Consumer Reports Retracts iPhone 4 Recommendation

More like "You're writing the retraction wrong... it should say we praise Apple, as everyone does."
 
This isn't that big of a problem but Apples attitude towards it pisses a lot of people off.
Consumer: "There is a problem with your phone. When I hold it normally it loses signal"
Apple: "hurp, there is nothing wrong with our phone, you are just holding it wrong"
Come on, at least admit you have a fucking problem.
 
Hamish Campbell said:
heatlesssun said:
but this is Apple, that name is synonymous with quality and this is anything but quality.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I have to admit, I am equally befuddled at this statement.

Apples name is certainly synonymous with good aesthetic design, and even ease of use (even though this really hasn't been a competitive advantage of theirs in recent years), but quality? I don't think so.

Apple makes products a little bit like Ferrari. Pretty to look at, but very fragile. the major difference is that they don't out perform the competition...

This has been my experience with Apple Quality lately:
[li]
[*] Powerbooks melting / catching on fire
[*] Macbook pro's batteries completely dying before even being 2 years old
[*] Macbook pro's having logic boards dying left and right
[*] Flimsy iPhones / iPod touches shattering by just looking at them
[*] iphone backups and syncs in iTunes corruting backups and requiring setting up from scratch and losing ones backup
[*] Horrible HORRIBLE printer compatibility in OS X
[*] Silver coating on Macbook pro's and powerbooks scratching off if the user even thinks of wearing a bracelet or watch during use
[*]Not being forward thinking at all, and forcing developers through three major incompatible platform changes in the last few years 68k MacOS -> PowerPC MacOS -> Power PC OS X -> X86 OS X
[*] Overpromising and underdelivering with the original iPhone. (In fact, my iPhone 4 is my third iPhone, and I feel that it is FINALLY living up to it's original promise from back in 2007)
[*] Having to live with iTunes which crashes all the time, is a resource hog, and ties you into using it with their hardware
[*] etc. etc.
[/li]

In fact, every single product that company has released in the last 15 years has more or less been defective by design.

I'm willing to put up with their problems because I like the user interface of the iPhone, but the company is really pretty bad.

Apple stands for high fashion in tech gadgets, and used to stand for useability. I can't think of any time in history the company has stood for good design or high quality.
 
Zarathustra[H];1035935560 said:
I have to admit, I am equally befuddled at this statement.

Apples name is certainly synonymous with good aesthetic design, and even ease of use (even though this really hasn't been a competitive advantage of theirs in recent years), but quality? I don't think so.

Apple makes products a little bit like Ferrari. Pretty to look at, but very fragile. the major difference is that they don't out perform the competition...

This has been my experience with Apple Quality lately:
[li]
[*] Powerbooks melting / catching on fire
[*] Macbook pro's batteries completely dying before even being 2 years old
[*] Macbook pro's having logic boards dying left and right
[*] Flimsy iPhones / iPod touches shattering by just looking at them
[*] iphone backups and syncs in iTunes corruting backups and requiring setting up from scratch and losing ones backup
[*] Horrible HORRIBLE printer compatibility in OS X
[*] Silver coating on Macbook pro's and powerbooks scratching off if the user even thinks of wearing a bracelet or watch during use
[*]Not being forward thinking at all, and forcing developers through three major incompatible platform changes in the last few years 68k MacOS -> PowerPC MacOS -> Power PC OS X -> X86 OS X
[*] Overpromising and underdelivering with the original iPhone. (In fact, my iPhone 4 is my third iPhone, and I feel that it is FINALLY living up to it's original promise from back in 2007)
[*] Having to live with iTunes which crashes all the time, is a resource hog, and ties you into using it with their hardware
[*] etc. etc.
[/li]

In fact, every single product that company has released in the last 15 years has more or less been defective by design.

I'm willing to put up with their problems because I like the user interface of the iPhone, but the company is really pretty bad.

