Antenna issue - Vibrant General

Ive had spotty 3g at my house since i got my phone. Most ive seen is 2 bars. Noticed tonight i left my phone on table and came back and i had full bars with 3g.
Picked up phone like i always and hold with left hand it drops to 1 to no bars. So i hold the phone with right hand i get stronger signal, left hand weak...
Im guessing the antenna is on the left bottom side of the phone apparently covering it up drops my 3g signal significantly, going from full to no bars just by covering left corner ...anyone else?
Not really complaining because i still connect 3g fine but i do drop to edge allot if im in certain rooms and phone calls never drop just curious of maybe a solution or whatnot
I looked on youtube and found this but you dont have to hold phone like this. just palm it with left hand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefQ4I2wOXs
And sorry if posted already i could find anything on this here

Happens here too. Funny thing is that I have case on it. One thing those in the youtube comments are mixing up and not understanding is the signal strength. I wish they were more smart people in the world lol..
Anyway what I am getting at is that this happens with all Vibrants, it just depends on your current signal strength in dBm. For example, if I'm inside with around 4-5 bars, around -81dBm. Then when I grip it, the signal will go down by -20dBm or more resulting in two to three bar lost. Where as if I'm outside with around -51dBm and do the same thing. It will result in the same -20dBm but you won't notice it enough because the bars don't start to go down until around -89dBm or more.
* The lower the dBm, the better your signal.
* It was the same issue with Nexus One.
* The design of the phone is causing your hand to have more of an effect on it.
If anyone want to proove this case. Just get two Vibrants next to each other in the same area and do the hand thing.

Yea see i never noticed this with my N1 But yea what your saying makes scene.
Its not a big deal i still connect avr 1mbps with weak signal but found it odd

Yea same here. I do admit the signal is even more sensitive than my n1 was though. Oh well I guess this is just one thing we have live it until a better phone comes again.

Shouldn't 2.2 come with an updated radio and if so maybe it will help

It might make the radio use more power from my experience but this isn't a software issue. Though speaking of software, right now the dBm read out and bars are off by 5 or so dBm. So when we get the 2.2 update we should see the proper signal read out which will appear stronger and it should be more stable as well. Either way, our hands will still be able to affect the phone. Just like any other phone but more drastic with the Vibrant, N1 and iPhone 4.

The bars are generally useless and I don't think it's really an issue unless it's actually dropping the signal. I have zero bars of 3G all the time, and I still get full speed. The difference between zero bars and zero signal is rather large, IMO.
If the signal attenuation from holding it causes you to drop 3G altogether, well, I feel for you. It's never happened to me, and I've done all kinds of grip experiments to see if I could make the signal attenuate.
To go on, the Vibrant has the best radio of any phone I've ever used. The test for me is whether I can hold signal in my building's elevator. Virtually every phone I've owned (and most all my friends' phones) dropped signal as soon as the doors closed or shortly after. Prior to my Vibrant, the champ was my Blackberry 8820, which could hold signal for about two floors before cutting out. The Vibrant? It may drop to EDGE, but I still hold some kind of signal all the way down, which is amazing.

That something I notice the first day I got the Vibrant , did not have that issue with other previous phone in the same spot... if I put the phone in a table it gets full bars.. once I pick up the phone it goes back to 2 bars... the only way I get full bars is if a hold the phone just from the bottom.

I'm going to have a seizure if I see another one of these threads.
-81dBm is an obvious flaw and should be completely disregarded UNLESS you're off of JFD or anything based on JFD. This phones reported signal strength refreshes FAR more often than nearly all other Android phones on the market. Motorola on T-Mobile being the slowest to refresh any signal changes.
The bars are wrong and very inaccurate. Do a search. Update to JI2 or JI4.

heygrl said:
I'm going to have a seizure if I see another one of these threads.
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Click to collapse
Another one of what threads?
Cut me some slack i rarely ask questions here and no one force you to click on this thread... but i do appreciate the info you gave.
Only thing i noticed when I went threw your post history is you replying to this question with threads with topic names not related to this problem.
And if you read my first post you would have seen
demo23019 said:
And sorry if posted already i could find anything on this here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and
demo23019 said:
Not really complaining because i still connect 3g fine but i do drop to edge allot if im in certain rooms and phone calls never drop just curious of maybe a solution or whatnot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... thanks for the info guys

