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Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

iPhone 4 owners happy, 3GS owners were happier

By | August 4, 2010, 12:20pm PDT

According to a survey carried out by ChangeWave, iPhone 4 owners are, on the whole, happy with their handset, but owners of the earlier 3GS models were happier when they bought their handsets.

This from ChangeWave:

The initial satisfaction ratings for the iPhone 4 show a high degree of customer approval – with 72% of owners saying they’re Very Satisfied and 21% Somewhat Satisfied with their new phone.

But despite these good scores, the initial iPhone 4 ratings aren’t quite as extraordinary as the early iPhone 3GS satisfaction numbers seen in our August 2009 survey. 

The survey goes on to show that one-in-three iPhone 4 owners say the handset Exceeds their expectations and 50% say it Meets expectations again, down on the findings of ChangeWave’s iPhone 3GS survey.

So, what do iPhone 4 owners like about their handset? Well, it seems people love the Retina Display screen, and also the camera/LED flash combo while Facetime gets a “meh.”

What do people not like? I’ll let you guess what is at the top of the list!

While gripes about AT&T and its network top the list, it’s interesting to see antenna issues and dropped calls in at #3 and #4.

However, when quizzed about dropped calls, iPhone 4 owners seem happier than their 3GS counterparts:

Interesting.

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: iPhone 4 owners happy, 3GS owners were happier
The Danger is Microsoft 6th Aug 2010
@Jimster480 - No 93% are 'happy'. Only 7% are not satisfied, i.e. not happy.
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This phone is good but it certainly didn't exceed the impossible expectations that the Apple zealots had given me. I expected this phone to be perfect in every single way. It isn't.
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Except for one thing....
zkiwi 4th Aug 2010
You only imagine that Apple zealots told you anything.
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Patience people!
twinkelz3 Updated - 4th Aug 2010
I love my iPhone 4! As an iPhone owner, you know patience must be exercised frequently. I am confident that Apple will address any issues (major for some, but minor for me) What was way worse for me was when my iPhone 3g would randomly turn off (anybody remember that one? when the screen entered sleep mode it turned off totally sometimes and you didn't know until you went to use it! Yea... that sucked.) Had to wait months for an update to fix that. MMS and cut and paste took years but they are much valued features now that we have them! The technology is there but we need to exercise patience for the rest.
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Wow, so Apple is competing with itself for customer satisfaction? That's certainly telling.
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hehehe
Gis Bun 4th Aug 2010
You can tell the difference. Here [ZDNet] they analyzed the data and concluded that iPhone 4 users aren't as happy as iPhone 3GS. While at CRN's web site, some pro-Apple blogger said that iPhone 4 users were happier - even though the data said they weren't.
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Wonderful article.. Wish others on the zdnet team wrote well researched peices such as this rather than spewing opinions and rants.. Ie. DG.. Thanks.
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Yes very interesting...
dave95. 4th Aug 2010
"However, when quizzed about dropped calls, iPhone 4 owners seem happier than their 3GS counterparts"

How frequently have you experienced a dropped call on your iPhone?

iPhone 3Gs owners: 6.3%

iPhone 4 owners: 5.2%
.. among ACTUAL owners in real world use. with 3GS owners reporting MORE dropped calls than iPhone 4 owners... these are real owners using real phones in the real world.. and not some apple hating blogger who doesn't even own an iPhone speculating about it..

also the satisfaction numbers for iPhone 4 are EXTREMELY high, even though they are lower than 3GS.. but you have to understand that a larger majority of iPhone 4 buyers already owned an iPhone compared to 3GS owners (i.e more 3GS owners were new to the platform)... so iPhone 4 owners are less likely to be blown away by the interface and general usability of the phone..

as i have been saying.. this is a Apple hating blogger manufactured "problem".. there is a minute amount of actual users that have actual, service affecting problems with the device... just because the bars drop doesn't mean calls get dropped.. not everyone grapples on to their phone like a gorilla resulting on dropped calls... i can understand Job's frustration.. the whole situation is ridiculous.. you have almost all real users that love their phones and phone flying off the shelves, then you have these apple hating bloggers spooking investors.. people on tech forums have a real disconnect with the real world.
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I also wonder how much these 'statistics' are reflecting the bad press that Apple has gotten. Seems the reality of it is that the iPhone 4 is a good device with very good performance and a lot of bad press simply because it isn't perfect.
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Well only 72% of owners are actually happy. Which is a pretty **** percentage IMHO.
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RE: iPhone 4 owners happy, 3GS owners were happier
The Danger is Microsoft 6th Aug 2010
@Jimster480 - No 93% are 'happy'. Only 7% are not satisfied, i.e. not happy.

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