Apple stands for high fashion in tech gadgets, and used to stand for useability. I can't think of any time in history the company has stood for good design or high quality.
Click to expand...

Aaand I messed up the code for bullets, and you can't edit in this forum...


  • Powerbooks melting / catching on fire
  • Macbook pro's batteries completely dying before even being 2 years old
  • Macbook pro's having logic boards dying left and right
  • Flimsy iPhones / iPod touches shattering by just looking at them
  • iphone backups and syncs in iTunes corruting backups and requiring setting up from scratch and losing ones backup
  • Horrible HORRIBLE printer compatibility in OS X
  • Silver coating on Macbook pro's and powerbooks scratching off if the user even thinks of wearing a bracelet or watch during use
  • Not being forward thinking at all, and forcing developers through three major incompatible platform changes in the last few years 68k MacOS -> PowerPC MacOS -> Power PC OS X -> X86 OS X
  • Overpromising and underdelivering with the original iPhone. (In fact, my iPhone 4 is my third iPhone, and I feel that it is FINALLY living up to it's original promise from back in 2007)
  • Having to live with iTunes which crashes all the time, is a resource hog, and ties you into using it with their hardware
  • etc. etc.
 
Zarathustra[H];1035935560 said:
In fact, every single product that company has released in the last 15 years has more or less been defective by design.
Click to expand...

I really don't want to look through that whole site but do you have an example?

I'd agree they cripple their products by design (IE, the 3GS could've done 720p video and had a radio...) but defective by design???

They designed it and it happened to have been defective, but I don't see them releasing stuff they knew was defective?
 
Can't wait for my EVO to arrive tomorrow. I've been hitting the refresh button on my phone repeatedly all morning to see where UPS has it right now. On my shitty AT&T Tilt mind you... (glad to see this PoS go).

Oh crap... is this an iPhone thread? Ah right. iPhone fail thread. I can talk about the EVO here and know I am in good company. :)
 
eddieck said:
Huh? I can edit my posts just fine.
Click to expand...

Odd. I can edit in most of the hard forums, but not in the "front page news" for some reason.

TexUs said:
I really don't want to look through that whole site but do you have an example?

I'd agree they cripple their products by design (IE, the 3GS could've done 720p video and had a radio...) but defective by design???

They designed it and it happened to have been defective, but I don't see them releasing stuff they knew was defective?
Click to expand...

That particular site deals with the crippling of the user experience in exchange for Apple control and DRM specifically. I kinda just threw in th elink for good measure.

Like for instance how before the iPod every single mp3 player on the market just mounted as a USB mass storage device onto which you could drop your songs. Simple. Platform independent and standards compliant. Then comes the iPod requiring its users to sync to a dedicated piece of bloatware, naming the physical music files jarbled gibberish and indexing them in an illegible XML file, all so that Apple can control the user experience, and force you to have access to the iTunes store so they can block out the competition and make their store the first place you shop for music.

I could go on and on, but the above is the Apple mentality I was referring to.
 
Casus said:
Jobs: Consumer Reports, you know, their whole "Lab Tests and Research" philosophy? It's bullshit, that's what it is. In fact, our own internal development team have discovered an error that concludes that Left Handed persons do not exist, Apple will be releasing a patch to correct this physical error.
Click to expand...

Hacking off the left arm of any southpawed person?
 
Zarathustra[H];1035935632 said:
Like for instance how before the iPod every single mp3 player on the market just mounted as a USB mass storage device onto which you could drop your songs. Simple. Platform independent and standards compliant. Then comes the iPod requiring its users to sync to a dedicated piece of bloatware, naming the physical music files jarbled gibberish and indexing them in an illegible XML file, all so that Apple can control the user experience, and force you to have access to the iTunes store so they can block out the competition and make their store the first place you shop for music.
Click to expand...

That's not DEFECTIVE though...

It's, as I said earlier, CRIPPLED.

