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Various Phones Dropping Bars While Being Held (Videos of Each)

Billy Mays said:
From the tests that I have done, the end result you get whether your tightly grip the phone (AKA blocking the antenna) or ground the antenna (connecting the antennas with a finger, your palm, paper clip, ect) you will always lose 20-30 dBm. The only difference is it takes a large grip to block the antenna beyond repair (this goes for every phone with an antenna, see the original post). When you touch the two antennas with one finger it will instantly drop more than 25 dBm. That is the result of poor engineering, not general antenna attenuation that all cellular devices fall victim to. The issues are very different yet people don't see the notice.
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However, end result is the same! It drops about 25 dBm in either case. So end result is the same in that it looses some signal like other phones, just little more than some. If it's a poor design, how do you account for people saying it gets more reception than their previous iPhones?
 
Billy Mays said:
And I'm supposed to give a flying **** what a blogger says? lol, no

Accept it or not, when my iPhone's antennas get connected by a finger, palm, penny, paperclip, soda can, you name it, it stops working. You're just so high and mighty you don't realize there is a major flaw with the antenna layout.
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You may be at a location where signal is weak. Or you may have a defective phone. But it is not design issue. The production may have problems too. But the antenna design is brilliant. No other company even dare to try it. This is why there are so many apple fans. Because apple is always dare to innovate. Can you imagine what your digital life will be without apple? It's always easier to be a follower like other phone companies.

Apple is the company really has core value. Other companies just want your money.
 
doboy said:
However, end result is the same! It drops about 25 dBm in either case. So end result is the same in that it looses some signal like other phones, just little more than some. If it's a poor design, how do you account for people saying it gets more reception than their previous iPhones?
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+1
 
doboy said:
However, end result is the same! It drops about 25 dBm in either case. So end result is the same in that it looses some signal like other phones, just little more than some. If it's a poor design, how do you account for people saying it gets more reception than their previous iPhones?
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You don't seem to understand. If I want to drop 20 dBm on my BlackBerry, I have to tightly grip the phone blocking the antenna. If I want to drop the iPhone signal, I just have to touch one spot. Do you not see the issue? If you hold any phone lightly it probably won't suffer 20-30 dBm attenuation except if you happen to be holding an iPhone 4, you only need to touch one spot that is convenient located in a busy spot so to speak. The phone does get better reception than other phones. However, that isn't relevant to the issue.
 
Billy Mays said:
You don't seem to understand. If I want to drop 20 dBm on my BlackBerry, I have to tightly grip the phone blocking the antenna. If I want to drop the iPhone signal, I just have to touch one spot. Do you not see the issue? If you hold any phone lightly it probably won't suffer 20-30 dBm attenuation except if you happen to be holding an iPhone 4, you only need to touch one spot that is convenient located in a busy spot so to speak. The phone does get better reception than other phones. However, that isn't relevant to the issue.
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Ok. I see your point. But how is it not relevant? Only reason it gets better reception is due to external antenna design, which also causes this weak spot. I guess if people can't deal with getting a case or avoid holding it in that spot then they just need to return it. For me, I don't normally touch that spot when I talk on the phone so not a deal breaker.
 
Billy Mays said:
You don't seem to understand. If I want to drop 20 dBm on my BlackBerry, I have to tightly grip the phone blocking the antenna. If I want to drop the iPhone signal, I just have to touch one spot. Do you not see the issue? If you hold any phone lightly it probably won't suffer 20-30 dBm attenuation except if you happen to be holding an iPhone 4, you only need to touch one spot that is convenient located in a busy spot so to speak. The phone does get better reception than other phones. However, that isn't relevant to the issue.
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You're right. There are multiple issues involved with the iPhone 4's poor reception. One involves common signal attenuation, which Apple is trying to address with the bar adjustment update. Another involves the total cessation of voice & data transmission by touching the lower left seam and bridging the two antennas. This can be performed even in HIGH signal strength areas (eg. under a cell tower, next to a microcell). The cause of this issue is, so far, undetermined, but many believe it is a hardware flaw.

So far users either have one of these issues, or both, or none.
 
doboy said:
Ok. I see your point. But how is it not relevant? Only reason it gets better reception is due to external antenna design, which also causes this weak spot. I guess if people can't deal with getting a case or avoid holding it in that spot then they just need to return it. For me, I don't normally touch that spot when I talk on the phone so not a deal breaker.
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I'm just saying it isn't all that relevant because they could have increased the signal strength without leaving the antenna to touch bear skin. I have wrapped my antennas with electrical tape and now I only suffer attenuation when I grip it. This could have been avoided by applying a clear insulating coat to the antenna but it isn't there. I don't understand their design... Everyone seems to stick to the gripping issue (which really isn't an issue, the OP is right in that aspect) and glance over the actual flaw.

