Video Daily: Droid X suffers from antenna issues, as well?

Video Daily: Droid X suffers from antenna issues, as well?
Apple, in an effort to move some of the negative publicity away from their iPhone 4 "antennagate" onto other phone makers, has released a video testing the new Motorola Droid X, which appears to have the same issues when held in the "death grip."

Posting the video on YouTube and their own site, Apple shows off the Droid X being held in two different grips, with the cell signal bars magnified in the corner.



When barely held, the phone has two bars. When held in the "death grip," the bars slowly but surely fall to zero.

While Apple may insist that every other smartphone has the same issues as their iPhone 4, has anyone heard complaints from a real user?



Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Jul 2010 17:54
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  • 31 comments
  • Hyasuma

    stick with EVO, its much better

    Check this link for more info youtube, Evo Death Grip test

    link

    25.7.2010 18:22 #1

  • lamain

    The video I saw of the iPhone started at full bars and went to no coverage. if the iPhone problem was not unique then a bumper would not solve the problem. It is not the end of the world that Apple messed up admit it and move on.

    25.7.2010 18:31 #2

  • Amak

    Aww His Majesty Jobs seems a little mad:D 1 mistake and they completely flip out... superiority complex much?

    25.7.2010 20:19 #3

  • tyknappy

    Lol, I like how Apple is focusing all there efforts on trying to make other phone companies look bad.


    25.7.2010 21:05 #4

  • Mysttic

    Isn't this bordering on slander... or something of the like?

    25.7.2010 22:14 #5

  • KillerBug

    If anyone hasn't seen it yet, you really need to watch the video of him doing the press conference for the bumper. Just keep this in mind...while he keeps saying that he wants every single customer to be happy, he has personally blocked Flash on "i" devices...a feature that the majority of users want.


    [Edit]
    BTW...has anyone seen a "death grip" video that is similar to the iphone4 issue? I mean...I see videos like this, and the fingers are curled around the phone in a way that you wouldn't even be able to talk on the phone without using the speaker or bluetooth...and even if you were using one of these, you still wouldn't hold the phone like that because it is uncomfortable and you can't see the screen. Have they shown off any other phones that lose a 4-bar signal when you hold them in a reasonable way?

    25.7.2010 23:14 #6

  • llongtheD

    Maybe they should just focus on their own product and get a REAL fix for it. Would anyone even trust a demonstration or review of one competitors product by another? I guess maybe the sheeple would.
    Its pretty obvious from this that Stevie is more than just a little worried about this problem.

    If your fish seems sick, put it back in the water.

    26.7.2010 00:44 #7

  • KSib

    Apple loves doing this kind of thing. Instead of saying what they have and what they do well, they just shit on everyone else. It appeals to their fanbase, I suppose. I can't imagine buying their stuff knowing how they like to represent themselves.

    26.7.2010 01:02 #8

  • fordsrule

    yep standard apple...we fucked up...try and make everyone else seem as bad...but as killerbug mentioned the phone is being held in a uncomfortable manor to achieve the signal lose were as you just have to hold the iphone 4 in your left hand (mainly) and you've lost your signal


    apple please grow up stop have a tantrum every time something doeskin go your way and learn to make decent shit...and steve jobs get out of your ill gotten way of thinking as adobe flash is very popular and always will be

    i hope eventually everyone will wake up to themselves and avoid apple as all they do is criticize everyone else when they fuck up like wtf if i done that at my business i would be out of business in a month

    26.7.2010 05:19 #9

  • beanos66

    So SJ is saying that the 4 is equally as bad as eveybody elses smartphone ?

    and to SJ, rewriting the software so it only looks like not so many bars have dropped dosen't fool anyone

    26.7.2010 09:41 #10

  • matty76

    Droid Life already attacked Apple and showed that this whole thing is BS...

    Here is the article:
    link

    Apple Isucks!

    26.7.2010 10:29 #11

  • padapa

    I've been working with smartphones in Unified Communications for 5 years and its a fairly well know fact (within the engineering community) that antenna location on the phone is fairly critical to good reception (cell and WiFi).

    Its also a well that your body is big bad of salt water that absorbs radio waves fairly well. I've personally tested several HTC and Nokia devices and found the same types of issues.

    That said, if you can touch the actual antenna, your body will change the antenna's characteristics quite dramatically ... That's why the glove helps, it breaks the actual contact with the person's hand ... Q&A should have seen it ... but they are, in the end, people too.

    Apple blew it and should just fix it and keep on truckin ...

