon's network, unlike AT&T's, has received above-average scores from our readers for the reliability of its voice service in the past. (Those scores reflect data gathered before the launch of the Verizon iPhone 4.) But given our findings, we believe the possibility exists for individual users to experience the problem since low signal conditions are unavoidable when using any cell-phone network.
iLounge had also reported that the Verizon iPhone loses substantial cellular signal strength when held in a ‘death grip’ position like the GSM iPhone 4. They also noticed that Wi-Fi reception is affected when the Verizon iPhone is held in a different position referred to as the “death hug” something that hasn’t been observed on the GSM iPhone 4.
Do you refer to Consumer Reports review before buying or upgrading your smartphone? Have you observed the issue on your Verizon iPhone? Let us know in the comments section below.
[via Consumer Reports]
Who ever got verizon they gonna be mad…..loser…..
Why would anyone be surprised that the verizon model does the same as the at&t model. If Apple was to fix the reception issue, then that would be admiting guilt. Apple stood and said that the issue was not the phone as all phones are proned to the “Death Grip” Can you imagine if the reception issue was “FiXed” with the verizon model, that would open a really good class action for all the GSM owners, again as fixing the issue would show guilt.
Consumer What?
Consumer Reports has been a dieing company for some time now. The only time anyone hears about them at all is when it involved “iPhone”, “antenna” and a phone carrier. It’s all publicity.
Apple has already addressed this. We need to stop enabling the media about a problem that does not even exists!
Here is my proof that the iPhone 4 antenna issue isn’t an issue; goo.gl/KfKsv
Talk about clueless. If it doesn’t affect you it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. There is flaw in the design whether Apple admits it or not. If there isn’t one then we should see the same design for the next iPhone.
its not Verizon its not att its the f*&* phone it self American people are so living in there own bubble if you go to another phone company and u use an iphone anywhere in the world you have will have bad coverage so it THE IPHONE NOT THE PHONE COMPANY WAKE UP PEOPLE
death grip is apple’s fault. low coverage dropping call usually phone company. but when someone with the same phone company, but different phone, gets a way better signal than you sitting right next to you, you start to wonder about phone again.
It’s a piece of crap. Put a case on it and move along.
yes the iphone is a piece of crap ,, there are many better phone out there,,, if it was not for the app
the iphone would die
The iphone 4 is a flawed design and it doesn’t work. That’s why millions of people returned their iphones to apple and they’re burrying them in the nevada desert like old atari cartridges.
Really though, this attenna thing is old news. It’s not bad at all unlike how the press has made it out to be. It only affect those in poor signal areas to begin with. Those of you who think people are stupid enough to keep a phone that can’t make calls is even stupider than the person who would keep such a phone.
LOL!!! Im breaking out the Cobra ltd 29. I had no service issues just privacy but it was free and no dropped calls!
And I wont recommend CR…
I bought the verizon Iphone4 …. I’m a total droid fan thought I’d try out the iphone for a change , I have no reception issues … havent dropped one call ect ect … I would reccomend the Iphone 4 for verizon
Just got verizon i phone 4 and always having issues with reception and dropped calls where i was fine with my dare phone. is the case issue really a fix for this or what?
Hi!This is really a good post!