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iPhone4 does anyone actually get 5 bars when holding bottom left corner?
- Thread starter calvin200001
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It's the only issue I've been able to reproduce on mine and it is directly connected to the way signal is represented. Take your ******** somewhere else. Not every phone has every problem.
If you think that this is the end of "Apple Excellence" then you're out of your mind.
When I am in Boston I show five bars no matter how I hold it. But if the phone is resting in my left hand my dowload speed goes from 1.5 mg to ZERO even though the bars stay at five. Go figure. Bumper saves the day however.
In Vermont I show four bars of EDGE and can watch the signal go to no service when held in the left hand. Bumper saves the day here too.
I'd rather have my phone naked but the bumper works for me. Just wish my earphones and car connection jut etc worked with the damn bumper!
Fwiw I don't think it's the end of apple excellence but I do think the apple brand has taken a very serious hit here.
In Vermont I show four bars of EDGE and can watch the signal go to no service when held in the left hand. Bumper saves the day here too.
I'd rather have my phone naked but the bumper works for me. Just wish my earphones and car connection jut etc worked with the damn bumper!
Fwiw I don't think it's the end of apple excellence but I do think the apple brand has taken a very serious hit here.
When I'm in Glasgow City Centre I get a full 5 bar 3G signal and I'm always trying to replicate the signal issue, but can't get a single bar to drop.
When at home, which has always been an area of poor reception on O2, I get 3 bars on GPRS and can replicate the signal drop easily.
It's definitely circumstantial on the strength of the signal the phone is receiving ... at least from my experience.
When at home, which has always been an area of poor reception on O2, I get 3 bars on GPRS and can replicate the signal drop easily.
It's definitely circumstantial on the strength of the signal the phone is receiving ... at least from my experience.
Assume the bars are inaccurate. It's all about whether or not it drops the call.
Same here. Holding the spot does nothing to my iPhone (Ive actually seen the bar go up while holding it, but thats probably just the signal increasing on its own). Ive tried in the mountains, at home, in various places where I live where coverage is normally around 3 bars, at work, and on my commute .nothing changes by holding my phone in the death grip or touching the spot.
No. This is stupid. Look how awesome and refined all their products are. Look how awesome your new phone is. It just has one little bad spot. I you really feel their excellence level is dripping because of this, then maybe you should jump ship.
Its like getting kicked in the nuts....if you know it'll bring you to your knees, why the capital F word are you doing it?!?!
I really don't understand why people just don't touch that spot. Is it just because you can't that you want it so bad? If so, that sickens me.
Exactly. No death grip required
Apple is using the "all phones drop signal if you cover the antenna" argument to hide the real problem which is unique to the IP4 because it's the only phone with 2 external antennas that can be bridged by touching the join between them.
Note that in this picture, it is only the thumb that is causing the data throughput to drop so drastically - the forefinger on the right is simply there to provide counter-pressure to prevent the phone being pushed off the plank or whatever it's sitting on.
To answer the OPs original question, depending on the signal strength of the area you are in, you may still see 5 bars when you hold the phone in a manner that bridges the antennas, see the diagram below:
You or whoever made this is pinching hard enough to make the tip of the thumb white... That's not how you hold a phone, you don't squeeze that hard.
Can you replicate it just by touching it gently? No squeeze?
I also think this test is too general. It has 3 factors: person, phone, location.
We need the MythBusters to form a test with 50 iPhone 4s, loads of people, all in the same location, then move to another and retest.
I'd bet we'd find only some phones (faulty?) do it, to some people (sweat, hand size, etc), in only some locations (low signal strength).
It'd be nice to know how many this really effects (with dropped calls) so we can see how overblown it is.
Moral of story:
If your phone does this, try to get another. If you know it does it in certain areas, don't do it!!
5 bars even while gripping it hard. Also, have never dropped a call or missed a call due to poor coverage.
Got a bumper case for it anyways.
Coming from Verizon, I was expecting worse given the horror stories about ATT. I must live in a pretty good coverage zone.
Got a bumper case for it anyways.
Coming from Verizon, I was expecting worse given the horror stories about ATT. I must live in a pretty good coverage zone.
