Consumer Reports thinks that the iPhone 4 has the sharpest display and best camera it’s ever seen in a smartphone. It’s impressed by the phone’s battery life, and likes the front-facing camera and gyroscope. But CR doesn’t recommend Apple’s newest phone–because it says that that its testing proves that the 4 can indeed suffer from degraded reception if you touch the lower left-hand corner. In areas with weak AT&T coverage, in fact, touching the phone can cause it to lose signal altogether.
CR’s refusal to recommend the iPhone 4 represents something of a turnaround from its initial impressions: At first, it said that the reception issues weren’t unique and might not be a major problem. Now they’re serious enough to outweigh the numerous things the publication likes about the phone. Which leaves me wondering whether Apple will be forced to reengineer this phone or otherwise address concerns before the next-generation iPhone shows up in a year or so.
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