Satisfaction guaranteed?
The majority of early iPhone 4 adopters are ‘very satisfied' with their handset but a survey has found the iPhone 3GS was better received.
The report by ChangeWave surveyed 213 iPhone 4 owners in the US in June and found 72 percent were ‘very satisfied' and 21 percent ‘satisfied' with their new toy, despite its well publicised reception issues.
However, while the results are impressive, 82 percent of iPhone 3GS owners said they were ‘very satisfied' with their handset within a month of its launch in August 2009, 10 percent more than for the iPhone 4. Another 17 percent were ‘satisfied'.
Almost half of respondents said the iPhone 4's best feature is its screen resolution, while they liked its 5 megapixel camera followed by its touch screen interface the best.
However, perhaps surprisingly reception issues were not their number one peeve. The product's biggest Achilles' heel, at 27 percent, was its availability on one network, AT&T, while just under a quarter of people disliked the coverage, speed or quality of its 3G network.
However, just under a quarter of respondents criticised the iPhone 4's antenna issues and 23% cited dropped calls as its biggest downfall.
The report also probed the extent of the iPhone 4's antenna problems and found almost two thirds of users said they had not experienced ‘any problem,' while a further 14 percent said there ‘wasn't much of a problem'. However, the results proved a mixed bag as one in five users reported reception had been ‘somewhat of a problem' and 7 percent said it has been a ‘very big problem'.
The survey also found almost three quarters of owners were ‘very or somewhat satisfied' with Steve Jobs' solution of supplying free bumper cases to remedy the antenna issues. Yet again, one in five users said they were ‘very or somewhat unsatisfied' with the ‘fix'.
Perhaps shockingly, the survey said iPhone 4 owners have reported a better dropped call rate than their 3GS counterparts, at 5.2% and 6.3% respectively, perhaps vindicating Apple's claim that previous iPhones showed a disproportionate amount of reception on their screens.
Interestingly, 41 percent of 3GS owners said short battery life was its biggest problem, with just 15 percent of iPhone 4 owners complaining of the same issue.
