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"Death grip" solution? Have apple replace your phone!

J

JasonHiccup

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
52
0
Today I visited the Genius Bar over an issue I was having over my phones camera. After Apple confirmed my camera issue they brought out a black box containing my replacement iPhone 4. To my surprise though, i am no longer able to replicate the reception issue by covering the black bar with my finger.


Has anyone else had their phone replaced recently?
Do you have similar experiences?
 
bunny.jpg
 
appleguy123 said:
Some cameras have green blotches in them.
OP are you trying in the same places?
Click to expand...


Yes. I tried standing literally next to a cell tower next to the mall. (so high reception) and also in my apartment where I normally have to step outside to make a phone call (low reception)
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

KentuckyApple said:
bunny.jpg
Click to expand...

No need for a smartass response. Given how many people continue to claim that the problem is universal/it's a design flaw rather than a defect, stories like this one are quite valuable.
 
QCassidy352 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)



No need for a smartass response. Given how many people continue to claim that the problem is universal/it's a design flaw rather than a defect, stories like this one are quite valuable.
Click to expand...


Thank you.
 
JasonHiccup said:
Today I visited the Genius Bar over an issue I was having over my phones camera. After Apple confirmed my camera issue they brought out a black box containing my replacement iPhone 4. To my surprise though, i am no longer able to replicate the reception issue by covering the black bar with my finger.


Has anyone else had their phone replaced recently?
Do you have similar experiences?
Click to expand...

It's the placebo effect that you're experiencing. Each and every iPhone has a defective antenna. You just returned a defective device for a newer defective device.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

MassiveAttack said:
JasonHiccup said:
Today I visited the Genius Bar over an issue I was having over my phones camera. After Apple confirmed my camera issue they brought out a black box containing my replacement iPhone 4. To my surprise though, i am no longer able to replicate the reception issue by covering the black bar with my finger.


Has anyone else had their phone replaced recently?
Do you have similar experiences?
Click to expand...

It's the placebo effect that you're experiencing. Each and every iPhone has a defective antenna. You just returned a defective device for a newer defective device.
Click to expand...

See what I mean?
 
MassiveAttack said:
It's the placebo effect that you're experiencing. Each and every iPhone has a defective antenna. You just returned a defective device for a newer defective device.
Click to expand...

I am using my iPhone as I type this, with my hand covering, and in contact with the black stripe. In the time it's taken me to type this I've actually gained two bars.

Your placebo effect analogy makes absolutely no sense.
 
I suggested this on another forum and was promptly called crazy. It seems like they've fixed something with this second batch of phones. Mine was in the 'ships by July 2nd' batch, and as soon as I got it I tried putting it in a death grip to see what the whole fuss was about. I cannot get it to lose even a single bar with my hand securely gripped around the bottom of the phone. I have had errant issues with the proximity sensor though.
 
MassiveAttack said:
It's the placebo effect that you're experiencing. Each and every iPhone has a defective antenna. You just returned a defective device for a newer defective device.
Click to expand...

I've had mine since launch. I've experienced no signal issues or dropped calls. How exactly is mine defective?

(Note: I get what you're saying. You believe the problem to be a fundamental hardware flaw to which all iPhones will be subjected. I suggest that is not the case or at a minimum the extent of the issue varies across various assemblies as I can not currently and have not since purchase been able to reproduce the issue with my hardware.)
 
I received my replacement on Friday and I haven't been able to duplicate the issues caused by the death grip either. OP I'm with you: something is different with the newer batches of phones. I kept a close eye on things all weekend, and compared it to my wife's 3GS.

For instance, my original ip4 would only get 1 bar while typing this from my couch. This phone-5 bars.
 
I received my phone last Thursday, a week 27 model. It suffers from the incorrectly named "deathgrip" issue but I'm fairly certain that the problem affects all phones and is most dependent on location rather than build date. I'm curious to see what the update does as far as proving my hypothesis.

For reference, In one part of my house i get four bars on my phone before placing my hand over the seam between the two antennas. Afterward, I get one. However, there is no way that four bars is an accurate representation of what the signal is as it is as calls were always choppy with my old phone. With my iPhone however, calls are as they should be even with a single bar. A coworker's phone that he bought on launch day seemed immune to this issue when I tested it at work but I have yet to try my own phone without its case in the same location to confirm my suspicions. Food for thought.
 
This death grip thing is sooooooo stupid. No one holds there phone like that when talking on the phone. I have a 3GS and if you do the death grip the same thing happens.

In real world situations it never happens.
 
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