Consumer Reports and the iPhone 4 in a steel cage match

Today is one of the few dark days in the typically sunshiny Apple world. The technology superpower took a pretty stiff uppercut to the chin as Consumer Reports just announced that it can’t recommend the iPhone 4 due to a signal problem with the phone/web browser/mp3 player/game console/camera/video camera/time waster (did we mention phone?).

Specifically, Consumer Reports’ engineers found that the phone’s signal decreases significantly whenever the user touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side. The report did mention, however, that the phone has the best display and video camera of any phone ever.

So why does this matter to me, the simple blogger with an outdated LG EnV 3 (which I love by the way)? Actually, nothing. Based mainly on price, I will probably never own an Apple product other than my trusty outdated, clunky 30 GB iPod. I use a Mac at work for graphic design, but that’s about the extent of it (and I didn’t pay for it of course).

Then why post about the shortcomings of this gadget, you ask? My response: Forget about the iPhone – I want to talk about Consumer Reports!

Consumer Reports has almost gone the way of the buffalo in the current era of user reviews and social media, hasn’t it? Whenever we make any purchase worth mentioning, almost all of us research the products on the Web before making our decision. I’m so “thrifty” (cough “cheap” cough) that I research purchases as little as $50, to ensure I'm getting the most for my money.

But the difficulty of researching products/services online is the lack of accountability of the users. How much can we really depend on the opinions of Weirdo1117 or CraigsListKiller96? Isn’t it always in the back of our minds that maybe it’s a disgruntled ex-employee leaving the negative reviews and the marketing director leaving the positive ones?

Consumer Reports though, those dudes don’t mess around. They are downright scientific in their testing – and now, with this latest review of the “infallible” iPhone 4, it’s clear that they’re pretty objective too. I mean who in their right minds says anything negative about Apple?

Oh wait, Adobe just did that. Hehe.

So… User Reviews vs. Consumer Reports. The war continues, but today my friends, Consumer Reports is celebrating a victorious battle. Thoughts?

Come back on Thursday for a good time, winkwink. xoxoxoxo