Database Users

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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.

Samsung Galaxy S - Death Grip

There are some videos floating on youtube showing Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and Captivate having " death grip " , same as suffered by iphone 4.
you can check the videos on youtube
Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and Captivate has internal antenna apparently located on the back of the phone, towards the very bottom edge. Can any1 here confirm me if Galaxy S is suffering from same issue
Any1 here facing this issue or its just a Apple fanboy gone crazy.

hi
i have used my phone a lot.. and i have never ever experienced this!
-TB-

No matter how many different ways I try holding my phone, I can't get the signal to drop.

it is yet another attempt from jealous iphone4 owner trying to make the SGS i9000 / HTD Desire / Moto Droid X looks bad
LOL

I've seen the videos, but I'm unable to replicate the behaviour..

Tried covering it completely with both hands in various ways, i can never get it to drop more than a single bar.

I did notice this the first day I received the phone: signal level drop from 4 to 1 or even zero bars when touching the entire bottom of the phone....doesn´t happen all the time, sometimes the indicated signal level stays the same....couldn´t figure out a pattern yet.
However, I have not once experienced a dropped call.....worst thing that ever happens is that the signal switches from 3G to GPRS - but then I have 4 bars again....
Can live with that....

I can easily replicate it with both my SGS phones when placing my palm over the back of the phone. This is in 3G mode and I haven't had any dropped calls yet so I'm not sure if it's an issue.

the only place i can replicate this "problem" is when i'm inside a subway station or inside a shopping center with too much metal beams.... say places like walmart and homedepot
by the way we do get cell signal inside subway stations, just weak.
so for reference a normal sony or moto handset non smartphone will be able to make a call perfectly fine, but when i was using the Treos I was never able to get a good signal
however when i upgraded to the HTC Athena i was able to make calls inside the subway station, now with the SGS no problem at all

Yes, I'm able to replicate the signal drop just like what they show for iPhone 4 in poor reception area only. I can also make the call drop out all together if the signal is already bad enough to begin with.
Note that in strong reception area it is also not possible to replicate the signal drop on iPhone 4, as shown by many YouTube videos, even if you do a death grip.
It's law of physics.
This issue does not bother me because I'll always use a case for my SGS.

All smartphones have this problem, didn't you guys listen to Steve Jobs?

lolz
yesterdays event was another publicity stunt by steve jobs

Hey now don't confuse this with the iphone 4 issue The difference here is the sgs doesn't do this by just bridging 2 pieces of metal, i.e. placing a single finger on the phone. You need to block the whole signal by covering it. I really doubt a case would have any effect on this as well. We are talking laws of physics vs a simple design flaw.

Cant really replicate it, but it can be a just signal representation bag.
I notice that sometimes I have like one bar, but if I go into setting and look at signal strenghts it can be exceptionally strong at the same time.

This just in..
Well... I put mine in a ledshielded box, padded it with sealhide (cause in Norway we have that laying around..) and swallowed it whole!
Bluetooth -> Working fine!
Camera -> Working Fine! (impressive really!)
Reception -> Working fine!
Todo:
* Testing swype whilst death-gripping the bugger!

eaglesteve said:
It's law of physics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and some basic common sense
of course it seems like that is only applicable to people who are intellectual enough to understand physic of radio waves and its interaction with the environment.

I think there has been an explosive growth in the level of public awareness concerning the effect of environment and human hand on cell phones after the iPhone 4 issue. I didn't realize my old phones had the same problem until I started testing it both good and bad reception areas. Then I searched in net and found examples after examples of videos demontrating th problem on other phones posted ages ago.

..hmmmm.. interesting.. I tried my best to replicate the issue..
..and yeah.. i can make it lose signal strength.. down to no bars..
..here is where the problem arises.. i can still make a phone call to my GF..
..nope, i didn't use just my left hand to cover the back side of the phone..
..i used my entire 2 finger and palm.. so the answer is, it doesn't have the iphone 4 flaw.
..lefty? righty? no problem, you can hold the SGS both ways and will never drop your call.
..hope this clears out all those who is trying to make a bad press out of the SGS..

