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ArmCortexA8

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 18, 2010
1,112
216
Terra Australis
I decided after all the negative talk about the iPhone 4 having issues with its antenna - delightfully referred to as the "Grip of Death", to try this on my brand new iPhone 4 on Telstra - as I expected this issue did not occur - video proof here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yR7FY0-cqk The issues that did occur in the US / Canada are because of the sub standard networks and poor reliability, unlike Telstra here in Australia. This same grip of death also fails to occur on my brothers iPhone 4 as well. Further proof its a network issue, not the iPhone 4 itself.
 
Telstra + Death Grip: 5 bars, didn't drop at all.

Optus + Death Grip: 4 bars down from 5.

Yet to try it on Vodafone but if there's one network that's gonna fail it's Vodafone.
 
Apparently Optus / Vodafone / 3 are the worst.

I've been with Optus for years and haven't had an issue. I buried that phone in my left hand and it dropped to 4 bars. My iPhone 3G showed 4 bars sitting next to it on the desk.

Telstra is definitely the king of mobile networks in terms of speed and coverage but I couldn't justify the extra cost of their terms.
 
I've been with Optus for years and haven't had an issue. I buried that phone in my left hand and it dropped to 4 bars. My iPhone 3G showed 4 bars sitting next to it on the desk.

Telstra is definitely the king of mobile networks in terms of speed and coverage but I couldn't justify the extra cost of their terms.

I was with Optus on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS and their 3G (both 12 month contracts) network is **** in the same areas where the iPhone 4 works perfectly, it usually dropped to GSM, which meant most of my 3G apps were useless. Hence, why Im glad I jumped to Telstra (prepaid).
 
Iphone 4 in Singapore

In Singapore at the moment,

Networks are great here. Depending on the coverage, at times i was able to drop it from 5 to 3 both on Starhub and Singtel.
 
Mine wont drop bars if I hold it like that either. But if I fully cup it with the back of the iphone completely in my palm, it will drop. Try that.
 
It's never been disputed that if you have a sufficiently strong signal, the attenuation caused by touching or holding the phone will not cause your calls or even your bars to drop. Telstra has a good network but there will be areas within that network where the iPhone 4 will display exactly the same behaviour as it would with AT&T. The video doesn't prove or disprove anything.
 
I'am also a long time telstra user, upon ending my iPhone 3G I got the iPhone 4 32gb wanted white but I couldn't wait, anyways I thought the phone was going to be bad as in 1 bar but on average I get 3 bars with both fingers positioned at the bottom of the phone. Either way I want to get a case to protect the back, from the state of my previous iPhone 3G fading and stretched does the case act as a bumper improving reception.
 
In Singapore at the moment,

Networks are great here. Depending on the coverage, at times i was able to drop it from 5 to 3 both on Starhub and Singtel.

I'm quite surprised you can do that in Singapore... The signal is great usually. But at least you didn't start off with 2-3 bars and drop it to zero like many did with AT&T here...
 
My sim card didn't activate properly so I'm permanently on 2g at the moment. The signal strength on gsm sucks and i can easily make it drop bars. Hopefully tomorrow (Monday) I can fix my sim card issue and it fixes the signal strength!
 
I'm quite surprised you can do that in Singapore... The signal is great usually. But at least you didn't start off with 2-3 bars and drop it to zero like many did with AT&T here...

Yea it surprised me too. Im only visiting singapore for work.. in some locations i had no issues. could not get the thing to drop,, but in other locations where i still had 5 bars, i could get it to drop down to 2, no further.
 
Yea it surprised me too. Im only visiting singapore for work.. in some locations i had no issues. could not get the thing to drop,, but in other locations where i still had 5 bars, i could get it to drop down to 2, no further.

Yeah I lived there for 6 years... They even get full 3G and Voice underground :eek:
 
Further proof its a network issue, not the iPhone 4 itself.

Wrong. The german "consumer reports" equivalent Stiftung Warentest tested the iPhone 4 and found a signal loss of 90% with one finger at the right spot as opposed to 25% signal loss in other phones with "death grip".

It's the iPhone 4, no doubt about it whatsoever.
 
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