Here is the video I made illustrating the antenna sweet spot. It's quite apparent the signal issues aren't ONLY a result of gripping the phone but also poor engineering. (bad quality, I know, the best camera I have is my iPhone 4 and I can't warp time yet ;))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtW6cY_b5ZM
 
First thing: u don't hold the evo or any phone like that to make a call. iPhone 4 loses signal when holding it naturally to make a phone call

seriously how dumb are Apple apologists? aside from Galaxy S which isnt even a great phone who would ever hold the phone on top to block the signal like the EVO and droid video.
 
Show me a Nokia 5800 dropping bars. ill buy 4 iphones if even 1 bar drops....




*(Unlocked of course...):D
 
hasanahmad said:
First thing: u don't hold the evo or any phone like that to make a call. iPhone 4 loses signal when holding it naturally to make a phone call

seriously how dumb are Apple apologists? aside from Galaxy S which isnt even a great phone who would ever hold the phone on top to block the signal like the EVO and droid video.
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If you can succeed making an entire phone with that silly little death grip without being treated for Carpal Tunnel syndrome tomorrow I would be extremely impressed. Nobody holds a phone like that while talking. I've tried and it doesn't work nor feel comfortable.
 
These videos do show all the different phones attenuating when held. Apple's solution should help in making this situation less apparent.

That's not the real problem, however. The real problem is that the iPhone 4 drops calls and data when the antennas are bridged in less than ideal coverage. No other phone does that in the same situation because they have internal antennas.
 
Good resource OP. I bought a Nexus One on tmobile and it was constantly dropping calls and getting poor data throughput. At the time I didn't know about holding it a certain way so that may have been it. My iP4 has no problems whatsoever regardless of how I hold it or where intough it. The nexus one can suck it. Biggest waste of money ever.
 
dagomike said:
That's not the real problem, however. The real problem is that the iPhone 4 drops calls and data when the antennas are bridged in less than ideal coverage.
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It's easily avoided by putting the phone in a case. That's a good idea anyway for a phone with glass on the front and back.
 
dagomike said:
These videos do show all the different phones attenuating when held. Apple's solution should help in making this situation less apparent.

That's not the real problem, however. The real problem is that the iPhone 4 drops calls and data when the antennas are bridged in less than ideal coverage. No other phone does that in the same situation because they have internal antennas.
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In less than ideal coverage, other phones held in "wrong" position will also drop calls. I hope the upcoming software update will make the phone choose stronger signal rather than spectrum with higher signal to noise ratio, which may not have the strongest signal.
 
iPhoneHome said:
If you can succeed making an entire phone with that silly little death grip without being treated for Carpal Tunnel syndrome tomorrow I would be extremely impressed. Nobody holds a phone like that while talking. I've tried and it doesn't work nor feel comfortable.
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Precisely. Who has a phone conversation using the death grip???
 
iPhoneHome said:
Yea, seems like people don't bother picking up overly blatant things like that.
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The overly blatant thing I noticed on the evo video was when the guy who made it said "hold it like 95% of the people in the world hold it - no change". (Do this with an IP4 and "you're holding it wrong")

He had to "awkwardly" (his word) and unrealistically hold it by the top to get the signal to drop, which no one would ever do in everyday use.

Like Billy Mays says, the problem with the IP4 is not attenuation due to covering or even touching the 3g antenna. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Apple has done a remarkable job in PREVENTING attenuation due to touching the antenna. The problem is bridging the 2 antennas (by touching the magic spot which happens to be where many people touch the phone when they hold it naturally) thereby changing the effective length of the 3g antenna and detuning it which can lead to total signal loss.

The attenuation problem is common to all phones. The detuning due to bridging 2 antennas is unique to the IP4.
 
I love these threads, they always end up filled with 4-5 die hard fanboys circle jerking each other. The new iPhone does have serious problems, accept it. I find it hilarious that NOW you want to compare Apple to other products.
 
iPhoneHome said:
If you can succeed making an entire phone with that silly little death grip without being treated for Carpal Tunnel syndrome tomorrow I would be extremely impressed. Nobody holds a phone like that while talking. I've tried and it doesn't work nor feel comfortable.
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You don't but 90 percent of cell phone owners do. Stop being delusional and accept the fact that this is a major issue with the phone or there would have been no fuss
 
zoman504 said:
I love these threads, they always end up filled with 4-5 die hard fanboys circle jerking each other. The new iPhone does have serious problems, accept it. I find it hilarious that NOW you want to compare Apple to other products.
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It's hilarious that people like you need like to comment without contributing anything to the thread.
 
hasanahmad said:
First thing: u don't hold the evo or any phone like that to make a call. iPhone 4 loses signal when holding it naturally to make a phone call

seriously how dumb are Apple apologists? aside from Galaxy S which isnt even a great phone who would ever hold the phone on top to block the signal like the EVO and droid video.
Click to expand...

You can't seriously argue with someone with a username "iPhoneHome". Logic doesn't work here. :D
 
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