Indoors, with my back to the window and my body kinda shielding the phone, I can make it drop from -81 to -97 dbm, by covering the entire bottom back of the phone. I can make it drop down further to -105 dbm by also covering the bottom front. However, both those ways of holding the phone are unnatural and if I turn around and face the window(phone infront, still held between my two hands) it shoots back up to -81 dbm.
So, is there a problem? Not as far as I can tell. As long as I hold it normally it's unaffected.
Regards

dakine; said:
Hey now don't confuse this with the iphone 4 issue The difference here is the sgs doesn't do this by just bridging 2 pieces of metal, i.e. placing a single finger on the phone. You need to block the whole signal by covering it. I really doubt a case would have any effect on this as well. We are talking laws of physics vs a simple design flaw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I think SGS's problem is even more serious than iPhone 4.
I can reduce the SGS signal by 30 dBm consistently at home by merely placing it on my palm without even griping it. With iphone4, I think Anandtech's test reduce it by only 24dBm by death grip or bridging the metal. I have got a crude video showing this if you want to see it, but you should be able to replicate it yourself.

Antenna issue

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.
Click to expand...
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

Has desire HD got iPhone grip problem

I have created a new topic as I feel this one is important and don't want it to get lost in the ether.
I've noticed if you hold the phone in a normal way and it doesn't matter if its left or right hand the signal and WiFi will drop , when you change your grip signal goes back to normal .
IPhone problem on a HTC ?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Just picked up my phone. Full WiFi signal. Full mobile signal.

I can make wifi drop to 1 bar by holding the top half of the phone. Base of thumb on the volume control, top of thumb covering the power button and palm touching the camera. Releasing it, the signal will jump straight up. But who smothers their phone anyway?

Trifidw said:
I can make wifi drop to 1 bar by holding the top half of the phone. Base of thumb on the volume control, top of thumb covering the power button and palm touching the camera. Releasing it, the signal will jump straight up. But who smothers their phone anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 I can simulate this as well. At least its not at the bottom where your more likely to hold it in a call

mancuk29 said:
I have created a new topic as I feel this one is important and don't want it to get lost in the ether.
I've noticed if you hold the phone in a normal way and it doesn't matter if its left or right hand the signal and WiFi will drop , when you change your grip signal goes back to normal .
IPhone problem on a HTC ?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that simple. I'll bet there isn't a phone with an internal antenna that wouldn't drop a few bars anywhere when held in hand. Point is that the singal strenght in iphone 4 drops significantly more than in any other phone.
So does the DHD have the same antenna problem than iphone4? The only way to find out is to test in serval locations that will the DHD drop the signal when iphone 4 doesn't when the phones are held in hand. Comparing bars is pointless becouse it's calculated in so many different ways in various phones.

All phones suffer from this to some extent. The problem with the iPhone is that the metal part of the aerial is on the outside of the phone so that you are actually touching the aerial with your skin, which is why it's such as issue. At least HTC have a bit more design sense.

berek9999 said:
All phones suffer from this to some extent. The problem with the iPhone is that the metal part of the aerial is on the outside of the phone so that you are actually touching the aerial with your skin, which is why it's such as issue. At least HTC have a bit more design sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 The problem in iPhone 4 is due to the design of the phone - it uses the chassis as the aerial but the DHD is not designed to work in the same way.

I noticed that holding the TOP of the phone with your hand cupping the back causes WiFi signal to drop when in medium to low signal strength areas and also the Network signal to drop by up to 2 bars. Apple were keen to point out that many handsets have issues with signal degradation when holding the phone, however generally this is NOT while holding it at the bottom, the natural way of holding a phone.
So while the Desire HD will suffer a signal drop when held with your hand cupped around the top of the phone, it doesn't suffer the iPhone 'death grip' which imo is still a MAJOR issue with a handset that is perfect in many other ways. Put it simply, I've not dropped any calls with the DHD!!
Regards.

OMG I can't believe someone asking this question!
Next it will be someone reporting "Why can't I access the Apple app store on this device?!"

Your having a laugh aren't u ... hate Apple with all my might .. just concerned we would have same problems ! Hold my phone different so I don't
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

apprentice said:
OMG I can't believe someone asking this question!
Next it will be someone reporting "Why can't I access the Apple app store on this device?!"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a good question and one I was considering asking myself after noticing it while browsing in bed. I sleep at the opposite end of the house to my router and can easily cut the connection while holding the phone at the top.
I think with the current trend of slimmer phones the issue will be highlighted more frequently as it is now a necessity to make use of the phone casing in regards to signal transmission. It's a known fact that the DHD unibody is part of the functioning antenna, so it's not suprising that you can produce the effect when cupping the phone.
Thankfully HTC have placed the module in the top of the phone and not the bottom like our good friends in Cupertino!

