Database Users

Does the EVO have a death grip on the lower left too?

For Wi-Fi only. I go from 3 "bars" to one when holding the lower left corner. Has anyone noticed this? I will try and get screens showing the percentage.
Edit: I confirmed it in Wi-Fi manager. It drops instantly from 44% to 22%!
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Sent from my HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk Pro.

WiFi antenna is at the bottom of the phone. Put your hand behind the bottom of your phone and aim it at your router. Note low signal strength. Remove hand. Note jump in strength. Ponder the penetration abilities of a 2.4 GHz signal. Repeat, rise.

If you cover the top half it'll lower the call signal/reception.

Award Tour said:
If you cover the top half it'll lower the call signal/reception.
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Click to collapse
That's when you ponder the penetration abilities of a 1.9 GHz signal... unless you have 4G connected

Argh. When will they stop putting antennas where you hold the phone? Does a case fix this? Mine is naked now.
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Sent from my HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk Pro.

TheBiles said:
Argh. When will they stop putting antennas where you hold the phone? Does a case fix this? Mine is naked now.
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Sent from my HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk Pro.
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I have a case on my phone. Its a Luxmo case and I don't seem to have a signal problem holding it.
Ill test better when I get home though and confirm.
Sent from my HTC Evo 4G using XDA app.

No problems here.
Sent From My HTC Evo 4G Using Tapa Talk Pro!

they have to put the antenna somewhere... and the evo has a lot of antennas

We'll see this on Engadget tomorrow.
Sent while sitting on the toilet.

You know if you encase the phone in 4 inches of concrete it gets no signal at all, or at least so I've been told.

Ya, I heard if its submerged in a couple inches of water it has reception problems too. Someone should test that out and let us know
Sent from Cybertron.

wright3d said:
Ya, I heard if its submerged in a couple inches of water it has reception problems too. Someone should test that out and let us know
Sent from Cybertron.
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I live in a LOW signal area and I tried hold on the phone in every possible way..NO difference. Nice try tho lol

It's just the Wi-Fi, and I've had the phone since before launch and only noticed it now, so it obviously isn't that big of a deal.
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Sent from my HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk Pro.

Every single phone is like this, which is why the Iphone thing was blown way out of proportion. Whenever you hold any cell phone in a certain position, it loses signal.

TheBiles said:
Argh. When will they stop putting antennas where you hold the phone? Does a case fix this? Mine is naked now.
--
Sent from my HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk Pro.
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No. This is not a problem at all. The iPhone issue was that 2 antennas could be physically bridged. The CDMA antenna is appropriately at the top iirc. The other needs to go somewhere...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

backdown said:
Every single phone is like this, which is why the Iphone thing was blown way out of proportion. Whenever you hold any cell phone in a certain position, it loses signal.
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This is incorrect.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

So if I hold the phone upside down I will get a better signal? Sweet all we need now is an app to flip the screen 180 degree [goes to try it]..
Didn't work it was the same..

backdown said:
Every single phone is like this, which is why the Iphone thing was blown way out of proportion. Whenever you hold any cell phone in a certain position, it loses signal.
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Click to collapse
I don't know if it was blown that out of proportion. I mean that was the typical way people hold their phones. It wasn't like they grasp the phone with two hands or something. Face it Apple made a mistake there I said it. GOD FORBID..

SharkUW said:
This is incorrect.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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No, he's right. If it weren't true, you could get a signal in a underground bomb shelter.
Edit: Meaning that if you block the antenna in the phone well enough (even with your hand), you'll experience some signal drop.

zone23 said:
I don't know if it was blown that out of proportion. I mean that was the typical way people hold their phones. It wasn't like they grasp the phone with two hands or something. Face it Apple made a mistake there I said it. GOD FORBID..
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Click to collapse
FWIW, I could drop the signal by 1 bar on my iPhone 4 but it doesn't make a noticeable difference.

[Q] How's your Shift Signal Strength?