I always have 5 bars. I know it is meaningless. Looking forward to the bars actually working. I live and work in good reception areas. The i4 works just fine.
When I'm in a 5 bar area I get 5 bars no matter how I hold the phone. Bottom left corner, death grip, or with my pinkie lifted as I would with a tea cup. Always and it never drops.
Of course my iPhone 4 is in a case ---- its glass, the case is for protection. Any one who doesn't have it in a case is asking for more trouble than a few missing bars. They are just plain careless.
Of course my iPhone 4 is in a case ---- its glass, the case is for protection. Any one who doesn't have it in a case is asking for more trouble than a few missing bars. They are just plain careless.
I was just holding it with my entire palm covering the bottom left corner and it was 5 bars the whole time.
This thread is a great example of why I believe a firmware fix can be of value (just not the one Apple seems to be promising).
The primary difference between the experience of users in this very thread is not the phone, it's location. The fact that the baseband code is making poor decisions on tower hopping is the prime suspect IMHO based on these posts and my own experience.
In my house, our two IP4s will drop bars and have reduced download speeds with a simple finger touch. At my office, no drop no matter what. Same phones, different towers - different behavior.
I think the recent Apple letter on the algorithm is not the entire story. I believe they tried to alter the behavior of the baseband code in iOS4 (hints in the SDK) to reduce call drops and actually made things worse. I bet the switch it back as part of this 'algorithm' fix and call it good.
The primary difference between the experience of users in this very thread is not the phone, it's location. The fact that the baseband code is making poor decisions on tower hopping is the prime suspect IMHO based on these posts and my own experience.
In my house, our two IP4s will drop bars and have reduced download speeds with a simple finger touch. At my office, no drop no matter what. Same phones, different towers - different behavior.
I think the recent Apple letter on the algorithm is not the entire story. I believe they tried to alter the behavior of the baseband code in iOS4 (hints in the SDK) to reduce call drops and actually made things worse. I bet the switch it back as part of this 'algorithm' fix and call it good.
On one end of my house inside, I can death grip and it went to no service.
On the other end of the house outside, I get full 5 bar and no matter how I hold it, 5 bar, speedtest.net show maybe a drop from 250MB/s to 220MB/s.
On the other end of the house outside, I get full 5 bar and no matter how I hold it, 5 bar, speedtest.net show maybe a drop from 250MB/s to 220MB/s.
Is that really how any normal person would hold their phone? If I were Apple, I would ban such people from buying my products as it totally negates the "cool" factor.
Using the so-called "death grip," which seems to be an extremely unnatural way of holding it, I can get the bars to drop but it never goes to "Searching" no matter how long I grip it. You could reproduce this with the original iPhone so it isn't something unique to iPhone 4. But then again, this isn't consistent and it goes down to 1 bar even when I'm not holding it!
If you have a working iPhone 4, you need not worry about losing reception if you grip it naturally with either hand.
If you have a working iPhone 4, you need not worry about losing reception if you grip it naturally with either hand.
I'm too lazy to get another camera out to take pics of this but no I don't lose signal. I still have the bumper on for protection, and every time I take it off to clean it I check it out. I don't lose signal anymore. I did the first couple of days, but no longer for whatever reason. I also don't have the prox issue, or the yellowing of the screen. My phone is great. (knock on wood)
I just spent the weekend traveling in the middle of nowhere Illinois. I was pretty far into farm country for sure.
I kept a close watch on things and tested the device in various locations along the way. We used the phone for directions here and there, from hotels, etc.
3G worked perfectly the entire time. We never had signal drops regardless of how the phone was held, and we never had a single data outage or dropped call.
I've not had issues in St. Louis, but I was expecting some during this trip. I was pleasantly surprised.
I kept a close watch on things and tested the device in various locations along the way. We used the phone for directions here and there, from hotels, etc.
3G worked perfectly the entire time. We never had signal drops regardless of how the phone was held, and we never had a single data outage or dropped call.
I've not had issues in St. Louis, but I was expecting some during this trip. I was pleasantly surprised.
I was in a notoriously unstable area of reception at JFK Airport.
Edited to Add: My apologies...I am in serious denial, and can't possibly know what I am talking about. (heavy sarcasm added)