Remember the problems the AT&T iPhone 4 had last year?
Lab tests conducted by Consumer Reports (CR) engineers have found much the same thing with Verizon's version of the smart phone: dropped calls or the inability to place calls in weak signal conditions.
The problem can occur when you hold either version of the phone in a specific but quite natural way in which a gap in the phone's external casing is covered. The phone performs superbly in most other respects, the engineers found, and using the iPhone 4 with a case can alleviate the problem.
IPhone tests
Here's a rundown of what CR did and what the magazine found in its tests: The engineers subjected the Verizon iPhone 4 to a full complement of regular tests in order to add it to the smart-phone Ratings, available Consumer Reports subscribers. They also put it through the special tests that were carried out last year on the AT&T iPhone 4 after a rash of consumer complaints about signal reception with that model. There has been no such outpouring of complaints about the Verizon version of the phone.
In addition -- to provide a comparison to some alternative models available from Verizon -- CR tested five other Verizon smart phones that are highly rated: the Samsung Fascinate; Motorola Droid 2 Global; HTC Droid Incredible; LG Ally; and Motorola Droid X.
The special tests were all carried out in the controlled environment of Consumers Union's radio-frequency isolation chamber at its National Research and Testing Center in Yonkers, NY.
In this room, which blocks interference from outside signals, test engineers mounted each phone on a stand and established a continuous signal connection to a base-station emulator, -- device that simulates the signals phones receive in the field. The testers then placed a finger to each phone in a range of locations around its edge, and monitored any changes to the phone's performance at each position.
Isolated problem
The only phone in which the finger contact caused any meaningful decline in performance was the iPhone 4, the sides of which comprise a metal band broken by several thin gaps. As with the AT&T iPhone 4 tests, putting a finger across one particular gap -- the one on the lower left side -- caused performance to decline. Bridging this gap is easy to do inadvertently, especially when the phone is in your palm, which might readily and continuously cover the gap during a call.
CR also carried out tests in which the phones with "live" network signals were used. Engineers captured these via antennas mounted atop the Testing Center and piped them into the chamber, where test equipment was used to vary their strength.
Voice calls were made from each phone to a corded phone in the test chamber, in a series of declining signal strengths. At each level, if the call went through, hand-contact was made with the phone and changes in performance were noted.
With all phones except the iPhone, testers gripped the phone's sides to further verify that contact would not result in a dropped call. In all such cases, no calls were dropped.
Bridging the gap
With the iPhone 4, a finger was placed in contact with the lower-left-side gap. Reception typically dropped notably within 15 seconds or so of the gap being bridged. The iPhone eventually dropped calls when touched at very low signal strength -- that is -- at levels of around one bar in the phone's signal-strength meter.
At each level at which calls were dropped, CR subsequently tried to place calls from the iPhone with a finger covering the gap. In all such cases, calls could not be initiated.
The magazine also carried out a number of supplementary tests using "live" network signals of low strength, in both the lab and the field. Holding the iPhone normally, and allowing the gap to be covered, calls were placed and received. These tests, too, yielded dropped calls and an inability to place calls.
When the Verizon iPhone 4 was placed into the Apple iPhone 4 Bumper -- a $29 frame-like cover sold by the company -- the problem was essentially eliminated, as it was in the original CR tests of the AT&T iPhone, when it was placed into a Bumper.
Based on past tests of the AT&T iPhone with cases of other designs, Consumer Reports says it also expects other cases sold for the Verizon iPhone 4 will alleviate the problem.
Performance differences
Regular tests confirmed -- among other findings -- that the new Verizon phone performs differently from the AT&T version in voice quality. With the Verizon iPhone, calls placed to other phones sounded better than they did from the AT&T phone. For calls received, however, the AT&T phone had an edge in quality.
CR says its tests also confirmed a widely-noted ease-of-use drawback to the Verizon phone: Unlike the AT&T version, you cannot place a voice call and surf the Web at the same time. That limitation stems from the CDMA technology used by Verizon's network, however, rather than from some feature of the iPhone 4.
Bottom line
The Verizon iPhone 4 closely resembles the original AT&T iPhone 4 in many positive respects, including offering great multimedia functionality, a sharp screen, and, says the magazine, "the best MP3 player we've seen on a phone. Unfortunately, it also shares with its sibling the possibility of compromised performance in low-signal conditions when used without a bumper or case."
As noted earlier, there have not been widespread reports of reception difficulties with the Verizon iPhone 4, and Verizon's network -- unlike AT&T's -- has received above-average scores from CR readers for the reliability of its voice service in the past. (Those scores reflect data gathered before the launch of the Verizon iPhone 4.)
But Consumer Reports says, given its findings, it believes the possibility exists for individual users to experience the problem since low signal conditions are unavoidable when using any cell-phone network.
For that reason, the magazine is not including the Verizon iPhone 4 in its list of recommended smart phones, despite its high ranking in its Ratings. Although Apple no longer offers a free case to buyers of the iPhone 4, as it did for a time after the problem was first discovered on the AT&T version, the company has said in the past that it will consider requests for a free case from customers who buy the phone and subsequently experience reception problems.