How is your Evo Shift Signal strength???
Just got my Shift two days ago and I generally like the size, speed, etc. Getting used to Android as I previously used a lot of WinMo and Blackberry devices.
The signal strength on this phone doesn't seem very good for me. My home has marginal Sprint coverage but Touch Pro2 seemed to have better signal strength and reception. It was rare that I ever missed an incoming call.
The shift gets a very weak signal and it sometimes drops to "no bars" for awhile.
I've also observed that the signal meter and my ability to initiate and maintain calls varies with how I hold it. I hold the phone with my right-hand, and have to hold it with my fingers near the top of the phone to get the best reception. Some other folks have posted similar problems. So I'm wondering if this is a general defect with the Shift or if my specific phone has issues.

geekdaddy said:
How is your Evo Shift Signal strength???
Just got my Shift two days ago and I generally like the size, speed, etc. Getting used to Android as I previously used a lot of WinMo and Blackberry devices.
The signal strength on this phone doesn't seem very good for me. My home has marginal Sprint coverage but Touch Pro2 seemed to have better signal strength and reception. It was rare that I ever missed an incoming call.
The shift gets a very weak signal and it sometimes drops to "no bars" for awhile.
I've also observed that the signal meter and my ability to initiate and maintain calls varies with how I hold it. I hold the phone with my right-hand, and have to hold it with my fingers near the top of the phone to get the best reception. Some other folks have posted similar problems. So I'm wondering if this is a general defect with the Shift or if my specific phone has issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first of all, update your PRL and your Profile, just to be sure.
But yes, the antenna seems to be at the bottom of the phone, and holding your hand over that area will indeed have an effect on signal strength. But unless you're already at your signal strength limit for calls, I don't think it makes much of a difference. I don't think the bars are entirely accurate, since my signal strength currently says -101, but I have full bars.
I haven't had any issues getting signal in places I've always had signal, and I actually seem to get better service in areas I couldn't get any service with my Hero, so I think it's an improvement.

Signal strength is ok, but not as good as my Evo was.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

Its worse than my Hero, that's for sure.
Sent from my bathroom, with toilet paper.

Mine seems pretty bad so far. I seem to be roaming allot. Isn't that the triangle above the signal? I will go from one bar and then it will switch to roaming and 4 bars. Seems to go back and forth like that.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

This:
EricSS619 said:
Signal strength is ok, but not as good as my Evo was.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
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and this:
Heelfan71 said:
Mine seems pretty bad so far. I seem to be roaming allot. Isn't that the triangle above the signal? I will go from one bar and then it will switch to roaming and 4 bars. Seems to go back and forth like that.
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Click to collapse
WTF mate, in places where i'd get sometimes full bars with my evo i'm now down to 1 or 2 or even roaming. very strange. In my bedroom on the evo i'd generally stay around 2-3 bars and now i find myself in roaming on occasion. Hoping a radio update helps.

johnnycross22 said:
This:
and this:
WTF mate, in places where i'd get sometimes full bars with my evo i'm now down to 1 or 2 or even roaming. very strange. In my bedroom on the evo i'd generally stay around 2-3 bars and now i find myself in roaming on occasion. Hoping a radio update helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indoors seem to be my biggest problem. Outside I get a good signal but if I am inside anywhere the bars go down drastically.

not to mention the GPS is total crap vs my Evo that I traded in!
Stilll worth the trade though =)

EricSS619 said:
not to mention the GPS is total crap vs my Evo that I traded in!
Stilll worth the trade though =)
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why did you not like the evo? just curious.

Heelfan71 said:
why did you not like the evo? just curious.
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Click to collapse
Honestly I think mine was just messed up, it lagged terribly and I tried everything to fix it. After I saw my girlfriends lag free shift it was a no brainer for me.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

wow my Shift has great signal strength, way better than my Evo was.
i'm on my second Shift (first one had a bad ear piece speaker) and same experience with both. great reception so far

I was torn between getting an Evo and an Evo Shift. I played with them at my local Sprint store as they were side by side. When the phones were just sitting, both of them had 5 bars. When I picked the Evo up, it still had five bars and when I picked up the Evo Shift, the bars dropped to three. At that moment, I was going to get the Evo. After that, I kept hearing nothing but good reviews about the Evo Shift (amongst whiny minor complaints), saw that the Evo Shift's quadrants were pwning amongst non-rooted devices, and heard 1 too many complaints about the Evo's battery life; this pretty much sealed the deal for me. I had decided that I could live with the Evo Shift's apparent signal strength issues... Can HTC do something about the radio?
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

I can't replicate the grip of death but sometimes I do notice my bars going from 0 or 1 to 5 or 6, it will just jump. I don't know why. But I haven't had any problems because of this so I don't really mind.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

i have cupped my shift in both hands and held it against my chest and my battery only dropped one bar. I think that is a good sign and will not bother me at all.