To each his own though. I'd say a product being defective is a way they didn't initially expect it to function. (IE, most all bugs in most all software). Product fixes and moves on. I'd consider defective by design to be when a company produces something that doesn't function as initially intended, and continues to produce them anyway (iPhone). Of course you could also call that fraud.

Now crippling is by design the whole way through. Them crippling the device functionality is something entirely different.
 
ha! Why didn't CR catch this the first time they tested out the ibone? Seems to me that they are worried about their own credibility at this point. And no, I have a motorola droid...I wouldn't pi$$ on Jobs if he was on fire :D
 
fright said:
ha! Why didn't CR catch this the first time they tested out the ibone?
Click to expand...

Because they may not have been looking for it. Once you establish method of testing that generates good and consistent results, you don't tend to deviate too much from it. Their method may not have noticed it.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
Its just a phone
Click to expand...

Tell that to people that never seem to realize you can actually put it down and let it go from the hand... 'cause I know a lot of folks that pretty much have it in a hand 24/7, even in bed... (ok, that's a joke just waiting to happen, and I know it) :D
 
TexUs said:
That's not DEFECTIVE though...

It's, as I said earlier, CRIPPLED.

To each his own though. I'd say a product being defective is a way they didn't initially expect it to function. (IE, most all bugs in most all software). Product fixes and moves on. I'd consider defective by design to be when a company produces something that doesn't function as initially intended, and continues to produce them anyway (iPhone). Of course you could also call that fraud.

Now crippling is by design the whole way through. Them crippling the device functionality is something entirely different.
Click to expand...


So you think Apple did not know about this issue at all, it never came up, not once in any of the testing they did...

Sorry, but i call shen's, Apple knows most of it's market are uninformed people who will buy anything they put out.
 
MrGuvernment said:
So you think Apple did not know about this issue at all, it never came up, not once in any of the testing they did...

Sorry, but i call shen's, Apple knows most of it's market are uninformed people who will buy anything they put out.
Click to expand...

I think they knew about it. I was simply playing devil's advocate for how to define the term defective :D


I have no doubt that Apple knew about it.

Apple Engineer: "Um, if I hold this phone like this the signal drops out."
Apple Manager: "Sure enough, I'll escalate to Jobs".
Jobs: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "You're just holding it wrong. Release the phone!"
 
You know, I wonder if Jobs' has such an "I-can-do-no-wrong" attitude around Apple HQ to where he can't admit his suggestions were wrong even among fellow employees sworn to secrecy?
 
I told someone at work be glad you don't have the new iPhone, and a girl overheard me and said, "Why? I do."
So after I explained all the problems she said, "Yeah but I just bought a new bumper for it and it works fine."

Yeah, but why the hell should you have to do that? iZombies don't care. I'm even typing this now from my iPhone 3g but I'm no fanboi.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Fendrix said:
I told someone at work be glad you don't have the new iPhone, and a girl overheard me and said, "Why? I do."
So after I explained all the problems she said, "Yeah but I just bought a new bumper for it and it works fine."

Yeah, but why the hell should you have to do that? iZombies don't care. I'm even typing this now from my iPhone 3g but I'm no fanboi.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have an iPhone 4, and the only reason I am not livid is because I planned on using a case either way, so the issue doesn't affect me at all. if i hadn't planned on buying a case to protect it anyway, I probably would have been really pissed off...

I'm really liking the phone thus far, it finally works like I expected the first iPhone to work when I bought it 3 years ago :rolleyes:
 
Zarathustra[H];1035935937 said:
I'm really liking the phone thus far, it finally works like I expected the first iPhone to work when I bought it 3 years ago :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

LOL...
v4 finally got it right? LOL. That's what kills me about this thing, people keep saying "first gen problems" but this isn't a first gen device... It's freaking v4.
 
TexUs said:
LOL...
v4 finally got it right? LOL. That's what kills me about this thing, people keep saying "first gen problems" but this isn't a first gen device... It's freaking v4.
Click to expand...

True, but they have had significant design changes with with model, particularly the case and antenna portion which are the issue.

