is it just me or if you hold the phone in landscape mode, you lose HSPA+ and goto EDGE?
no just u.....
The Antenna in the G2 is at the top for once. Cover the top of the PHone and you will see both bars and Wifi signal Drop.
It is great that holding the phone normally for a call won't cause you too lose signal.
Gr8gorilla said:
The Antenna in the G2 is at the top for once. Cover the top of the PHone and you will see both bars and Wifi signal Drop.
It is great that holding the phone normally for a call won't cause you too lose signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep antenna is defiantly on the top. I held it upside down for a while and I lost my whole data connection.
well. damn that sucks.
edit:
actually I think the radio is at the bottom of the phone. I tested holding the top of the phone. nothing happens. hold the phone portrait mode with it in my palm, signal drops to E and i lose HSPA+
If the antenna is at the top of the phone, it must be weaker by design so there isn't too much radiation. It works in some situations but fails in others. Everything has it's trade offs. Somewhere like my house where there is no line of sight to the tower, it doesn't matter where the antenna is.
Holding the phone by the bottom (as one normally would), my 3G signal degrades until it drops to GPRS, then immediately rebounds to EDGE.
Oddly, I have not been able to top the speeds I hit using the Vibrant.
There are a few theories going around about the radio software, so I guess we'll see if this sort of stuff is fixable...
The antenna is on the bottom. And the ota (if it ever arrives) contains a new radio version so hopefully that will fix the signal loss a good bit. I remember I has the same thing with the MTS... after I upgraded the radio, the issue disappeared. One thing that might help y'all until the ota is... hold the phone with you right hand. I noticed when I hold it with the left... I tend to cover the antenna a bit more. I guess it all depends on how you hold it in the first place. Omg... this sounds like the stupid iphone. Again, I'm pretty darn confident that the ota will fix this issue.
Related
Mobile alone:
Mobile in hand:
Is this normal situation?
yeah, sucks doesn't? mine does that. its a nightmare when you're in bad coverage. As soon as you pick it up you lose signal. same with the diamond too.
I've noticed this since upgrading the radio rom to 1.10.25.25.
Before upgrading, I got 2 bars 2g consistently in my bedroom, now I get 4 bars if on the table and it goes back to 2 bars in hand.
To put this is perspective, my Nokia N95 used to have full bars on the table and sometimes ZERO bars when in hand!
for some complately bats**t reason, HTC decided to put the antenna for the HD inside the shiny plastic part (you know, the bit that is usually in the palm of your hand/covered by little finger when holding it, as demonstrated by the OP!) compared to having it at the top of the phone (you know, the bit that is almost never touched and usually held upwards) This is what the leaflet/manual in the box says anyway.
I find that if I hold the phone with my hand over the shiny part then signal goes down similar to how you've described (luckily in my room and throughout most of my town that's going from 4 bars to 3 bars) but if I hold it more towards the headphone socket end and away from the shiny end, signal goes back to full again.
The fun part is holding it like that in phonecalls and/or when using Opera in landscape mode....
I'm tempted to get one of those stick-on signal re-radiator booster thingies to see if that improves things at all, but I don't know if they even work as stated (too easy and simple to fake testimonials on those sites)
Has anyone noticed that when u hold the phone when browsing internet etc, the signal level drops especially when holding phone near the bottom. many times my signal drops out. I know the antenna is in the bottom of the phone, but it was also in the touch hd and I never had this problem.
Anyone else have the same?
Interesting!
I hadn't noticed this, just tried it and your right!
Hold phone at top of device, 2 bars. Hold it at the bottom, 1 bar! That is sat in exactly same place in house.
Very interesting find mate.
ardsar said:
Has anyone noticed that when u hold the phone when browsing internet etc, the signal level drops especially when holding phone near the bottom. many times my signal drops out. I know the antenna is in the bottom of the phone, but it was also in the touch hd and I never had this problem.
Anyone else have the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed the signal drop when you hold it, i like browsing in landscape mode and sometimes i have to put it down to get signal back :-(
Could this be because of the metal battery casing? Bit worrying...
I put vodafone sim in and this happens. Put O2 Sim in and it's ok. Weird!! Gonna purchase a signal booster which is supposed to reduce static (or something) allowing better signal.. Off to ebay..
I have the same problem with my device and got calls dropped yesterday so i decided to report this to HTC. Here is the reply i received. Havent tried yet but you can give it a shot.
Regarding the low signals issue, please follow the steps below:
1-Go to: start>settings>menu>all settings>personal>phone>network>choose orange manually
2-enable the airplane mode: start>settings>wireless controls>airplane mode
3- Perform Soft Reset to the phone.