Related

[Poll] Video of 3G/EDGE Switching Issue by moving your HAND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2g5J4qPp54
A video clearly showing the cause of the 3G/Edge switching, and quite "WTF" at that
Does your phone do this?
(P.S. You can access Phone Info like in the video to see your signal strength by getting AnyCut from the Market -> Long press home screen -> Shortcuts -> AnyCut -> Activity -> Phone Info)
Easier way to access phone info:
Open up the dialer, *#*#INFO#*#*
Is this really all that suprising? I'd put money on the same thing happening with most phones with the antenna in a similar position.
Not had any noticable problems with 3G in the UK.
After watching all these videos I started freaking myself out about the 3g issue, but then I realized that 1. I never did any of this and wasn't constantly checking my G1 to see if I was on edge and 2. the only time that anything close to what happens in that video (for me at least) happens to me is if I'm somewhere with spotty 3g anyway. I'm sitting at my house right now where I get great 3g and if I cover the phone with my hands I lose maybe 8db at the most. I think the rumors of the 3g issue are greatly exaggerated.
If your in a poor 3g area it will do this. And like dude above said it'll do that on most phones. I remember getting my tp it had in the instructions Something about not covering the radio at the top of the phone (tps was at the top). Now I'm on horrible 3 g area and tested this and it did switch back n forth while doing that, but it also does it to my tp2 also, so it gonna happen on most phones in bad coverage, now when I'm closer to a tower it wont do that...
Any phone will act like that.. most I mean.
In my house I usually have around -97 through -101 dBm (with the phone on my desk, no hands).
What do you guys see as your average signal strength?
staulkor said:
Easier way to access phone info:
Open up the dialer, *#*#INFO#*#*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typing that every single time you want to see the phone info is easier than tapping one shortcut?
Paul22000 said:
Typing that every single time you want to see the phone info is easier than tapping one shortcut?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or you can not download anything and just go to settings, about phone and status and get the same info....
Paul22000 said:
In my house I usually have around -97 through -101 dBm (with the phone on my desk, no hands).
What do you guys see as your average signal strength?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-70dBm to -79dBm no hands -77dBm to -81dBm in hand.
Not had any noticable problems with 3G at home...may loose 1 bar once in a while.
wow, i just tried the exact same test and got the same results and i am in a very strong 3g area (tempe)...
You are covering the antenna - of course you are going to see a loss of signal strength. If you are in an area where that loss causes you to bounce to edge then you are going to bounce to edge. This will happen with any phone although it is more noticeable with smartphones in my experience due to the lack of an exterior antenna (perhaps you'd see the same with bar style phones).
The N1 happens to have the antenna at the bottom of the phone (maybe not the smartest placement) whereas many other smart phones have it at the top of the phone. Whether or not you get the results in the video merely represent your relative signal strength in your area.
I've been trying to force myself to use my N1 with my left hand more then my right to keep the singal strength up...seems to be on the bottom right of the phone...
krohnjw said:
You are covering the antenna - of course you are going to see a loss of signal strength. If you are in an area where that loss causes you to bounce to edge then you are going to bounce to edge. This will happen with any phone although it is more noticeable with smartphones in my experience due to the lack of an exterior antenna (perhaps you'd see the same with bar style phones).
The N1 happens to have the antenna at the bottom of the phone (maybe not the smartest placement) whereas many other smart phones have it at the top of the phone. Whether or not you get the results in the video merely represent your relative signal strength in your area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's very natural to want to hold the phone at the bottom. So basically it's just bad design then?...
This strikes me as pretty much of a non-issue. Yes, human flesh is not very transparent to radio at these frequencies, so if you wrap a couple of centimeters of it around the antenna, you'll see a drop in signal strength. They have to put the antenna somewhere, so it's just a matter of putting your hand somewhere else. For myself, I hold the phone with my thumb on one side edge, my two middle fingers on the other side edge, and my index finger on the back next to the camera to press the earpiece against my ear. It feels very comfortable and quite natural that way, and it leaves plenty of air space around the antenna at the bottom. Holding it this way, I never have any signal strength problems or dropped calls.