    At least they don't release a phone a 1-2 months later drop it ... aka the Kin1/Kin2 ... lol

    26.7.2010 10:54 #12

  • KillerBug

    Originally posted by padapa: Q&A should have seen it ... but they are, in the end, people too. It is already an established fact that they knew about the problem before the first prototype was ever made. This was no accident, it was clearly a mistake...but that was a surprise to everyone; apple is always releasing products that exclude large portions of the market...this time the media just happened to pick up on it.

    26.7.2010 11:49 #13

  • bobhill

    watched it twice. the second time i held my DROID X the same way, no change. lets not forget that Verizon has a better network then ATT. why doesnt apple show this test with a phone thats not directly competing with the Iphone?

    26.7.2010 11:56 #14

  • tshan88

    spam removed

    26.7.2010 12:20 #15

  • KillerBug

    Originally posted by bobhill: watched it twice. the second time i held my DROID X the same way, no change. lets not forget that Verizon has a better network then ATT. why doesnt apple show this test with a phone thats not directly competing with the Iphone? I think you have to squeeze so hard that blood pools in your finger tips, like the guy in the video.

    26.7.2010 12:21 #16

  • djeazyg

    For god sake why do you people insist on beating a dead horse? Not to mention, if you don't like apple why are you paying attention to any news about them in the first place? I hate Linux but I don't feel the need to bitch about them in every news story I see about them. This must be office people with really boring jobs.

    Yes I agree Apple should stop releasing these videos. They need to stop showing others flaws just to make themselves look like there is nothing wrong with the iPhone 4. They are just bringing more attention an already bad situation that has been blown way out of proportion.

    Like I said before..... If Apple had released the iPhone 4 with the bumper case already on the phone this would be a non issue. Now you have people bitching that they don't want a case. If Apple had released the phone with a piece of non removable plastic around the phone that covered the antenna, JUST AS MANY people wold have bought the phone and none of this would have ever happened. They got greedy and want to sell the cases but now they have to give them away. The problem is solved.
    EVERY business on the planet is greedy. Apple did nothing different than every other business on the planet.

    26.7.2010 12:43 #17

  • dEwMe

    Meh...This is nothing but a continuation of their PC ad tactics of trying to look better by making the compition look worse. All BS and only an idiot or a fanboy would believe it...is there a difference?

    Just my $0.02,

    dEwMe

    26.7.2010 14:39 #18

  • Hyasuma

    Originally posted by djeazyg: For god sake why do you people insist on beating a dead horse? Not to mention, if you don't like apple why are you paying attention to any news about them in the first place? I hate Linux but I don't feel the need to bitch about them in every news story I see about them. This must be office people with really boring jobs.

    Yes I agree Apple should stop releasing these videos. They need to stop showing others flaws just to make themselves look like there is nothing wrong with the iPhone 4. They are just bringing more attention an already bad situation that has been blown way out of proportion.

    Like I said before..... If Apple had released the iPhone 4 with the bumper case already on the phone this would be a non issue. Now you have people bitching that they don't want a case. If Apple had released the phone with a piece of non removable plastic around the phone that covered the antenna, JUST AS MANY people wold have bought the phone and none of this would have ever happened. They got greedy and want to sell the cases but now they have to give them away. The problem is solved.
    EVERY business on the planet is greedy. Apple did nothing different than every other business on the planet.
    I think we all like to diss on these companies because we don't work for any of them and don't make that much money as them. if you were one of their employee, i'm sure things will be completely opposite.

    26.7.2010 15:12 #19

  • sammorris

    Simple - All the phones they test have to be entirely (and awkwardly) concealed at the base to drop signal, as their antennae are located at the bottom, since nobody holds that part when they're making a phone call, and it's where the microphone is located (most sensible place).
    Note that the iphone 4 antenna is in one side, so it is easily concealed by anyone who holds the phone in their left hand. It's a major design flaw which phone manufacturers from the first internal antenna phones realised how to solve. Apple just ran out of room, put the antenna in a stupid place, and have proved nothing by publishing this, other than that the iphone 4 is fundamentally flawed in a way that no other current handset is.



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    26.7.2010 15:40 #20

  • sciascia

    Every phone I've ever had has reacted to the way I held it. This is why in a low signal area I've always held them upside down with my fingers on the speaker to get a text message sent out.

    26.7.2010 17:32 #21

  • pensfan12

    Just because it happens to other phones doesn't make it OK.


    26.7.2010 19:55 #22

  • cyprusrom

    Originally posted by padapa: I've been working with smartphones in Unified Communications for 5 years and its a fairly well know fact (within the engineering community) that antenna location on the phone is fairly critical to good reception (cell and WiFi).
    ...
    Apple blew it and should just fix it and keep on truckin ...