Soft Reset :
1. With your thumb or finger, open the back cover by lifting up from the left side of the cover.
2. The RESET button is located at the bottom left below the battery compartment and SIM card slot. Use a small object with an unsharp, pointed tip such as a toothpick to press the RESET button.
4-Disable the airplane mode, test the phone and see how it works.
5-Try another SIM CARD from another network
Thank you so much for using HTC products.
I got the same problem
reception is not good at all
I am using Nokia and samsung with the same sim signal level 3 or 4 bars
but with Leo only 1 or if you lucky get 2 bars!!
dissapointed
Normal
This is normal .
Antenna is in the lower part of the phone , that`s why !!!
Regards
Azitrox said:
This is normal .
Antenna is in the lower part of the phone , that`s why !!!
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That DOES NOT MEAN IT SHOULD EXIST ! ! !
This was also happening on the At&t fuze (Raphael), the Omnia i900 and the iPhone 3g.
It is very common in phones where the antenna is at the buttom i think.
I have to say that mine is the complete opposite. I get a significantly weaker signal both 3g/gprs and wi-fi if I hold the phone at the top! How bizarre.
Xeon said:
That DOES NOT MEAN IT SHOULD EXIST ! ! !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sony Xperia X1 does the same
Nokia N97 does the same
its just the way it is your hand must block the signal a little bit ive had both the above phones and they both have this issue.
if your so mad and say it should not exist then get in contact will all phone makers and ask them to sort it
sharpey said:
Sony Xperia X1 does the same
Nokia N97 does the same
its just the way it is your hand must block the signal a little bit ive had both the above phones and they both have this issue.
if your so mad and say it should not exist then get in contact will all phone makers and ask them to sort it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD does not.
You can see the HD2 user manual on Page 10 Attached picture is below.
ardsar said:
Has anyone noticed that when u hold the phone when browsing internet etc, the signal level drops especially when holding phone near the bottom. many times my signal drops out. I know the antenna is in the bottom of the phone, but it was also in the touch hd and I never had this problem.
Anyone else have the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My girlfriend's Nokia 6650 consistently gets 1-2 bars better signal than my HD2 in my living room. In fact, my signal is so weak that I've been disconnected in the middle of a call twice now On T-Mobile (UK).
the radio on mine is the strongest i have ever had.
i get reception in places i never did before.
the is a restaurant i know where no one ever gets a signal... on any mobile or any network... i was sitting there browsing the net!
ian_uk1975 said:
My girlfriend's Nokia 6650 consistently gets 1-2 bars better signal than my HD2 in my living room. In fact, my signal is so weak that I've been disconnected in the middle of a call twice now On T-Mobile (UK).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed! My wife has a Nokia 5800 and always gets better signal strength than me(it was also the case on my G1) I think Nokia do better for signal strength than others.
Part of the "my wife gets a better signal than me" syndrome is related to the capacitance, and therefore conductive properties of each individual person.
Some people have very high natural levels, and others low levels.
The level of conductivity in a person effects their ability to act as an ariel themselves.
This can result in "blocking" the signal getting to the phone completely, or even amplifying it slightly.
This will vary from one person to the next.
If anyone has an oscilloscope, an HD2, and a bunch of people handy, they can test this for themselves.
I'm being driven nuts by constant data connection. loss on my Leo.
I have a suspicion it's a hardware problem related to the internal antenna, if there is one. So I've been experimenting holding my phone different ways to see if it helps. And I think I've found a position that improves reliability of connection. Unfortunately it's really uncomfortable, and also maybe coincidence.
Phone in landscape orientation, with the USB port on the right. Tilt the phone till it's approx 15 degrees with USB side highest. Hold phone on the lowest side without touching the metal removable back.
This in 2 hours of testing seems to improve things for me. Though I'm happy go be told I'm being stupid.
Sorry, typed from my phone hence hold became bold.
Isn't the antenna in the base of the handset....? This would mean that most people cover this during a phone call.
I get that in weak signal areas. When im in the loo in work i have to avoid covering the antenna as i lose reception. This was the case with my Diamond also. Dont think its a fault just in weak signal areas your hand blocks what little of the signal there is.
I had very weak reception at some areas of my home (where previously my Diamond had been OK) and it kept loosing the signal. I have installed the new fix for SIM contacts which also updates the radio and I have much better reception at home now. Seems to make a considerable improvement to weak signal areas
Hey there guys, i currently have an issue with my recently purchased G2. Whenever i have the keyboard out holding vertically, i noticed my wifi signal started to decrease when i held at a certain position with my left hand. I usually have my left index finger resting on the side of the keyboard (top part of the phone), whenever i am holding it horizontally and i have noticed that the wifi drops considerable when doing so from 3 to 1, indicated by the wifi signal on the phone.