There may indeed be some 3G/EDGE issues where the algorithm for when to switch isn't quite right; I can't tell about that because I only get EDGE inside my house and always get 3G outside my house, so I've never seen the flipping back and forth that seems to be the basis of most folks' complaints on this topic. I'm just not terribly impressed by an experiment showing that wrapping your hand around the antenna causes the signal strength to go down -- I mean, who'd have expected that? ;-)
Paul22000 said:
Well, it's very natural to want to hold the phone at the bottom. So basically it's just bad design then?...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is definitely a design that is not the most friendly, but the N1 is not the first phone to do it and likely won't be the last.
The video in question doesn't "show" anything new other than human flesh isn't very transparent to radio signals - anyone in a weaker coverage area can replicate the video while those in very strong 3G coverage areas (where you get a strong 3G signal not where the map says it's best) likely won't see any drop to edge unless they have hulk hands.
This doesn't appear to be any sort of newly discovered build issue (to be fair the manual that comes with the N1 states to avoid placing your hand/fingers on the bottom of the phone, with illustration on pg 12 ), rather it's a flaw in the design of the phone due to the location of the antenna and people's tendency to hold the phone covering the antenna.
@wmm and krohnjw
I'm just not terribly impressed by an experiment showing that wrapping your hand around the antenna causes the signal strength to go down -- I mean, who'd have expected that? ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the N1 is not the first phone to do it and likely won't be the last.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point isn't that [wrapping your hand around an antenna decreasing signal strength] is new information.
The point is, why does this happen so EASILY with the Nexus One?
And why has this phenomenon never appeared in the news so prominently for any other phone in the history of mobile phones, as it has with the Nexus One? THAT is the issue.
Also, the Motorla Droid has the antenna at the bottom (the bottom lip), does it not? Why doesn't that phone have any issues?
.... Why exactly are we placing the antennas at the bottom of any phone.. I mean you hold the phone on the bottom, like seriously? Is there a reason for this o_0
Paul22000 said:
And why has this phenomenon never appeared in the news so prominently for any other phone in the history of mobile phones, as it has with the Nexus One?
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Click to collapse
I think it's probably because there actually was a problem with the software originally released with the N1 that caused it to switch between EDGE and 3G when it really didn't need to, and the resulting hue and cry about that over-sensitized people to this particular non-issue.
Paul22000 said:
And why has this phenomenon never appeared in the news so prominently for any other phone in the history of mobile phones, as it has with the Nexus One? THAT is the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean like this phone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN6265QQwhU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ0NkLqh3nU&NR=1
Just because you have some people *****ing loudly doesn't mean this is the first high profile phone that the issue has come up with...
Paul22000 said:
Also, the Motorla Droid has the antenna at the bottom (the bottom lip), does it not? Why doesn't that phone have any issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there could be a few things off of the top of my head (if it has the antenna at the bottom)
Motorola may have wired other surfaces to act as additional antennas (as apple claimed to do with the iPhone 3G) on the droid.
If they did not then it's entirely possible that the N1 may have poor automatic gain control set up currently while the droid appropriately boosts gain when the signal drops.
When I cover the back of the antenna and hold it covered the signal drops out of what should be "acceptable" after 10-15s. I don't lose 3G but there is a significant degradation in signal (down to -93 dBm to -95 dBm). Perhaps the ACG controls aren't allowing gain to be boosted high enough for the radio to get a stronger signal or the thresh hold of what is "acceptable" is set too low.

