Though Samsung’s :)–that’s Smiley for the uninitiated–has us all riled up, it’s hardly the the first cell phone to bear a rather silly or baffling name. True, Samsung, tends to be the worst offender in this area, but other manufacturers have left us just as perplexed. That’s why we took this opportunity to take a …

Consumer Reports announced Monday that it can’t recommend the iPhone 4 due to problems with its reception. According to a story posted on Consumer Reports’ Web site, it is withholding the recommendation after its engineers found that when you touch the gap in the antenna on the phone’s lower left side, “the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you …

Given Apple’s carefully worded statement from July 2, we weren’t expecting that the coming software update would fix the ongoing reception issues with the iPhone 4’s antenna. So it wasn’t surprising that an Apple Care representative confirmed that belief this afternoon. During our call, the Apple Care rep said the update would address only how bars are displayed in the …

“Attenuation” has become a buzzword ever since issues with touching the iPhone 4’s antenna were first reported after its release. Indeed, on June 24, 2010, Apple defended itself by saying that attenuation is “a fact of life for every wireless phone” and it advised users to hold the handset differently or buy a bumper. As Apple put it, gripping any …

Now playing: Watch this: iPhone 4 antenna tests 2:21 Though we’ve kept you informed about the ongoing debate with the iPhone 4’s antenna, we haven’t said what that really means for users. You may see your bars drop when you hold the handset a certain way, but how does that affect the phone’s performance? In data speed and call quality …

Now playing: Watch this: Shooting video with the iPhone 4 0:46 I’ve already shown you that the iPhone 4 takes great still photos, but we wanted demonstrate its video capabilities as well. The handset’s upgraded camera can record 720p high-definition video at a constant 30 frames per second. As I said in the iPhone 4 review, it isn’t the first …

Our official iPhone 4 talk time battery tests are back from CNET Labs. In both 3G and EDGE tests, we beat Apple’s promised times of 7 hours and 14 hours respectively. Also, when compared with the previous three iPhone models, the iPhone 4 delivers more juice per charge. Below you’ll find the complete talk time results for all four iPhone …

As we continue to test the iPhone 4, we’re doing our best to track the handset’s signal strength, particularly in light of the ongoing issues with the antenna. Though we’ve also noticed that we occasionally lose bars when we hold the iPhone 4 on its lower left side, the number of bars isn’t the most accurate indicator of a cell …

Industry groups naturally tend to protect their own, and after playing with San Francisco for several years the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) is now taking its ball and going home. On Tuesday, the association said in a statement that it would no longer hold its autumn trade show in San Francisco after this year’s event in October. CTIA, which …

Now playing: Watch this: Apple iPhone 4 5:23 With a revamped design, sparkling new display, speedy processor, and additional features, Apple’s iPhone 4 is the biggest upgrade to Apple’s smartphone since the iPhone 3G. It’s also the showcase handset for Apple’s newest operating system, iOS 4, which adds a selection of long-overdue features, plus a selection of smaller tweaks that …