Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 4S death grip (It's here and real... anyone?)

P

praetorx

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 7, 2010
160
0
I bought the 64GB iPhone 4S (factory unlocked Canadian version) and to my astonishment it suffers from the death grip.

I'm using it on T-Mobile and while I get full bars with my Motorola Pro I only get 2-3 bars with the iPhone. When I cover the left side with my hand (the two antennas) signal drops until the No Service status appears.

I'm desperate to say at least because I bought the phone from a Canadian ebay seller can cannot return it.

Has anyone had any death grip issues with his/her iPhone 4S?

BTW: The phone was sealed in box, part number MD257C/A
 
rick snagwell said:
it was a steve jobs quote from the iphone4 drama.
Click to expand...

I know, I've heard it before. Actually I've seen cases where people hold their phones in an unusual way but that's not the case here.

Has anyone had problems with their 4S'es or is mine a defective unit?
 
Well, no less an authority than Anand seems to disagree.

His testing shows that the 4s is significantly better, among the best of all the smart phones he's tested recently.
 
After seeing that video...yeah you are kinda holding it wrong.

Based on a very rigorous, and scientifically sound method of testing, holding it just from the bottom half is actually easier (possibly due to how much you have to raise your hand/arm as you put it to your ear).

I'm half serious there.

(I hold my iPhone between the flat of my thumb, and the inside of the tip of my middle finger, while the index props up the back. The ring finger holds from the bottom).
 
That's not really surprising... Given that they basically added an antenna at the top for dual antennas, you can probably replicate the death grip issue if you cover all four bands.

It also makes sense the way Phil Schiller described it: To overcome the loss of signal from the touching of the bottom antenna band, they added a new antenna at the top of the band, so the iPhone can use that instead.

Now, having said that, I don't think it's really an issue since the way you would have to hold the iPhone is just short of ridiculous. I mean... covering all four antenna bands with one hand like you did seems extremely uncomfortable. The iPhone 4 death grip definitely seems explainable since holding the iPhone in a fairly normal way produced the death grip. But four different bands around the iPhone being touched like that... just overall very uncomfortable.
 
praetorx said:
Actually I've seen cases where people hold their phones in an unusual way but that's not the case here.
Click to expand...

Dude, I can see you hold the phone normally and purposefully move your pointer finger so that you can cover the top antenna. So you're not only gripping the thing to death, you have to reposition your fingers after doing so.
 
OK, so I've got an unlocked (Canadian) 4S and I tried to duplicate the issue. I had 3 bars of signal, and when I put my hands on all parts of the metal band, trying to connect the 4 spots, I lose 1 or 2 bars of signal. I never lost service. But I don't hold my phone in a ridiculous way so I've never had a call drop yet.
 
swanny007 said:
OK, so I've got an unlocked (Canadian) 4S and I tried to duplicate the issue. I had 3 bars of signal, and when I put my hands on all parts of the metal band, trying to connect the 4 spots, I lose 1 or 2 bars of signal. I never lost service. But I don't hold my phone in a ridiculous way so I've never had a call drop yet.
Click to expand...

In the second video I only cover the bottom two antennas which is a more common use case than the first extreme but still loose service :(
 
Perhaps the 4S only uses both antennas when in 3G mode (HSPA or CDMA) and only uses one antenna when using old school GSM(TDMA) as you're using with T-mobile.
 
@Steve99, you're probably right, I never thought of this. I'm going to give this a try tomorrow with a work colleague's ATT sim card. Bless you ;)
 
You really should think about changing the title of this thread, as you're using the phone on a non-supported network.
 
Nope. Covering the antenna on my unprotected iPhone 4S at the bottom left with my hand does nothing to the signal at all. I think the 'Death Grip' or whatever is a thing of the past with the iPhone 4S.

This isn't an issue...
...for most people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back