Phone reception issues

I have a Samsung Galaxy S on T-mobile in the UK and I find that the phone signal indicator jumps around all over the place depending on if it's being held or small movements in it's orientation.
In a worst case scenario I can have the phone showing 3-4 bars of signal with it on a desk and then if I pick it up and hold it a couple of inches higher than it was the signal can drop to 0 or 1 bar. It often then comes back after a few seconds.
Coverage here isn't the best and it seems that I can usually still make and receive calls and it doesn't actually go out of service but is anyone else noticing the same?
The same happens when it's forced onto 2g only but not quite as badly.
I also have an HTC Desire here too and that seems to be much more stable.
The GPS on the other hand which a lot of people are complaining about seems to pick me up with ease. Even sitting on my desk inside a building it quickly locates me to within a few metres.
I've owned and used an iPhone 3G, Nexus One, and now the Samsung Galaxy S.
In my location on vodafone the SGS and N1 are equally "poor" on 2G/3G - meaning I have to find a spots in my house in the countryside to find a strong signal. In practice it's not been a big deal and once out-and-about both the SGS and N1 are fine for me. The GF is now using the N1 with 3UK without any complaints.
The iPhone 3G however would show a much stronger signal than either Android handsets (note I've used the same vodafone SIM in all these phones and the iPhone 3G was a factory unlocked import from Italy) - however the truth about why that was is revealed in Apple's recent press release about iPhone4 antenna issues - that is, they were using a bum calculation and displaying too many bars, so it only appeared to be a stronger signal when in fact I suspect it was exactly the same in reality as the N1 and SGS.
See it for yourself, Apple's engineers got it very very wrong and it's now biting them on the ass:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/02appleletter.html
"we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength."
That makes total sense to me, so I have no concerns about the Android phones appearing to show a weaker signal in my gaff. The fact Apple engineers can make such an accidental "mistake" says a lot to me about their quality control, whichever way you cut it.
Interesting read, thanks for that, I hadn't realised they'd made an announcement on the problem yet.
The more I use the phone the more I find it works as I'd expect it to in the T-mobile coverage that I'm in it's just that it's a little alarming when the phone signal indicator moves around so erratically when picked up or moved even only slightly.
I guess I'll continue to use the device and just see how it performs in the real world.
Ha. I remeber when I first got the iPhone 3g. They were using the honest signal meter then. I was only getting 2 bars almost everywhere. Then came the software update and I had 4 bars everywhere. Now I still drop calls even with 5 bars.
Ollie2 said:
I have a Samsung Galaxy S on T-mobile in the UK and I find that the phone signal indicator jumps around all over the place depending on if it's being held or small movements in it's orientation.
In a worst case scenario I can have the phone showing 3-4 bars of signal with it on a desk and then if I pick it up and hold it a couple of inches higher than it was the signal can drop to 0 or 1 bar. It often then comes back after a few seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to dig out a slightly old post but i'm experiencing the same thing. I'm also in the UK on T-mobile. The phone sits on my desk at work and randomly goes from 4 bars down to zero signal for no apparent reason.
I've had a G1 on T-mobile for the past 18 months and i've never had any reception issues at work so its definitely an SGS issue.
I could deal with the indicator going crazy but when it leaves me unable to send a text or make a call for a few minutes each time it zero's out its pretty annoying.

