An Engineer Fails the Consumer Report Test

Question

This is from this blog - http://mobileanalyst.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/iphone-4-report-consumer-reports-s tudy-is-full-of-crap/
I pass it on to bring another side to the story.
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Consumer Report iPhone4 study flawed
Posted on July 12, 2010 by Bob
Let me start off by saying that for much of my career, I worked as an electromagnetic engineer working on exactly the kind of issues that now face Apple on the iPhone4. But this isn’t about me. It is about Consumer Reports and its not so scientific testing on the iPhone 4.
Consumer reports “RF” engineers should know better than to think they can run an engineering grade test for an issue like this in a shielded room. And certainly not one with people in it.
To even reasonably run a scientific test, the iPhone should have been sitting on a non-metallic pedestal inside an anechoic chamber. The base station simulator should have been also sitting outside the chamber and had a calibrated antenna plumbed to it from inside the chamber.
I have not seen CR’s claim directly that the finger effect reduces the iPhones sensitivity by 20db as reported elsewhere, but unless CR connected to a functional point inside the iPhone that number is fantasy. Even the way they seemed to have tested the change by varying the base station simulator seems assume the iPhone receiver and/or transmitter operate in a linear fashion (the same way) across all signal strengths – bad assumption.
Bottom line. From what I can see in the reports, Consumer Reports replicated the same uncontrolled, unscientific experiments that many of the blogging sites have done.
I’m not saying that Apple has no h/w problem and they surely have a s/w issue. But I’m still wondering that if the software signal algorithm was not AFU’d in the first place how many if anyone would talking about this “problem”
I also don’t know what part of this problem is Apple’s and what part is related to the AT&T network.
And we don’t know how the observed effect is, or is not similar to other devices.
We also don’t know if placing a finger on the antenna bridge is detuning the antenna or detuning the receiver itself.
And neither does Consumer Reports.
Oh. Mr Job’s; right now. Silence is not golden. I’m quite sure Apple has these answers by now… If not, send me a few more iPhones, I’ll find a chamber and get you some answers in a day.
Ps. Blogged from my Iphone4 in a rest area on my way home from work, cause I just couldn’t help myself!
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Answer 1

I am a self professed Apple fan. My family each have a Macbook Pro, iPhone 4 and iPad.
I also have relied on Consumer Reports for 20 years. They do not take any advertising and have won every lawsuit filed against them by disgruntled manufacturers. Simply put, they have no bias. They also hire top engineers in every field they do tests.
So here is my bottom line. It is now clear that Apple has a hardware problem here and every day that goes by without a real acknowledgment is a day their terrific brand gets tarnished. Apple needs to tackle this head on.
As for me and my family, we all have nice cases on our iPhone 4s, so we do not have thevissue (did before the cases).