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Verizon iPhone 4 Has Familiar Antenna Problems

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Verizon may have sold more than 500,000 iPhones on day one, but the latest iPhone launch is deja-vu all over again. When the iPhone 4 launched on AT&T’s network last year, customers complained of activation problems and reception issues. Apple redesigned the iPhone 4’s antennas before unleashing it on Verizon’s network, but the exposed antennas are still vulnerable to the death grip.

As iLounge points out, holding the Verizon iPhone can cause bars to drop, download speeds to slow and uploads to halt all together. Early reviews of the Verizon iPhone 4 put its voice call quality well ahead of AT&T, but as with all networks, there will be times when users are on the edge of being able to place/not being able to place a call. iPhones without cases will be more vulnerable.

But wait, there’s more! iLounge explains that holding the Verizon iPhone with two hands in landscape mode can impact Wi-Fi reception.

Is this the end of the world? No, but Apple may have to again dole out free iPhone cases if this issue drums up to much noise.

16 Comments

16 Comments

  1. Adam

    02/09/2011 at 6:39 am

    My Verizon iPhone arrived yesterday.Every time I simply HOLD the phone (with ONE hand like you do when you are speaking during a NORMAL conversation) the signal goes down to one bar. I was actually shocked when I noticed this yesterday. I tried it over and over again, and it happens, like clockwork. I thought maybe my phone was defective. But the same thing happened with my friend’s Verizon iPhone. I was really excited about the Verizon iPhone. Unfortunately, it looks like I will have to return it. Even when I am not holding it, it gets a worse signal than my AT&T iPhone. Unbelievable. Word is slowly spreading. Come next week, this story is going to be HUGE.

    • Anonymous

      02/09/2011 at 7:36 am

      wow, just go back to your droid and stop lying.

    • Anonymous

      02/09/2011 at 7:38 am

      everyone knows you don’t have an iphone. liar.

  2. Anonymous

    02/09/2011 at 7:11 am

    Another FUD campaign. Has the “death hug” been tried on any other phone? Because I suspect that if it had, we’d be hearing bad things about those phones too. I tried the “death hug” on my iPhone 3GS and guess what? The bars immediately went down. It’s called attenuation and if you’re going to hold the phone like it’s weapon, then you’re not going to be able to make many calls from most phones.

    Apple will sell 3 million Verizon iPhones this quarter and the only ones who will be upset will be the pundits, the Apple haters and Apples’ competitors. Apple and Verizon’s customers will be just fine.

    • Djblois

      02/09/2011 at 1:44 pm

      Actually, I have tried it on my Evo and it only drops down to 3 bars not 1. The only way I get it down to 1 bar is if I cover the whole phone with both hands. Also, if you look on the web others have compared it to other phones as well. The only people that this is NOT a problem with is the people who believe Steve Jobs is a God and would listen to him if he said jump off a bridge.

      The way he treats his customers is poor and they take it. When this came out he even said, “People, you are holding your phone WRONG!” How dare he tell me how to hold my phone.

  3. His Majesty Steve

    02/09/2011 at 8:15 am

    Now we’re going to hear the exact same thing from all the Verizon customers that we heard from the AT&T customers about six months ago…

  4. Chrisld85

    02/10/2011 at 3:18 am

    Verizon sucks! There phones are problematic anyways, and now that they have iPhone it will be even more problematic.

  5. eJeepin

    02/12/2011 at 8:21 pm

    Hold it with two fingers, lose 1 bar, hold it gently in your palm like using normally – lose two bars (and 100% call drop). Set it on your desk, gain 2 bars back. Don’t listen to davidg12 who is a 7th grade punk using a StarTac his parents gave him.

    • Jvsstuff

      02/16/2011 at 1:43 am

      I experience similar results. Holding the phone in the palm of my hand I get 1 bar. If I slip a piece of paper between my fingers and the metal ring I get 3 bars.

      • Jvsstuff

        02/17/2011 at 12:42 am

        Almost returned the phone, but after more experimentation it appears only the lower left corner is sensitive (a finger across the black line that separates the side metal and the corner metal causes the signal loss). Since I don’t normally cover this area when I talk on the phone it’s not an issue. However, I will need to pay attention to this when using the phone for internet browsing, etc…

        I was not able to recreate my results with using paper for separation and putting electrical tape over this area did not prevent signal loss. Perhaps I wasn’t covering the left hand corner in my initial experiment.

        The speed tests are so inconsistant in my location whether I’m holding the phone or not that I can’t tell if holding the phone in other areas is causing a speed loss. The voice calls I’ve made have been fine though.

  6. Orangecrush98

    02/24/2011 at 3:06 am

    I switched from a Droid X to the IPhone 4.There is no comparison.The X’s signal is much stronger.I hate I believed the salesman at Verizon who said”the antenna is great on the Verizon IPhone”.I’m not pro android or pro apple.I just like the IPhone better but just touching it the bars drop to one.So I’m stuck with a phone that doesn’t work like advertised.

  7. SunFlyer

    04/01/2011 at 3:21 am

    switched from Crapberry to iPhone with Verizon 2 weeks ago and found the ‘death grip’ unpalatable. I bet 40% of my calls are not connected, dropped or sporadic. Can’t wait to get a moment to run to the nearest Verizon store before my 30 day free-look up to trade for a Droid based phone. DO NOT get a iPhone untill this is resolved. I am in the Phoenix area.

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