Same Reception Problem as iPhone 4??? link w/ vid

/watch?v=LROTHrTR92k&feature=player_embedded#at=22
sorry I can't post links quite yet, add this onto the end of youtube.
It better not be like this when I pick it up Sunday.........
wow. i really have to wonder what he did to make it look like that.
When losing reception, phones don't go 100%-0% in a split second.
I bet he's just going for ratings after the whole iPhone mess.
Also, i can assure you that it doesn't matter how you hold it, even if you bury it in your hands from all sides, there's no catastrophic signal loss.
Mine has that problem. Full signal. Hold on the phone down the bottom and it drops down to 1 or 2 bars. As soon as you let go of the bottom, back up to full bars.
Signal loss when covering the antenna area is not a "problem", it's the laws of physics at work.
1 bar is totally reasonable, and depending on signal quality, 2 as well.
But going 100%-0%... that's pure BS.
I think this appears only when in 3G mode.
The VDO might not be telling the whole truth. From a user point of view, I have never seen signal dropped drastically like that.
Evans_Prophet said:
I think this appears only when in 3G mode.
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Click to collapse
I think it would still appear in GSM -mode, but the signal drop is nowhere near the amount when using UMTS.
Mine does it as well, in 2G and 3G, drops from -111dBm to 0dBm
My blackberry bold 9700 lose some signal when i cover the bottom. Every phone lose some signals when cover the bottom.
i can confrim this also happens with my Samsung Galaxy s aswell, and to those who say this is normal and happens to every phone, then you are wrong, i have a bunch of old nokias and NONE of them lose signal no matter where you hold it. the phones i tried it on are, the e71, 5800, the 6220 classic and the 6630. none of these phones loses any signal when gripped from anywhere. im so disappointed in this phone now
coldlazymo said:
i have a bunch of old nokias and NONE of them lose signal no matter where you hold it.
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Click to collapse
Yes they do. It's physically impossible to make an antenna that doesn't lose signal when covered. You can code the bars to show the signalstrength any way you like though. If I code the bars to show 4 bars 1-20% and a fifth at 20%-100% you'll very rarely see less than "full" signal.
Nokia is always been the best when it comes to reception quality. Am happy with my GS signal quality.
mickeko said:
Yes they do. It's physically impossible to make an antenna that doesn't lose signal when covered. You can code the bars to show the signalstrength any way you like though. If I code the bars to show 4 bars 1-20% and a fifth at 20%-100% you'll very rarely see less than "full" signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tested those phones, i covered them up entirely with my hands, and there was no signal loss. it stayed at 5 bars. and its not a matter of coding since even with one bar i get good call quality.
but as Hassan said, nokia have always been very good with reception quality. and maybe i am overreacting since this is the first time i have come across this, having had all nokias before and this is my first samsung/android phone. but that doesnt really mean its acceptable, i cant get a decent signal when i hold my phone, at first i thought it was the network, since this was a different network than i was with before, but now that i have tested it and this happens, i cant help but feel like i have been screwed over a bit. going from 3-4 bars when not holding the phone to it dropping to 0 is not something i like in a phone
btw, it's best to know the difference between "no bars" and "no reception".
In contrast to most phones on the market, no bars at all means you have minimal reception.
It is still possible to make calls like this.
When there's absolutely no reception, you'll see a circle with a crossout line.
coldlazymo said:
i tested those phones, i covered them up entirely with my hands, and there was no signal loss. it stayed at 5 bars. and its not a matter of coding since even with one bar i get good call quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, now read this carefully: Just because the bars don't go down doesn't mean you don't have any signal loss. You get signal loss on ALL phones when covering the antenna. You having 5 bars doesn't change that, it only tells us that the signal loss isn't severe enough to show on the display. That IS a matter of coding.
Obviously there's ALSO a quality difference. Depending on what transmitter/receiver is being used, the quality, location and size of the antenna and whatever will affect the quality of the signal. Some hardware have less signal loss than other when being covered, but fact is the signal loss is ALWAYS there regardless of the number of bars Nokia, Samsung, Apple or Anheuser-Busch brewery decide to show for whatever signal strength.
You can kill your data connection by covering the antenna on the GS...
Try with the speedtest app. Especially upload _WILL_ be killed proper, when the antenna is covered.
I put some standard kitchen aluminium foil between the phone and the backcover, It still drops bars, but uploading works a lot better.
its fine, i take it back now anyway, turns out i was right the first time, it is just the network. i lose bars even when the phone is sitting on a desk. and when i say lose bars, i mean the bars will actually fluctuate randomly, from having full bars to no bars, then back again, when the phone is in a stationary position on a table, near a window. it just happened to be coincidence that when i was testing it the timing was close enough for me to blame it on this. my apologies
Why is it most of the reception issues are in the US? I don't hear anything for Iphone 4 users in Japan and I'm using Galaxy S in Singapore, no drop calls, no drop signals blah blah. I think it is the network not the phone!
Oh noes, the world has come to an end, flee for your lives.....
If you are seriously disappointed that a phone made by imperfect people is not "perfect", then plz just return it and don't come back to this forum.
Unless you are getting dropped/crappy calls all the time, then wtf are you people complaining about? This forum is full of whiners.
Not as much whiners as hysterical people.
I can understand it a bit, since this isn't exactly a cheap phone, and is supposed to be one of the best (if not THE best) devices around.
The thing is that every time a POSSIBLE issue pops up, everyone start going crazy like "OH MY GOD IT'S 100% A PROBLEM THE PHONE IS NOT OK GET ME A DOCTOR"
Instead of, let's say, inspecting the matter rationally, and seeing if there's really a problem.
The Galaxy S has an almost full plastic body. There's no way it could share the iPhone's antenna problem, since the antenna is not exposed to our hands.
That video looks like an attempt to pull attention, for whatever reason. The only way i manage to replicate his results is by putting tinfoil on the back of my hand (which kind of leads me to think- we don't see the back of his hand even once in the video, nor there is sound, so possible raffling cannot be heared)
And even then, the results are not as drastic.
Everyone should calm a bit down and enjoy the device instead of inspecting it under a microscope for problems.
If a problem that affects your use somehow (e.g GPS, lags) appears, THEN do the complaining.

Antenna Strength All over the place?

