Consumer Reports Puts Verizon IPhone 4 on 'Do Not Buy' List

Consumer Reports does not like the Verizon iPhone 4. Problems with the Verizon iPhone 4 caused Consumer Reports to not recommend the phone, basically placing it on the "do not buy list." It's a harsh criticism for the newest and most buzzed about Verizon smartphone in a while, but it is quite understandable due to the risks that consumers are taking with their money.

Now the Verizon iPhone 4 has been lumped into the same category as the Apple AT&T iPhone 4, where the problems associated with continuous use are just to prevalent to recommend.

According to Consumer Reports, the Verizon iPhone 4 has a, "problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions." This was the result that Consumer Reports engineers came up with after putting the new smartphone through extensive lab testing, and it is something that could certainly hurt the bottom line for Verizon and Apple.

Both companies are obviously hoping consumers are going to be too excited about purchasing this new smartphone or are willing to buy accessories to go with it in order to make sure that the phone can actually work.

The end result of the testing on the Verizon iPhone 4 is quite similar to that of the AT&T iPhone 4, where if the user holds the phone in a certain way, it almost kills the reception of the phone. The easy way to explain it, is that a user can cause the antenna to lose its power, simply by holding the phone it was is already considered to be a normal way.

If consumers are willing to buy one of the iPhone 4 cases (sold separately), they can probably avoid some of the dropped calls associated with the described design flaw. To be fair, Consumer Reports also remeasured the other smartphones sold by Verizon (the Samsung Fascinate; Motorola Droid 2 Global; HTC Droid Incredible; LG Ally; and Motorola Droid X) and found them to perform just fin in the same testing scenarios.

It seems though, that the Verizon iPhone 4 isn't having the same signal problems that pestered many AT&T iPhone 4 customers. There had been a general consensus that the bars weren't registering correctly, and that even in generally good AT&T areas (claimed by the company), the new AT&T iPhone was not picking up calls well.

One of the other drawbacks that Consumer Reports mentioned about the Verizon iPhone 4 was that it does not allow users to place a phone call and surf the web at the same time. This is a luxury that AT&T iPhone 4 users have enjoyed quite a bit.

The iPhone 4 "death grip" appears to have struck again, but maybe consumers will be willing to simply hold their phones differently or just pay the extra money to buy a case in order to have one of these Verizon iPhones.