The Apple iPhone 4’s antenna continues to attract news. Whether the Verizon version of the smartphone, like its AT&T predecessor, drops calls when held in a certain way-aka the “death grip”-seems to depend on whom you ask.
Bearing some cup-half-empty news Feb. 8, tech site iLounge reported that the Verizon iPhone-which is based on CDMA technology, not GSM, like the AT
&
T version, and so features a different antenna design
–
did indeed suffer from death grip.
”
What we
’
ve noticed is a dramatic, dramatic slowdown of the speed at which the phone is loading up pages over Verizon
’
s network,
”
an iLounge reporter said in a video on the site, showing the device
’
s bars fall as it was tightly held.
“
We
’
ve also experienced the same thing when doing it over WiFi-at least depending on how the phone is gripped.
”
Although, as with the AT
&
T iPhone 4, the site added that
“
Use of a protective case appears to fix the antenna issue and attenuation
”
-or more simply, signal loss-
“
may not be noticeable in areas with stronger signal strength.
”
Consumer Reports, in a Feb. 25 blog post, reported that it also found the Verizon iPhone to suffer from attenuation. In a special controlled environment the consumer watchdog ran a series of tests, mounting the Verizon iPhone 4 on a phone stand and then placing a finger in a variety of locations around the device. It did the same thing to five other Verizon smartphones
–
the Samsung Fascinate, the Motorola Droid 2 Global, the HTC Droid Incredible, the LG Ally and the Motorola Droid X.
”
The only phones in which the finger contact caused any meaningful decline in performance was the iPhone 4, the sides of which comprise a metal band broken by several thin gaps,
”
states the blog.
“
As with our tests of the AT
&
T iPhone 4, putting a finger across one particular [antenna] gap-the one on the lower left side-caused performance to decline.
”
Adding that Verizon iPhone 4, like the AT
&
T iPhone 4, offers
“
great multimedia functionality, a sharp screen and the best MP3 player we
’
ve seen on a phone,
”
Consumer Reports said it was nonetheless unable to add the phone to its list of recommended smartphones.However, AnandTech, the analysis group that reportedly first discovered the initial death grip problem
–
launching
“
Antennagate,
”
as Apple CEO Steve Jobs cheekily called it
–
says the problem has been addressed, CNN Money first reported.AnandTech ran signal attenuation tests on a number of popular phones. When clutched in the death grip, the AT
&
T iPhone 4 scored a rating of 24.6dB to the Verizon iPhone 4
’
s 16.5 (the lower the rating the better). The BlackBerry Torch, by comparison, scored a 15.9, while the Droid 2 came in at 11.5.When held naturally, the Nexus S scored a 6.1, the Dell Streak an 8.7, the Verizon iPhone 4 a 15.5 and the AT
&
T iPhone 4 a 19.8.Still,
“
toss a case on there, and obviously attenuation is way lower at around 9dB,
”
wrote Anantech
’
s Brian Klug in a Feb. 13 blog post.
“
Death grip is essentially mitigated, and the attenuation when held is now comparable to other smartphones. What we
’
re measuring, of course, is just the numerical signal strength being reported.
”
In short, Klug added,
“
I feel completely confident using the [Verizon] iPhone 4 without a case, and did so for the duration of all this testing without once dropping off the network. Getting a case still makes sense, but using the phone without one is no longer something that will dramatically affect phone usability.
”
Death grip or not, Apple sold a record 16.24 million iPhones
–
an 86 percent year-over-year growth
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during its fiscal quarter that ended Dec. 25, 2010. Suggesting, perhaps, that it
’
s an issue some people don
’
t mind.