Is it just me or is anybody elses Antenna Strength all over the place. I almost feel like I purchased a new iPhone 4 with an antenna problem. I'm not sure if its my local tower or what. I can put the phone on the table and watch the strength max out then I can pick it up and watch it dance around from full to well nothing.
Take my fingers off the chrome outer ring and balance the phone on my palm and watch the strength climb.
It was delivered today, so I haven't really played with it a lot. I can tell you that my 3G signal is horrid, but was fine on my G1. Its almost like I gained an awesome screen and lost signal in the process.
I am inside, but never noticed that kind of activity at all with my G1.
Play around with it a little more and see if it has any effect on your calls. Don't judge purely on the signal bars.
The bad 3g reception you mention is concerning though.
kizer said:
Is it just me or is anybody elses Antenna Strength all over the place. I almost feel like I purchased a new iPhone 4 with an antenna problem. I'm not sure if its my local tower or what. I can put the phone on the table and watch the strength max out then I can pick it up and watch it dance around from full to well nothing.
Take my fingers off the chrome outer ring and balance the phone on my palm and watch the strength climb.
It was delivered today, so I haven't really played with it a lot. I can tell you that my 3G signal is horrid, but was fine on my G1. Its almost like I gained an awesome screen and lost signal in the process.
I am inside, but never noticed that kind of activity at all with my G1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bars are -15dBm off to actual reception.
Yes, my signal strength seems to jump all over the place as well. Hope it can be fixed with a software update.
some thing here im about to get new one maybe tomorrow
of course were not 100% sure yet but we think the bars aren't reading correctly although covering the bottom of the phone were the antenna is there will naturally be signal loss does it on my tp2 as we'll...
i have the same problem its weird but manageable i tested my phone to the iphone 4 and my phone loads web pages faster streams videos from the internet faster and connects to youtube through the youtube app to play videos faster and seems to be faster all together only downside is the iphone 4 has the ffc and higher resolution but thats it i can deal without that
i always say forget the bars, can you make a call Lol
I have been making calls on mine while showing zero bars. No real reception issue. I just ignore the bars.
Yeah, don't go by the bars at all with this phone. Like above, I've had zero bars, and no issues here with calls or browsing the web.
I wouldn't ignore it completely...
I've had a few dropped calls now from the attenuation and frequently have my data freeze up on me when I hold the phone. The signal isn't terrible where I live, I never had dropped calls on my G1 or my Wizard in this location.
Unfortunately it isn't something that is fixable, it's just crummy placement of the antenna.
I held the phone in a death grip with my right hand until it displayed no bars, but it didn't seems affect my 3g. I did a speed test and I got 1.25mbps down and 0.3mbps up, which is pretty normal in my area. I did a second test holding it with my left hand and I got 0.99mbps down and 0.25mbps up. A third run while covering it up with both hands did have an affect, but who really does that? It showed 0.6mbps down and 0.15mbps up.
I haven't tried calling anyone under those same conditions, so I don't know if anything is going on there..

