It seems that even the highest of high-tech gadgets can gain from a little duct tape now and then. The super strong, polyethylene, reinforced, reusable tape with its pressure sensitive adhesive almost sounds like it’s made for use with a display. Now Consumer Reports (CR) is making that a reality as the group that praises the iPhone4 on all other features says that until it gets it’s antenna reception fixed, (beyond a temporary duct tape kludge), it can no longer recommend the top selling smart phone product from Apple as a "recommended buy."

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Seems that CR confirmed "…the [iPhone4] reception problem in its own independent lab." The findings showed that when a user’s finger or hand covered the lower left side of the phone, signal strength degraded enough to result in a dropped call. The magazine said it tested three separate devices purchased at three separate retailers. According to a report on MarketWatch.com, in a move to remedy the problem, CR researchers were able to prevent signal loss by using duct tape over the lower left corner of the phone.

But the iPhone is in good company. Duct tape has been used in mission critical high-tech situations for over forty years (and probably a lot longer as the sticky tape was originally invented for use during World War II.)

On the Apollo 13 space craft mission, (popularized by the Tom Hanks film of the same name) duct tape was so critical that the use of it saved the lives of the three crewmen on board after the explosion and subsequent aborted moon landing in 1970. A Wikipedia article reports that NASA ground crew engineer Ed Smylie designed a CO2 scrubber to filter the air in part, using duct tape. Here’s the submission: "…he knew the problem was solvable when it was confirmed that duct tape was on the spacecraft: ‘I felt like we were home free’, he said in 2005. "One thing a Southern boy will never say is, ‘I don’t think duct tape will fix it.’" And beyond the aborted Apollo 13 mission, duct tape was also used to repair a damaged fender on a lunar rover (moon buggy vehicle) on the Apollo 17 mission. The substance is even reserved for use as a restraining device in the event "acute psychosis" ever strikes an astronaut on the space station (nice to know).

But for Apple’s newest technology marvel, the flaw in the external antenna design was confirmed by CR labs and is not associated with a faulty signal strength indicator, as previously reported by Apple on July 2nd. "The signal problem is the reason that we did not cite the iPhone 4 as a ‘recommended’ model, even though its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest ratings of smart phones that were released today," the CR Electronics Blog stated.

What was particularly embarrassing for Apple was a continuing series of circulated YouTube videos documenting reception drop by simply picking up the phone and holding it over the sensitive left corner of the iPhone4 where the two contact points are bridged by the human hand. The CR Lab group also said an iPhone protective cover or case would most likely remedy the problem as easily as the duct tape.

Beyond the glitch, CR said it rates the iPhone smart phone at the top of its smart phone ratings (for AT&T phones), with a score of 76 in eight separate categories. The next closest non-iPhone contender is the Android O/S based Motorola Backflip with a score of 69. That model ranks third, behind the gen2 iPhone 3G S (predecessor to iPhone4) that scored a 74 in the CR testing table.

No official word yet from Apple, but the word on the street is that this may be the reason some folks on the wait list for the coveted device have been "waiting longer than usual." Finally, just so you know, when it rains it pours! Information Week is reporting that a series of actions against Apple are being consolidated into a class action suit against the company and carrier AT&T for violating anti-trust regulations.