Any of you guys have the same problem? Try covering the top part of the phone or the left side of the phone if its held landscape (the area where t-mobile logo is) and tell me if your wifi strength decreases. Thanks guys!
youtube.com/watch?v=qdj2y9Fx_5o
(sorry won't allow me to post a link since I don't have at least 8 posts!)
Yes I have had issues with wifi whenever I cover the top part of the phone. Either when in landscape mode or hplding it to my head
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
I definitely see this. I don't even bother trying to play Pocket Legends on wifi.
I tried to google where the wifi antenna was, but gave up pretty quick - normally I have good "4g" coverage so I don't keep wifi turned on, even at home.
i dont think this phone even uses antenna's i opened up my phone before and there was nothing that looked like an antenna unless its inside the screen
My signal drops 1 bar by doing that as well. I assume its where the receiver is located
Sent from my SilverBullet "RootedHTCDesireZ"
Easy on the death grip! also get a stronger wifi router, pref an N router. it'll help you.
it's not even that i have my whole hand plastered on the side of the phone, it is just my index finger that is giving me only 1 bar of wifi, even if it is lightly rested..
I kind of noticed this too last night. I was laying on my bed, and replying to a post in a local forum. I typed in my reply using the HW keyboard, then submitted. Then it failed. I noticed that I was not connected via WiFi anymore. I closed the keyboard and changed switched to a different position, then poof, WiFi came back on.
However, I don't completely blame HTC for this, since my Router's signal (WiFi-N too) is not that strong up in up in my bedroom. So I guess the antenna is located somewhere near there, and when signal is not that good, it drops. Not that big of an issue for me though.
Uh... keyboard out and holding it vertically.... why would you ever hold it like this?
I'm guessing he means horizontally. I get the wifi signal to drop when I hold it like this. There is a hole on same cases near the bottom left (when held normally keyboard out) that gets covered by my hand. This seems to be the location of the wifi antenna.
Sorry i mean horizontally haha. I guess this is a common problem not a unit problem. Is there any fix for this? I use wifi whenever im home or work since it is faster but i find myself clicking links and going to web pages without my left hand placed on the phone (held horizontally) in order for the page to load up fast.
I'd understand if i was covering it fully or if my fingers were firmly pressed against it but this thing is just too damn sensitive!!
Finland_2_Cupertino said:
Easy on the death grip! also get a stronger wifi router, pref an N router. it'll help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Easy? The man can't hold his phone the way it was intended?
While this is an amazing phone, I'm regretting to learn that the radio equipment is pretty ****ty. It's such a disappointment. I have a top of the line router and live near a cell tower and still get poor reception. All my electronics are RF shielded and I live in a new home with little wireless noise. I know a thing or two about troubleshooting wireless challenges and I am absolutely positive that it's the radio hardware.
I've had friends bring over their devices, one being a DZ and it also performed poorly. Hoping that there's something software related that can be updated by HTC to fix this. Chances are slim though... thankfully I switch out phones every 4-6 months. Love my DZ other than this major flaw.
When I hold my DZ horizontally with keyboard open I either have all wifi bars or 1 less sometimes but it still works very well.
I had indeed to have a look at the icon when I read this thread to notice that I could lose 1 bar sometmes as I have never noticed any problem with wifi.
I have tried different ways of holding the phone and even when I try to cover wifi antenna location I don't always succeed in getting less bars.
Could it have to do with the fact that I'm a girl and have smaller hands so cover a smaller surface of the device?
I've posted a video on the problem.
I'm quite surprised that there is no other thread on this after realizing the number of people that have the same problem. I want to know if this is a problem for all users or only for certain defective G2s, so I know if should send it in.
missparker76 said:
When I hold my DZ horizontally with keyboard open I either have all wifi bars or 1 less sometimes but it still works very well.
I had indeed to have a look at the icon when I read this thread to notice that I could lose 1 bar sometmes as I have never noticed any problem with wifi.
I have tried different ways of holding the phone and even when I try to cover wifi antenna location I don't always succeed in getting less bars.
Could it have to do with the fact that I'm a girl and have smaller hands so cover a smaller surface of the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could probably be the cause.
I was able to replicate the issue again, but now with better WiFi coverage. So yeah, I noticed that my signal bars drop 1 to 2 bars when using the HW keyboard, and it immediately pops back up to full strength when held in a portrait position. However, the AP that I was connected to was a G one, I think.
As for me, this isn't quite of a major issue for me yet. I only use the HW keyboard when doing SMS and typing in long info while browsing. Though it can be a pain when doing instant messaging on the phone.
I don't think the type of router is the cause, i think its just poorly placed and sensitivity of the wifi antenna. I tested it out on my university wifi and same result. The engineers failed on this one!