Desire HD "Death Grip" Reception Issues with Videos

Ok so yesterday (in Sydney, Australia) I returned my HTC Desire HD after I was facing poor reception when compared to 2 other phones used in the same room of the house. I did carry out the factory reset as suggested by HTC and also wiped the SIM cards clean. For the tests I used a Nokia 6120 and a Sony Ericsson k530i. I also used SIM cards from 3, Telstra and the one that came with the Desire HD from Vodafone. In all the tests the Desire HD had significantly worse reception (at least if the reception icons are anything to judge by).
Yesterday Vodafone replaced my Desire HD on the spot as I was within 28days of purchase. At first I seemed to think the reception was better on the new phone however this was with the phone laying on a box and not touching it. As soon as I picked up the phone reception became lousy again like my previous Desire HD. After reading comments from other users on this site regarding the antenna being in the cover plate at the bottom I tried holding the phone in different positions to see if this bottom cover plate really did affect things. The two videos linked to here show my findings using the brand new replacement phone I picked up yesterday. Also in the second video is shown if a factory reset or a gel case changes this isse.
Now that I've got a better understanding of what is causing this issue I will contact HTC again to see what they say about it. I'll keep you updated. Please post feedback on your phone including what carrier & country you are using and what ROM and radio version is loaded. Thanks
Here are the two videos I made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_ljHtUMOH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr16fGAVzQg
Okay I've contacted HTC in Australia and the person taking my call has looked at the two videos. He's said he has documented the issue and will forward the videos on to the HTC engineers to have a look at. Will let you know if they contact me with any updates. Feel free to contact HTC if you find similar issues with your phone. I would think the more people reporting this to HTC, the more importance they should place on trying to fix this issue.
Mine id exactly the same. I already noticed this since last week when I got it. Just dont hold it at the bortom.
are you part vampire or some thing
turn your lights on
put your phone in a case and your problems will be solved
Framedtrash said:
are you part vampire or some thing
turn your lights on
put your phone in a case and your problems will be solved
Click to expand...
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AHEM. bit sounds like someone i know.. may be Stevey ..
But yes when reception is low, take your hand of the antenna at the bottom. I own a K530i too, where antennae is at back. I will get poor signal, if i hold it in particular way or if i keep it in cushion or so. but K530i antennae is ergonomic to hold but desire hd is placed right at where my palm holds it. this happens with WIFI too when i hold my fingers covering the side. but again its bearable. lets see how it holds in the long run.
At least the DHD, is ambidextrous. You can hold it with either hand just grip it in the middle. Compared to The iphone 4 which has crap signal when used by right handed girls. Lol lol lol.
Well, never had this problem even when I cover the bottom part the signal just drops 1 bar and that's it, no problems with the signal and whatsoever.
To the OP, just wondered what build no. and baseband is on your phone???
Originally posted by
Framedtrash are you part vampire or some thing
turn your lights on
put your phone in a case and your problems will be solved
Yesterday 07:02 PM
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There problem is for an amateur like myself posting youtube videos is that if I don't decrease the exposure then you cannot see clearly the reception bars especially when I look at the backlit screen from the Sony Ericsson. I wanted to be sure most of all you can clearly see the what the phone screens are displaying.
Secondly please look at video 2 in the link it clearly shows how the Desire HD works in my experience in a case. Bascially a gel case solves nothing in my situation or at best maybe only delays by a few seconds the reception loss when holding the bottom.
Originally posted by nm8 To the OP, just wondered what build no. and baseband is on your phone???
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Please look at video 1. It clearly show the software information page in the video which shows the ROM verison, radio version, kernal version and baseband (or radio version) from the stock Vodafone Australia ROM that came preloaded as of yesterday January 23. I don't believe recent radio or ROMs fix this issue as SWIM loaded 1.72.405.3 with the latest radio his phone to try to solve this issue, that didn't fix it so SWIM then tried around 4 different radio versions including the latest "test" release from UK and still no significant improvement. I'd be happy to hear other's feedback on this and what ROMs and Radio versions they use and if any real improvement. I will make clear though that with my brand new phone, it is stock and unmodified.
I mean no disrespect guys when I say this, I'm happy to take constructive criticism and feedback just please have a look at the two videos first and consider everything explained and put forward before posting a quick response.
As I mention in the video this issue is not as bad with Telstra and 3 SIM cards in my room as they seem to have better reception and don't drop as many bars (but they still do drop bars) holding the phone in the "death grip". The worst is the included Vodafone SIM card which the phone is on a contract with and doesn't get completely full reception before holding the phone as shown. I would imagine that the same scenario would be replicated elsewhere. Find an area where you don't get full reception and see how much it drops when you hold your phone like I have in the video. Again this is going to most affect data while browsing the web ect rather than calls where you are likely to hold the phone differently.
I don't want to start a war or get people upset here. I love the Desire HD and Android. I've paid for a long term 24month contract and I plan on keeping my phone. I'm only just surprised to find out this issue and I hope HTC will take it seriously to try to find a way to help out with solving it. Take care guys. Again if anyone else wants to alert HTC to this issue I think they will be more likely to treat this with more importance. As present HTC Australia seemed to say they'd heard nothing about it and played it down a bit.