Nothing here when I try the methods mentioned. The signal stays very strong. It's been flicking between H and 3G but that's nothing to do with the phone, pure T-Mobile thing.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I have a desire z and just googled for this grip problem and found this thread.
I have quite a bit of trouble with my desire z, it drops two bars while calling. It even gets worse when you slide out the keyboard and start typing. The wifi and gsm/3g signal drops 2/3 bars!
This kind of sucks...

Has anyone had dropped calls due to this issue? If no, then there is no problem. Lowering the signal strength is normal, dropped calls aren't.

tkolev said:
Has anyone had dropped calls due to this issue? If no, then there is no problem. Lowering the signal strength is normal, dropped calls aren't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my device there is a little signal drop, but no drop calls at all!
"Drop calls" are a trade mark of iPhone4. ;-)

No dropped calls yet but 3g/hsdpa switches to gprs when holding it.

GiGi. said:
No dropped calls yet but 3g/hsdpa switches to gprs when holding it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's still a connection I know that it's slower and that's something you can feel unlike switching a voice call from UMTS to GSM, but it's not a drop. The higher frequency of 3G is more prone to signal attenuation and nothing can change that.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Hi all from Russia.
I have the same problem.
When the phone is on the table, the signal level WiFi and GSM 100% (A router in the half meter away from me)
Whenever I put it on your hand or touch the side cover, the level of WiFi drops to zero and GSM is not as critical, but falls to 2-3 division
I'm not saying if I go into another room, where the signal disappears altogether.(WiFi)
Do you think that this might be?
Bad soldering?

Waaa said:
Hi all from Russia.
I have the same problem.
When the phone is on the table, the signal level WiFi and GSM 100% (A router in the half meter away from me)
Whenever I put it on your hand or touch the side cover, the level of WiFi drops to zero and GSM is not as critical, but falls to 2-3 division
I'm not saying if I go into another room, where the signal disappears altogether.(WiFi)
Do you think that this might be?
Bad soldering?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check if the battery cover is closed properly. In the room where my WiFi router is, the signal drops 1-2 bars but it's still strong. I've read some reviews on 802.11n routers that claim the signal is actualy worse if you are too close to the router (can't check this myself as I am with a 802.11g router).

Dude, I checked a hundred times that damn cover
in the next room the signal disappears altogether, although on a different device everything is fine!
I tried to switch the router in different modes, the effect is the same.

Bad Reception on All Networks Tried Compared to Older Nokia & Sony Ericsson Phones

Bad Reception on All Networks Tried Compared to Older Nokia & Sony Ericsson Phones
I just thought I would post my issue here with my Desire HD. I will post updates following warranty. If anyone has similar issues with their handset please feel free to mention it here too. So far I've found a couple of comments googling about bad reception using a Desire HD when compared to an older phone. The girl I spoke to at HTC Australia said she had not heard anything about this before and said she believed it was an isolated issue.
I am experiencing very poor 2G & 3G reception on my Desire HD. I have played with all network settings including turning off Wi-Fi and selecting the network manually. I've also tried multiple radio versions, multiple ROM versions and factory resets and yes the issue was there to begin with and still is happening now after I've restored my ROM and radio back to stock. Compared to a much a older Sony Ericsson W660i and some other Nokia phone of the same age they all get much, much better reception. This is in the same room of the same house. Using sim cards from Telstra, 3, and Vodafone in Australia. The biggest change noticeable is obvious using 3 and Telstra SIM cards in the Desire HD. The old Nokia and Sony Ericsson keep a rock solid full reception bars. The Desire HD struggles around 1 or two bars. Often going to no bars, sometimes getting as high as 3 bars only for a moment and sometimes going to X bars meaning completely no reception. Using the Vodafone SIM card I get equally crappy reception but when I put the Vodafone SIM card in the Nokia or the Sony Ericsson it is not rock solid full bars but usually only just a bit bellow full. HTC have suggested a factory reset and a warranty. I have complied a complete guide to reset my phone back to factory stock ROM, settings, htboot, S-on ect. Which is here if anyone needs it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=920876
Lastly to anyone who didn't know HTC Australia informed me that if warrantied during the first 28days of purchace and they find an issue they just replace the phone. After 28days they only repair the phone. I will taking my phone in today to get the full replacement.

