consumer reports

iPhone 5 is a 'winner,' says Consumer Reports

The iPhone 5 is among the best smartphones on the market, at least in the eyes of Consumer Reports.

Putting the new phone through the paces, CR was impressed with the larger 4-inch display, the thinner and lighter body, 4G LTE access, and "a host of innovative features." Those factors all pushed the iPhone 5 high in the ratings, beating the iPhone 4S as well as a host of Android phones.

Consumer Reports found improvements in Siri, as well as the camera. With the exception of the 41-megapixel camera on the Nokia 808, the iPhone 5's camera … Read more

Consumer Reports checks out Apple Maps, and isn't happy

Apple may think a lot of its new Maps app in iOS 6, but for Consumer Reports, the software remains a work in progress.

"Maps feels like a fresh, new product that has much maturing to do before it can rival paid ($20-$40) apps from leading navigation companies, such as Garmin, Navigon, and TomTom," the organization noted in a post published on its Web site.

Maps has a simple interface that will likely appeal to Apple users, especially those in a car, ready to travel. However, we consider it to be short on options, including many that … Read more

Netflix shares down again, set new 52-week low

Shares of video-rental service Netflix fell 5 percent in early trading this morning to $56.81.

The company is now trading well below its previous 52-week low, following a collapse in the stock price yesterday when shares fell 25 percent. The company warned in its second-quarter earnings report this week that it might report a loss in the fourth quarter and also might not add as many subscribers as it had expected.

A host of analysts downgraded the stock yesterday and Consumer Reports reported that Netflix's service didn't fare particularly well in a consumer-satisfaction survey.

Though Consumer Reports, … Read more

Facebook users: What? Facebook has privacy settings?

A lot of Facebook users seem to be in the dark over how to protect their private information.

Out of the 150 million Facebook users in the U.S., almost 13 million don't use or aren't aware of the site's privacy settings, according to a report published in the June issue of Consumer Reports. Further, 28 percent of the people polled by CR shared all, or almost all, of their wall posts with people beyond their friends.

Consumer Reports uncovered other types of risky behavior among Facebook users.

An estimated 4.8 million people have posted details … Read more

Leave AT&T's unlimited plan and save

It may seem like those who pay for AT&T's unlimited data plan don't necessarily get their money's worth of service, but by how much and how many of them? As it turns out the numbers are quite substantial.

According to a report published today by Consumer Reports, almost half of the carrier's unlimited subscribers use just 300MB or less, effectively wasting $10 a month. This is similar to my personal experience.

Being one of those who got grandfathered in with the $30 unlimited data plan, I was quite happy since I don't have to worry about ever going over the limit. However, I found out recently that I actually never used more than 200MB per month.… Read more

Friday Poll: Is AT&T really that bad?

It's happened again. For the second year running, AT&T has been crowned king of poor customer satisfaction in Consumer Reports' annual survey.

The findings are based on responses from 66,000 subscribers. AT&T has a healthy customer base of more than 100 million customers, so there are plenty of people who want to weigh in with an opinion of the carrier.… Read more

AT&T rated worst cell phone carrier for second year in a row

AT&T may be huge and generating boatloads of cash every quarter, but when it comes to service, the carrier has a lot of work to do.

For the second year in a row, AT&T was ranked last in Consumer Reports' annual customer satisfaction survey. The company was hit especially hard by complaints over poor voice service and phone-based customer care. Even worse for AT&T, the company's 2011 rating is slightly lower than last year's.

Consumer Reports' survey examines voice, data, and text-messaging service, as well as customer care. The specific ratings are … Read more

Unlike iPhone 4, Consumer Reports recommends iPhone 4S

Although the iPhone 4 has proven to be a Consumer Reports outcast, the device's successor, the iPhone 4S, has been recommended by the organization.

"The Apple iPhone 4S is among the recommended models in our newly updated Ratings of smart phones," Consumer Reports announced today. "Apple's newest smartphone performed very well in our tests, and while it closely resembles the iPhone 4 in appearance, it doesn't suffer the reception problem we found in its predecessor in special tests in our labs."

Consumer Reports stirred up a controversy last year when it announced that … Read more

Consumer Reports finds Scion most reliable brand

Consumer Reports released the results of its annual car reliability survey today, and Scion came out as the top brand, with the fewest reported problems.

Scion cars proved the most reliable, according to owners contributing their experiences in the latest survey by Consumer Reports used to predict car reliability. The report, released today, compiles survey results for 28 brands. The least reliable cars, according to the survey, bear the Jaguar badge.

Along the Scion range, the xD scored the best, while the xB model was the worst, although all were well above most other brands. Lexus, another brand from Toyota, grabbed the No. 2 spot, and its CT200h model proved the most reliable, even more so than the Scion xD. Toyota-branded cars showed up at No. 6 in the survey.… Read more