Ok, you say the recpetion is worse than your older phone are you actually measuring the recpetion or looking at the bars?. More importantly does it actually result in dropped calls? I believe the issues with the iPhone4 (and if apple are to be believed all phones in the world released before it) where that the bars are only a vague representation of signal strength and that if held wrongly it dropped calls.
I don't pay enough attention to the signal bars, but certainly my ability to make and recieve calls is no worse than my previous HTC Magic and better than my wife's iPhone 3g
Just tested on my phone and here are the results... If i push the bottom of phone to my palm the bars drop from 4 to 2, when holding it in such way that palm covers the bottom bars drop from 4 to 3.... When holding it normally i have full bars, so i dont really see a problem...
Just adding my 2 pence, prior to updating my Radio I would get low or no signal at home. Probably the only draw back of living in rural Wales.
Now after flashing the latest Radio 26.04.03.30_M, I get a solid 3 bars 90% of the time.
No new cell towers have been constructed, the locals would go mental! In essence what I'm trying to say is, try an update your Radio.
Ensure you follow all guides to the letter.
Still no response from OP, as to whether this has a detrimental effect on real world reception i.e dropped calls, so as to whether this is an actual problem at all!
Edit: I assume from the resounding silence, that there's is no actual real world effect?... Nothing to see here move along please!
^^ I'm sorry I cannot answer that question as ever since got the phone with this SIM card I've been waiting for Vodafone to get back to me to change over my existing phone number so I've put on hold to use this Vodafone SIM card to make any calls. I can't believe that many years after the Australia wide (I believe government) policy to be able to keep your phone number that Vodafone are making a stink about it being such an issue to swap my number over. So in short I haven't been using the new SIM card and only been using Wi-Fi because I want to wait till it's transferred to my old number. I would imagine holding the phone vertically as shown that web browsing on zero bars wouldn't be great. If someone could test this googling net speed test with the bottom held and then without the bottom held I would be most grateful. I would also guess that once I move to an area with even less reception that data would drop out completely. Again this is just my educated guess. Others will probably have more experience on this.
ghostofcain said:
Ok, you say the recpetion is worse than your older phone are you actually measuring the recpetion or looking at the bars?. More importantly does it actually result in dropped calls? I believe the issues with the iPhone4 (and if apple are to be believed all phones in the world released before it) where that the bars are only a vague representation of signal strength and that if held wrongly it dropped calls.
I don't pay enough attention to the signal bars, but certainly my ability to make and recieve calls is no worse than my previous HTC Magic and better than my wife's iPhone 3g
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The bars cannot be trusted and that's why we have a little thing called FieldTest. Dial *#*#7262626#*#* and you can see the actual signal strength in dbm. When completely covered and the palm pressed to the antenna the signal drops 7-10 db which should not be a problem. I normally hold the phone a little higher, covering only a small part of the antenna and the signal drop is even smaller - like 2-3 db. That's for WCDMA, for GSM frequencies it should be even more negligible. Too lazy to test it though .
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
tkolev said:
The bars cannot be trusted and that's why we have a little thing called FieldTest. Dial *#*#7262626#*#* and you can see the actual signal strength in dbm. When completely covered and the palm pressed to the antenna the signal drops 7-10 db which should not be a problem. I normally hold the phone a little higher, covering only a small part of the antenna and the signal drop is even smaller - like 2-3 db. That's for WCDMA, for GSM frequencies it should be even more negligible. Too lazy to test it though .
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
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It's about the same with GSM at least for me, which to be honest isn't a worry, so again I don't see this as being an issue in real world use
ghostofcain said:
It's about the same with GSM at least for me, which to be honest isn't a worry, so again I don't see this as being an issue in real world use
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Some side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 4
Signal strength with the iPhone is ~5 db worse than the DHD. Both phones laying on the table so no touching whatsoever. When touched (with just one finger) at the "sweet spot" (bridging the WiFi and gsm antennas) the signal on the iPhone drops like 15-20 db. Both phones are in WCDMA mode.
Again I normally hold the phone higher than the cover by the sides of the phone. Unfortunately with the iPhone my ring finger goes exactly where the most trouble is caused, but if you ask a certain someone that's because I'm holding it wrong
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
I read this a few days ago. It may prove useful repeated here.
http://m.gizmodo.com/5740076/giz-explains-why-your-call-dropped
Yoshi_523 said:
Please post feedback on your phone including what carrier & country you are using and what ROM and radio version is loaded. Thanks
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hello,
i am from austria europa and its the same
when i hold the handy with my fingers only on the top i have 4points
when i hold it with my right hand i have 4points sometimes 3
when i hold my handy with the left hand i have 2 points
i thought the last week.. why i have ever a problem when i call out from here ...never i had it with my nokia n80.
right now i know it..... super work from HTC... siro points for her
it was my last HTC handy for sure... also some others as
incoming call display doesn't indicate that a call is forwarded etc.... but thats an other story
tnx
cqf
Same here.
When I hold the phone with my right hand it drops 1 bar (around 6db in FieldTest)
When I hold the phone with my left hand it drops 2-3 bars (around 12db in FieldTest).
When it poor reception areas (around 2 bars signal) holding in the left hand it switches from 3G to 2G.
I think there is definitively a signal problem, especially for left handed people.
It would be nice to gather more impressions.

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