dnalevelc said:
i have cupped my shift in both hands and held it against my chest and my battery only dropped one bar. I think that is a good sign and will not bother me at all.
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Err, you mean the signal not the battery right? If your battery dropped that much from cupping the phone, you have issues, lol

dnalevelc said:
i have cupped my shift in both hands and held it against my chest and my battery only dropped one bar. I think that is a good sign and will not bother me at all.
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Click to collapse
God I wish people didn't obsess over "bars" and were reasonable like you. Bars don't mean anything, really. Monitoring signal levels in db makes sense, but people who talk about bars remind me of those who smack their TVs for better reception!
If you can make and hold a call without problems, it doesn't matter how many bars you have. Or if your phone shows 7 bars but you can't make calls, is that a good thing? There are no clear guidelines or standards on bars, so people need to stop obsessing about them.

hammondnav said:
God I wish people didn't obsess over "bars" and were reasonable like you. Bars don't mean anything, really. Monitoring signal levels in db makes sense, but people who talk about bars remind me of those who smack their TVs for better reception!
If you can make and hold a call without problems, it doesn't matter how many bars you have. Or if your phone shows 7 bars but you can't make calls, is that a good thing? There are no clear guidelines or standards on bars, so people need to stop obsessing about them.
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Agreed, I honestly couldn't tell you what my bars were at any given time. Other than in the bathroom, I know it's 0-1 there.

wardfan220 said:
Agreed, I honestly couldn't tell you what my bars were at any given time. Other than in the bathroom, I know it's 0-1 there.
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Click to collapse
That's odd because I get the best signal front Sprint in my house in the bathroom lol.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

Bars seem to make a difference to me when they go to zero and I lose my call. Now I know why this happens randomly with this phone.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

After exactly 14 days with my evo shift, i had the same symptoms with my phone yesterday. i woke up with my phone showing full bars, no bars, x, no bars, full bars, no bars, etc etc every 30-45 sec's. i figured possibly a tower down or something....then drove to work 20 miles away had the same issue in out and out service, texts not going through, browser timing out. i tried updating, resetting, battery pull, nothing fixed it.
I went into a sprint store and they were able to verify the problem as they watched the screen. i am officially the first warranty exchanged evo shift at that corporate store...according to the tech (who i know for the last several years, my phone failed the signal test of some sort. so if your phone sounds like mine more than likely its a defective radio/part inside and you should be able to get a exchange for it. hope that helps someone out in what to do.

MT4G Deathgrip

I have noticed that when i hold my phone like any regular person would i can go from 3-4 bars too 0 bars ....is anyone else having this problem?

I have yet to notice this problem or lack there of. I have a tpu case though.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

h22aboi said:
I have yet to notice this problem or lack there of. I have a tpu case though.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I have a tpu case also....unless i have a full full signal like i do when im at work i dont have the problem but when im home i have the problem when i have like 3 bars.

Never. My tmobile signal never changes due to how I'm holding, but my wifi signal does. If I cover too much of the top like third of my phone my wifi signal is significantly lower if not gets dropped completely. It's not a common way to hold it, but when you play games in landscape it messes up quite a bit.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

This happens to all modern smart phones
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

itmustbejj said:
This happens to all modern smart phones
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
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I wonder why this happens? Ive seen it occasionally...

I've mentioned this on another thread. If ou hold it on landscape, wrapping your index finger on top on the ear speaker, you get better reception than when you hold it in portrait.

clarknick27 said:
I wonder why this happens? Ive seen it occasionally...
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Click to collapse
Because your body serves both as obstruction to radio waves, and as a capacitor that changes the "fine tuning" of the phone radio. The interference depends on a lot of factors.

The way I understand it is, to pass government radiation tests, they put the antennas at the bottom to less radiation is transmitted to the test "head". Another unintended consequence from your friendly Federal Government.

Nexus S 4G quality

Before I purchased this phone, naturally I read and watched some video reviews. Many said that the phone felt cheap and plasticy. I thought to hell with that, I'm going to purchase it anyways because I want the pure Google experience. Always after a few days with the phone I must whole heartedly disagree with those people. Yes, the back and bezel trim are plastic but that's good because this phone is awesomely light. I think the fit and finish of this phone exude quality. Aesthetically this phone is beautiful and impressive. I'm so happy I bought it. Just wanted to exclaim my delight.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

I heard the same thing before I got mine. Then I held one in my hands and realized that was incredibly wrong.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I bought mine release day just like the epic. I read after about a cheap feel and laughed. I didn't realize how much of a brick the epic was this phone is perfect for me
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