I noticed a drop of radio signal when using the hardware keyboard of my G1 (HTC Dream). IMHO there is nothing like a perfect place for a radio or an antenna in a smartphone. See the discussion going on regarding the signal drop of the iPhone 4, same thing. Every human being has different hands and holds a phone in another way, maybe similar but still different. There is no standardized hand, you know?
Just my opinion. :]
I purchased a Netgear WNDR3700 and set it up using both stock firmware and DDWRT customer firmware and did extensive testing, not just for G2/Desire Z testing but for my other wireless devices as well. I can assure you that the radio hardware and antenna placement/design are really lacking.
I've found that with my new wireless connection there is far more stability as I've never optimized my old router (Linksys WRT610 with DDWRT FW), but a definite loss in signal from the way the device is held. It really sucks, but it's not at bad as the mobile connection. I always have just a couple bars and then 0 bars, then it begins bandswitching and sucking some hardcore ****.
I really love the Desire Z otherwise but it looks like I need to hold out for the Motorola Atrix or the dual core LG Optimus coming out soon.
Me too
I see this drop in reception too, and sometimes a drop in 3G reception when I hold it certain ways. A bummer, but pretty much par for the course. I've never met a phone that doesn't suffer this same problem one way or another.
I just live with it. It's still a great device.
has anyone opened a bug ticket on HTC's site?
The Wi-Fi signal on my I9505 is terribly weak. Sitting at the same desk the router is on - full signal; Walk 3-4 meters away - signal drops to 1 line; Go to a different room - disconnects due to no signal. I can only see 3 networks at 1 signal line while on another phone I get 11 networks - all with signal at 2+ lines.
My router is perfectly fine (works as expected and has great coverage on other phones/laptops - it still gives off great signal if I go next door/above/below me).
Phone software side I'd say is fine too, but I'm not 100% sure:
Issue happens both on latest WizCyan (TW based) and on latest RR (CM14 based), both using different kernels.
Currently on XXUHPG1 bootloader and baseband. PDA version is XXUPPI1 (according to the "Phone INFO" app).
Hardware side, I've tried a few things - bent all of the golden springs I could find just a tiny bit upwards, tried to clean the gray contacts on the mid bezel as best as I could (dry microfiber) - they weren't dirty or anything, but they seem scratched/shiny where the spring would have come into contact, is that bad? (I can take pictures if necessary)
I even flipped the blue antenna wire around (though I think that one only affects cell signal).
I also have to note that there's something wrong with my Wi-Fi IC / mobo because sometimes it stops working altogether (won't turn back on), needing a reboot or physical intervention. I doubt that would affect signal strength, as long as it's actually turning on, I guess?
Edit:
SOLVED!
Well, this is probably a very unique/fringe case - I found out there was a crack in my motherboard, just below one of the antenna connectors. I also found out that pushing down on where the crack is relinks the motherboard connections and gives back the full Wi-Fi signal. So I "ghetto-rigged" a piece of plastic to push down on the crack when I put the mid-bezel back in, and it seems to be working for now. Hope it holds up and doesn't cause other issues.
Actually, it could affect signal strength. You might want to check your antenna wire running down the right side of the battery compartment and make sure it isn't broken or partly disconnected.
You should also note that some phones have better antennas, thus having better reception.
So comparing it to a different phone isn't really a good way to measure the effectiveness.
Took some pics, I've no idea if they're of any help. Maybe somebody can tell if there's something wrong.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Actually, it could affect signal strength. You might want to check your antenna wire running down the right side of the battery compartment and make sure it isn't broken or partly disconnected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the wire I had flipped around. I even disconnected it to see if there's a difference, and it only weakened the cell signal. Full cell signal when I put it back. No change regarding Wi-Fi. If I run the phone with the mid bezel off, I only get 2 lines even next to the router, and it doesn't even connect - so I suppose the mid bezel antennas connect?
Pwnycorn said:
You should also note that some phones have better antennas, thus having better reception.
So comparing it to a different phone isn't really a good way to measure the effectiveness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, still, from full signal to 1/0 lines as soon as I go from my desk (and router) to my bed 5m away isn't right. Wi-Fi reception used to be as good on my S4 as on the other phones. (I can't remember exactly when this started.)
I believe you have a radio chip issue. Something that software cannot fix.
Solved. Thank you for trying to help.
@cLick1338: Telling people you solved the issue without revealing the solution doesn't help anyone who may come across this thread in the future. So how did you solve it?
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@cLick1338: Telling people you solved the issue without revealing the solution doesn't help anyone who may come across this thread in the future. So how did you solve it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had edited the first post. Figured it would be most visible for such people.
cLick1338 said:
I had edited the first post. Figured it would be most visible for such people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you edited it yesterday I wouldn't have noticed it. The XDA app automatically drills down to the first unread post and I don't always think to scroll back up.
Sorry.