Could be bad SIM cover antenna contact. Without it you'll not get good reception at all.
Also DHD does not support all HSPA bands but you probably knew that. At least on Telstra GSM any DHD model should get full reception.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Yoshi_523 said:
Lastly to anyone who didn't know HTC Australia informed me that if warrantied during the first 28days of purchace and they find an issue they just replace the phone. After 28days they only repair the phone. I will taking my phone in today to get the full replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's nice. In South Africa we got 7 days... I had to send mine in on day 11. Been waiting for almost a month for the phone to come back, but it should be any day now (holding thumbs, touching wood, etc).

Also DHD does not support all HSPA bands but you probably knew that. At least on Telstra GSM any DHD model should get full reception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I did know that. Same as my Sony Ericsson W660i really. The Sony only runs on the 2100Mhz UMTS (3G) band along with the standard quad band GSM (2G). It gets full bars on Telstra & 3 but my DHD doesn't
Could be bad SIM cover antenna contact. Without it you'll not get good reception at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is the antenna exactly? I was guessing the antenna is around the middle of the back roughly coz cupping my hand across there will make the Wi-Fi drop a little. Is it really got a connector in the plastic cover plate that covers access to the MicroSD Card and SIM Card that affects the antenna?

The antenna in inside the botom plastic sim cover.
IT is molded in the cover and has 2 connectors where the cover and the main body of the phone make contact

broncogr said:
The antenna in inside the botom plastic sim cover.
IT is molded in the cover and has 2 connectors where the cover and the main body of the phone make contact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, and when I take the SIM cover off I can barely get reception near a cell tower.
The battery cover also has an antenna in it, however I think it's for Wifi and BT.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

have you tried taking the sim card out and wiping the contacts clean and doing a reset i.e. battery out reset. This was happening to me when I got mine and this fixed my issues.

^^ Yeah no dice. Cleaning the SIM card does nothing. I also used multiple SIM card of different carriers.
I've just posted a new thread with videos as the brand new replacement Desire HD still has reception issues and I've found it has a surprisingly similar "death grip" issue that plagued the iphone 4.
Here's the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10842571#post10842571

All phones have a similar death-grip issue. But have you ever dropped a call on your DHD while holding it? Mine's similar, but I'm yet to drop a call or data session.

^^ 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 or to use data. I can't believe that many years after the Australia wide 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 till 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. I would also guess that once I move to an area with even less reception that it would drop out. Again this is just my educated guess. Others will probably have more experience on this.
Secondly yes I can understand that maybe all phones have a particular death grip hold (depending on where the aerial is) that will cause reception to drop however I do think that this is bad planning with this HTC phone. Being a touch screen phone I unusually hold the phone in my left hand as in the video for general application and web surfing use. The old Nokia and Sony Ericsson I'd really have to try hard to hold my hand strangely to get it to drop reception.
Again please keep in mind I'm not against you guys. I'm only new to this phone. I realise it's one of the best on the Australian market. Hell I love this phone and have bought into a 24month contract. I plan to keep it and I only wanted to show you what I've found and hopefully if others have seen similar maybe they can tell HTC and then they can work on something to help. Maybe it's me being optimistic but I would like to thing that maybe that plastic bottom plate holding the antenna could be re-engineered and replaced with an upgraded one or something similar and problem solved?!?

Here we go again. HTC made the best considering the laws of physics. You can't have metal body without some non-metal part that holds the antenna. The only other possible solution is WiFi and gsm antennas to switch places but that might not be practical from the internal design point of view. If you hold your phone and look at it, you'll see that the only place you never put your hand is the top of the phone but I wouldn't want a cover there especially on a rainy day .
Our "death grip" and iPhone's is completely different. We have attenuation of the signal because when holding the phone your hand is in the near field of the antenna which messes with its properties to some extend (and attenuated the signal too) and Apple experiences signal cuts because some bright boy liked his design too much and did not listen to the engineers. IPhone's antenna is exposed and by touching it you cause much more trouble than being in the near field. And as if that's not bad enough, that same bright boy has put the WiFi antenna too close and if you bridge the two, the signal drops. Actually with the silicon case on, the iPhone and the DHD experience the same. If it doesn't look like it that's because with the software update Apple changed the way signal strength is reported to the user.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I'm not sure this is actually an issue at all, the OP has stated he has no idea if it drops calls or not, merely that the recorded signal drops, also comparing signal strength with that of older phones, or even phones of different makes is nonsensical as all manufacturers set there own scale as to when the phone displays full reception and when it displays less, and since apple got caught fiddling the scales they appear to be overly cautious at reporting full reception