The reception problem that plagued AT&T’s iPhone 4 last summers is also found on the Verizon version of the iPhone, according to Consumer Reports. The influential nonprofit organization, which publishes guides on everything from cars to TVs, said that holding the Verizon iPhone “in a specific but quite natural way” can cause the phone to drop calls. Consumer Reports tested the device against five other Verizon smartphones Samsung Fascinate, Motorola Droid 2 Global, HTC Droid Incredible, LG Ally, and Motorola Droid X and said “the only phones in which the finger contact caused any meaningful decline in performance was the iPhone 4.”
The Verizon iPhone 4 launched earlier, but there has been no hue and cry about its reception, as there was with the AT&T device. “There has been no such outpouring of complaints about the Verizon version of the phone,” Consumer Reports noted. However, the tech blogosphere did take note of the problem when the phone went on sale. Last July, a few weeks after the launch of the iPhone 4 with AT&T, a clearly irked Apple was forced to hold a special press conference to address the issue. Although it denied there was any problem with the phone, Apple gave out free cases which fix the problem to anyone who wanted them.
The executive in charge of iPhone engineering left Apple weeks after the controversy erupted. Consumer Reports said because of the reception issue, it will not include the Verizon iPhone in its list of recommended smartphones, despite its high ranking. “The phone performs superbly in most other respects,” the magazine said. UPDATE: Verizon Wireless says the Verizon iPhone is seeing less than one-half of 1 percent of calls dropped in major cities such as New York and San Francisco: “Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 customers are experiencing stellar network performance.”
The Verizon iPhone 4 launched earlier, but there has been no hue and cry about its reception, as there was with the AT&T device. “There has been no such outpouring of complaints about the Verizon version of the phone,” Consumer Reports noted. However, the tech blogosphere did take note of the problem when the phone went on sale. Last July, a few weeks after the launch of the iPhone 4 with AT&T, a clearly irked Apple was forced to hold a special press conference to address the issue. Although it denied there was any problem with the phone, Apple gave out free cases which fix the problem to anyone who wanted them.
The executive in charge of iPhone engineering left Apple weeks after the controversy erupted. Consumer Reports said because of the reception issue, it will not include the Verizon iPhone in its list of recommended smartphones, despite its high ranking. “The phone performs superbly in most other respects,” the magazine said. UPDATE: Verizon Wireless says the Verizon iPhone is seeing less than one-half of 1 percent of calls dropped in major cities such as New York and San Francisco: “Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 customers are experiencing stellar network performance.”