Congrats on your ns4g. IMO Im fine with plastic phones. When they are dropped on the floor they are light enough not to cause major damage unlike other heavier phones made with metal accents. My Motorola i335 is made out of plastic/rubber and doesn't feel premium at all but boy that phone can take a beating.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

I got a zagg and the black sprint gel case and I feel it's pretty well protected. I also am VERY careful with this expensive toy and never abuse it. It's never been dropped since release day and I plan on keeping it that way. A front pants pocket with nothing in it but the phone and the screen facing my leg is the way I carry it around. I had the black life raft triple layer case for it but it was just too much of a pain to touch the edges of the screen without the edges of the case interfering.

Sorry for the two post but tapatalk was being a pita. The phone feels solid yet light. I don't twist or flex the phone to see if it creaks. I'm too paranoid and careful to try that with it. It's too expensive to be screwing around like that just for kicks.

It doesn't creak or anything. Very solid construction. Better than the Evo 4G if you ask me. Speakers found better too and lag its much better as well. light is good imo, not like the epic. That thing felt cheap.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

It feels good to me, and like MrDrumngun said, better than the HTC Evo.
Now, I don't think it is as good as the HTC Desire or HTC Sensation, I would still prefer that over the plastic.
But also, the actual QUALITY CONTROL sucks. I'm on my second, going on third, Nexus S 4G.
On the first, the WiFi and my Profile/PRL updates stopped working.
On my second phone, I had an image burned into the screen somehow. They replaced the screen, and now my back button sometimes gets stuck.

Mr Drum, how.is your battery life? I have the Sprint Nexus too, and my EVO gets 3d better battery life. That is why I switched back to the EVO for now. EVO gets more than 24 hrs on a charge. Nexus gets maybe 6-8 hrs.

Mr Drum, how.is your battery life? I have the Sprint Nexus too, and my EVO gets 3d better battery life. That is why I switched back to the EVO for now. EVO gets more than 24 hrs on a charge. Nexus gets maybe 6-8 hrs.
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Click to collapse
Mine lasts me more than 24 hrs. More so if I disable 4g.
I just switched to Sprint and I am not sure if it is my phone or service - on several occasions it won't register an incoming call, and I will get a VM notification.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

ok. Seems fine to me.

I have the same problem. At first I thought it was Google voice integration that was causing it. But I disabled it and still have problems with missed calls.
lqaddict said:
Mine lasts me more than 24 hrs. More so if I disable 4g.
I just switched to Sprint and I am not sure if it is my phone or service - on several occasions it won't register an incoming call, and I will get a VM notification.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

mikeyinid said:
I have the same problem. At first I thought it was Google voice integration that was causing it. But I disabled it and still have problems with missed calls.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
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I had that allllll the time back when I was on Sprint. I think it's just a "feature" of their network

ronnienyc said:
Mr Drum, how.is your battery life? I have the Sprint Nexus too, and my EVO gets 3d better battery life. That is why I switched back to the EVO for now. EVO gets more than 24 hrs on a charge. Nexus gets maybe 6-8 hrs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
This post just made me spit water all over my monitor/keyboard.
I came from the Sprint HTC Evo 4G. I find battery life on the Nexus S to be FAR superior.
On the Evo, I took phone off charger in morning, and could barely make it home from work. Sometimes I had to plug it in while at work.
On the Nexus, I take phone off charger in morning, and work all day, come home, hang out, go to sleep, and my battery will still have enough juice left to get me about half-way through another day.
EDIT: i should clarify, I went from the CDMA Sprint HTC Evo 4G to the GSM T-Mobile Nexus S. GSM uses less power than CDMA, and around here, T-Mobile has better coverage than Sprint. Those factors could certainly be just as significant as phone hardware.

MrDrumngun said:
It doesn't creak or anything. Very solid construction. Better than the Evo 4G if you ask me. Speakers found better too and lag its much better as well. light is good imo, not like the epic. That thing felt cheap.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
better lag? have you tried the roms? i like zulugen

I find the battery life on my Nexus to be far superior to the EVO except for when my Evo was running CM7 with a Savaged Zen SBC kernel. I like this phone so much better.