    At least they don't release a phone a 1-2 months later drop it ... aka the Kin1/Kin2 ... lol

    Yeah, maybe M$hoft released a phone and 1-2 months later dropped it, aka Kin1/2, bu at least they had the balls to say "we fu@#ed up, our product is a piece of sh!#T. crApple on the other hand, run out of excuses and now play infantile games- "is not just me, Bubba did it too"...One of the most retarded PR attempts ever.

    26.7.2010 21:06 #23

  • xnonsuchx

    Originally posted by tyknappy: Lol, I like how Apple is focusing all there efforts on trying to make other phone companies look bad. No, they're merely pointing out that nearly ALL mobile phones can have antenna performance problems and "antennagate" isn't anything unique to the iPhone 4, as many have been claiming.

    26.7.2010 22:04 #24

  • xnonsuchx

    Originally posted by pensfan12: Just because it happens to other phones doesn't make it OK. So all AM/FM radios are defective because they are capable of getting a bad signal?

    26.7.2010 22:08 #25

  • KillerBug

    Originally posted by xnonsuchx: Originally posted by pensfan12: Just because it happens to other phones doesn't make it OK. So all AM/FM radios are defective because they are capable of getting a bad signal? No, but if they get clear signal with an empty car, and no signal when you have a passenger, then yes...that would be a defective radio, antenna, or some wiring in between.

    Sure, all phones can have their signals blocked...there are even places that sat-phones don't work. The difference here is that calls are not being dropped from within a fallout shelter, they are being dropped from an office across the street from an AT&T tower...just because someone's pinky finger touched a part of the case.

    I almost wonder if these videos were taken from within a shielded room...that way they can simply cut the signal from the room, and simulate a signal loss that way.

    26.7.2010 22:30 #26

  • xboxdvl2

    ive got an am/fm radio on my sterio in my lounge room and it doesnt even have an antenna and it gets perfect reception.I've never really had anything to do with apple basicaly cause all there products are extremely expensive and from a lot of the things ive seen on this forum apple makes very dodgy products.I like nokia mobile phones.never had a problem with a nokia.

    PS2 with 12 games.
    pc-windows 7,intel core quad Q8400,4 Gb ddr2,WD 500 GB hdd,ATI Radeon HD 4550 graphics,AOC 22inch LCD moniter.

    26.7.2010 23:33 #27

  • ThePastor

    Quote:For god sake why do you people insist on beating a dead horse? Not to mention, if you don't like apple why are you paying attention to any news about them in the first place? I hate Linux but I don't feel the need to bitch about them in every news story I see about them. This must be office people with really boring jobs.
    Unfortunately this phone is the one that leads the market and sets the trends. Usually this is not a big issue, except when the device setting the trends is so anti-consumer.
    We, as non-Apple users have a vested interest in making sure the world understands just how effed up this company and this device is or we'll all end up using some version of this piece of manure in the future.

    That's why all the anti-Apple people make such a big deal out of this stuff.

    Unfortunately for them, all Blu-ray protections have been broken and BD rips can be found around the Internet, usually before the retail even hits shelves.

    27.7.2010 00:54 #28

  • plazma247

    Umm, ive got lots of old phones, maybe i could keep my jammer off camera and death grip them all (jam jam jam), maybe apple would pay me money for making them feel better, by making more videos that made it appear you could death grip other phones.

    27.7.2010 12:30 #29

  • KillerBug

    You might have trouble doing it without cheating. The droidx has a much better antenna setup than the original droid, and I tried to make my original droid have the issues from the video. I held it every way that I could while still being able to see the signal display (even ways that blocked most of the screen). I tried holding my fingers against every part of the case, I tried wrapping both hands around it in order to block all signal...I couldn't get it to drop even one bar, even when I tested it from my bathroom (where I only get 2 bars to start with). Well, that isn't 100% true...I was able to get a drop in the bathroom when I held the phone next to an electric hair trimmer (like they use in barber shops)...when I turned it on, I lost all signal. Good thing I don't have to use my phone while trimming my beard.

    31.7.2010 06:23 #30

  • llongtheD

    Originally posted by ThePastor: Quote:For god sake why do you people insist on beating a dead horse? Not to mention, if you don't like apple why are you paying attention to any news about them in the first place? I hate Linux but I don't feel the need to bitch about them in every news story I see about them. This must be office people with really boring jobs.
    Unfortunately this phone is the one that leads the market and sets the trends. Usually this is not a big issue, except when the device setting the trends is so anti-consumer.
    We, as non-Apple users have a vested interest in making sure the world understands just how effed up this company and this device is or we'll all end up using some version of this piece of manure in the future.

    That's why all the anti-Apple people make such a big deal out of this stuff.
    Not a religious man myself, but Amen.

    If your fish seems sick, put it back in the water.

    2.9.2010 01:12 #31

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