14 DAY TRIAL // Consumer Reports, the group that last year slammed the iPhone 4 for its reception problems, has taken the iPhone 4S through the same trial run and found no reception problems, as well as no battery drain issues, despite widespread reports of the problem.
“The Apple iPhone 4S is among the recommended models in our newly updated Ratings of smart phones,” said Consumer Reports.
The American consumer review site carried out “special reception tests” on Apple’s newest baby noting that “the newer phone did not display the same reception flaw, which involves a loss of signal strength when you touch a spot on the phone’s lower left side while you’re in an area with a weak signal.”
While testing the phone’s battery, the group found that the iPhone 4S performs well. In fact, “it scores Very Good overall on that attribute,” they noted, adding that “the iPhone 4S and new samples of the iPhone 4 have displayed no notable battery problems in additional special tests we carried out.”
Yet Apple themselves admitted to a bug that was sucking the batteries dry. The company promised a software fix soon, and Consumer Reports intends to re-test battery life (and likely other aspects) after iOS 5.0.1 is released.
“We plan to retest both phones with the software update when it is available, just in case the fix itself affects battery performance in any way,” said the group.
But while the iPhone 4S scored well enough to convince Consumer Reports to recommend buying it, it’s hardly the first one on their list of recommended smartphones.
The pluses were not enough to allow the iPhone 4S to outscore some top-scoring Android-based phones, the magazine said. Topping the Ratings list were the Samsung Galaxy S II phones, the Motorola Droid Bionic, and a number of phones with larger displays and 4G networking.