Consumer Reports will continue to not recommend the iPhone 4 to its readers, apparently as long as Apple refuses to offer free, easily accessible cases to solve the so-called "death grip" issue.
On Sept. 10, Apple said it would discontinue its free case for the iPhone 4 offer that the company had promised in July as a fix for the lingering technical and PR problems associated with the "death grip" that also plagued rival smartphones.
Apple claimed that the antenna issue "is even smaller than we [Apple] originally thought," a justification for ending the free case program. The new program also asks users to call the company for a free case, and limits the options to just one: Apple's own "bumper" case.
But while acknowledging that the Apple "bumper" solved the problem, forcing consumers to solve an essentially Apple problem wasn't very consumer friendly, CR said in a blog post.
"Our tests found the Bumper successfully mitigates the iPhone 4's reception issue, which was a weak point in the phone's otherwise-stellar performance in our tests," the magazine wrote in an unsigned editorial. "And we agree with Apple that not all iPhone 4 owners will experience reception difficulties with the device.
"But putting the onus on any owners of a product to obtain a remedy to a design flaw is not acceptable to us," the magazine added. "We therefore continue not to recommend the iPhone 4, and to call on Apple to provide a permanent fix for the phone's reception issues."