Completely agree. Thought I would dislike the construction, but think it's ultimately more solid than my Evo. The Evo's back was held in mostly by friction and it always stuck out very slightly and squeaked when held firmly. This is solid and light and just all around awesome.
The battery life is not up to Evo standards, though. Simple truth in my experience. The display just eats a much higher percentage of battery than my Evo ever did, and going a whole day without charging or swapping is impossible. The external speaker is also highly inferior to the Evo's. The Evo has an outstanding speaker with great volume and clarity. The one on the NS4G is middling at best.

jonnythan said:
.The display just eats a much higher percentage of battery than my Evo ever did....
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Click to collapse
I'm not understanding what that has to do with battery life?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

matt2053 said:
I'm not understanding what that has to do with battery life?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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I get worse battery life on the Nexus than I ever did on the Evo, and the culprit appears to be the screen.

In general, Samoled uses less power than LCD. Fwiw.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Death Grip on SGS2 - Wireless

Just discovered that there is a death grip for wireless on the device. if you hold at the bottom close to the usb port ur wireless signal becomes weak..
been testing this with 2 apps. if i put the phone on the table the signal is 60% as soon as i hold it in my hands it drops to around 30-40% .. thats a lot
test it out ur self ..i used wifi analyzer and network signal apps both free..

I get this only when I hold the phone from the front ie palm/fingers covering home button/usbport. But who holds the phone this way? lol

i just hold it .. the normal way everyone would..

every single phone ever made will have the signal drop when you cover the antenna, especially if you are in an area with low rf. bottom line is this, does it drop a call or completely lose connection to the network? if not, then who cares?
i live in a very low signal area and my phone might show 1 or zero bars at times but it has never dropped a call or disconnected from my provider

Before this thread spirals out of control, here's a link to a Danish website that used the SGS2 as a benchmark to prove the HTC Sensation suffers from a death grip issue. I'd think if the SGS2 had a similar problem it would have caught their attention and become obvious during their comparison.
http://www.nordichardware.se/testla...are-med-hoeg-upploesning.html?start=8#content

m not complaining..was just indicating what i have found out..i knw every device has the problem.. i just hoped this beast wud not
it only seems to affect wireless. cell signal seems to be fine (not like iphone)..
the last video on that link..dats how i hold my mobile..hehe i think thats normal.. lol

xinfinityoO said:
m not complaining..was just indicating what i have found out..i knw every device has the problem.. i just hoped this beast wud not
it only seems to affect wireless. cell signal seems to be fine (not like iphone)..
the last video on that link..dats how i hold my mobile..hehe i think thats normal.. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a thread title containing "Death Grip on SGS2," especially after what happened with the Sensation, didn't you expect some sort of rise out people?

BarryH_GEG said:
With a thread title containing "Death Grip on SGS2," especially after what happened with the Sensation, didn't you expect some sort of rise out people?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well couldnt find better words to describe it.. it is sort of a deathgrip.. not so bad compared to other mobiles ..but its there

I have this too, but I have had it on every single phone I've used. There is no deathgrip free phone. Like Steve Jobs said, just don't hold the phone that way.

Your holding it wrong.
Steve Jobbs
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

blickmanic said:
Your holding it wrong.
Steve Jobbs
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
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lol.. u dont want him to sue u now.

There's a death grip on almost every wifi capable phone out
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

blickmanic said:
Your holding it wrong.
Steve Jobbs
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
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+1
10 char

I believe apple patented the death grip for mobile phones so another lawsuit is coming to HTC and samsung and reads something like " Holding the phone in a specific manner causes signal loss " patent infraction.

After working in Tech Support for a major UK network and conducting in house tests on phones to determine "death grip", I can safely say that the SGSII (at least my unit) DOES NOT suffer from this. As stated earlier in the thread, all cellular/mobile phones show signal degradation when the antenna is covered, but only in extreme cases does this result in a signal drop so large that it can be considered detrimental to the phones operation.
Anyway, after the iPhone 4's well known issues with this so called 'Death Grip", manufacturers are extra vigilant when testing antenna placement. This makes HTC's Sensation (WiFi in Landscape) problem even more worrisome!
Anyway, just to reiterate, there is no death grip on the SGS2!!
If there was could you imagine the number and size of the threads reporting it?!
Regards.

Yeah, i also found this bug. i see the bars fade away if i turn the phone horizontal.

EarlZ said:
I believe apple patented the death grip for mobile phones so another lawsuit is coming to HTC and samsung and reads something like " Holding the phone in a specific manner causes signal loss " patent infraction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Holding it this way takes just one bar away, from 4 to 3. Wouldn't say its bad, since nobody actually even uses the phone like that - on normal use you won't see any difference. If it was like iPhone 4, then it could be an issue