I'm no fanboy. I'm not excusing Apple here. They did a piss-poor job of testing. I can see how this could be called a teething problem though. its like a problem on a new corvette. You can't say a new corvette cant have baby problems, because they've been building corvettes for 60 years...
 
ShadowStriker said:
idk about you, but all I think of when I hear the name Apple is over-priced. Sorta like BMW, which should stand for Burn in My Wallet.
Click to expand...

For the Apple faithful Apple is the ultimate in quality and customer service. Of course I think that's bunk but there are plenty of people who think otherwise. Personally I'll only own an Apple product if there is money in it for me somehow, like app development.
 
NoOther said:
Lol, but I think it will be more like this:

Consumer Reports: "We can't recommend this phone"
Steve Jobs: "No iPhone for you!"

Apple's response will be to cut consumer reports out of any news conferences and no longer provide them any samples. Not like CR really needs either, but that seems to be their response to other reporting agencies that don't like their latest product(s).
Click to expand...

Actually they don't accept samples, they go out and buy product like a regular consumer. That way they don;t have to worry about companies sending them "golden" samples.
 
Zarathustra[H];1035935632 said:
Odd. I can edit in most of the hard forums, but not in the "front page news" for some reason.



That particular site deals with the crippling of the user experience in exchange for Apple control and DRM specifically. I kinda just threw in th elink for good measure.

Like for instance how before the iPod every single mp3 player on the market just mounted as a USB mass storage device onto which you could drop your songs. Simple. Platform independent and standards compliant. Then comes the iPod requiring its users to sync to a dedicated piece of bloatware, naming the physical music files jarbled gibberish and indexing them in an illegible XML file, all so that Apple can control the user experience, and force you to have access to the iTunes store so they can block out the competition and make their store the first place you shop for music.

I could go on and on, but the above is the Apple mentality I was referring to.
Click to expand...

and its popular because it works.

my mom/dad/rest of family couldn't figure out how to drag and drop files to a mass storage device.

windows explorer is unfortunately a foreign language to them. (and most consumers)


however, they can figure out " "sync" from teh i tuneez".



i love hardforum, but i think people here get out of touch with how bad many people are with computers. not that computers are hard, but as soon as you get out of:
click "the internet"
google facebook
play farmville

people are very unfamiliar with how to do anything.

thats why mac computers are getting more popular, because people keep infecting their windows XP machines, (because vista and 7 are "hard to use" because they moved the icons....)



yeah....
 
ivesceneenough said:
and its popular because it works.

my mom/dad/rest of family couldn't figure out how to drag and drop files to a mass storage device.

windows explorer is unfortunately a foreign language to them. (and most consumers)


however, they can figure out " "sync" from teh i tuneez".



i love hardforum, but i think people here get out of touch with how bad many people are with computers. not that computers are hard, but as soon as you get out of:
click "the internet"
google facebook
play farmville

people are very unfamiliar with how to do anything.

thats why mac computers are getting more popular, because people keep infecting their windows XP machines, (because vista and 7 are "hard to use" because they moved the icons....)



yeah....
Click to expand...

Are you kidding? iTunes with all of it's convoluted buried menu options is easier than dragging and dropping a file?

It would take me 2 seconds to drag and drop a file. Figuring out where something is in iTunes takes for freaking ever, as it is one of the least intuitive user interfaces I have ever used...
 
iTunes. What a load of crap that software is. Drag and Drop is way easier.

Plug in mp3 player - autoplay feature allows you to open up a window
pull mp3s off desktop and dump into new window (cause most stupid computer users put all their crap on their desktop)
 
TexUs said:
BP???
Click to expand...

BP didn't have a reputation to lose. They just gained a bad one.

Zarathustra[H];1035935937 said:
I'm really liking the phone thus far, it finally works like I expected the first iPhone to work when I bought it 3 years ago :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I find this hilarious. You really like your i4 because it works like a phone 3 years ago should have worked....
 
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