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Thunderbolt WiFi Anntenuation

Has anyone else noticed the drop in WiFi signal when you cup the phone in your hand? Put the phone in your left hand so your palm is on the left side with your fingers on the right. Watch the WiFi signal tank.
It's not a big deal nor do I know if it affects anything - just a funny observation.

Just confirmed this with WIFI Analyzer. I would lose about ~10 db whenever I cupped the bottom and the second I released it went back to normal. Must mean that the WIFI antenna is on the bottom of the device. Not that it matters much as 10 db is a minimal drop.
Very interesting, when not cupping the device returns to normal. This was with my case off. The second I put my case on my WIFI signal plummeted while not even touching it. I use a silicon case that just wraps around the device. After removing the case the signal shoots back up.

Weird, huh? Mine will drop from four WiFi bars down to one.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

That's crazy. Works everytime without fail. Lucky for me I never hold it like that.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

I experience the same thing, but does not seem to affect performance.
-sent via 1.21 giggawatts of android.

It's not happening for me. Weird.

I know that the antennas on the TB run through the back cover. If you open the Battery/SD/SIM compartment cover, you will notice some contacts that are in different spots and corresponding contacts on the cover. These are antenna extensions. Thusly, covering the back of the phone will drop your signal pretty good. Try holding it in a gapped grip (fingertips only instead of cupping) or hold it at the bottom (near the kickstand) and it will alleviate it.
Why it attenuates so much when you have a silicon cover on boggles my mind. I have a soft interior and hard edge silicone/plastic two piece case on and maybe a small attenuation of WiFi and Cell signal. One bar max, a few DB in stats. Dropping from full bars to one is crazy for just the cover.

You think cell phone manufacturers would have learned from Apple....

the desire s has this issue really bad. my nexus one does it too. i've been able to cup my phone and drop cellular AND wifi bars on pretty much every phone i've owned, nokia n95, n97, etc. some just have it worse than others so you may not notice it on certain devices. but its always existed.
if you are standing next to your router, than the signal will over power any attenuation you try to impose on the device. so in the same room you wont notice, but far away with weaker signal and you will attenuate for sure.

Breezer23 said:
You think cell phone manufacturers would have learned from Apple....
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Apple wasnt the first and wont be the last...

moosez3 said:
Apple wasnt the first and wont be the last...
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Click to collapse
Though they did make one of the biggest errors.

That's true but Apple made Antennuation a household term.... Kinda lol.

Apple had a problem with signal? AT&T, aka A Fee & Fee, had users too dumb to know they were using too much data? It was an iBlame issue. My daily rant quota.
Seriously, though, with internal antennas, this can be an issue. I have not verified if my signal attenuated or not, nor has it affected call quality or data transmission that I am aware of.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

ryocoon said:
Why it attenuates so much when you have a silicon cover on boggles my mind.
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Click to collapse
Silicone cover made in china and full of lead????

kendive said:
Silicone cover made in china and full of lead????
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Click to collapse
lol. But do not make too much fun of them, they may cash in our country's debt..real trouble then.

please delete. i reposted in accessories forum

First off, i bought this because it was a $1 at the time while i was getting some cases and a other stuff on the off chance it would work. I've actually had it for a month and just barely decided to put it on today to check it out.
some stuff on this site can be pretty low quality. but anyways... I put this (making sure the part that says upside with arrow is pointing up) under my battery to the left of the white sticker with the serial numbers for my phone. and i made sure not to touch the sticky back except just on the edge. i used the cardboard that came with to smooth it down onto plastic.
now this seemed to maybe add a bar or less but that isn't what i liked. it definitely helped my phone from dropping from 4g to 2g constantly from low signal in my house. and in my house I almost NEVER can stay on 4g, we have a lot of electronics in our house plus we need another cell tower out here in Salt Lake (West Jordan) in my area or something. but my phone signal has only dropped down below 4g one time and went from 1-2 bars, sometimes 3 bars to 2-3, usually 3 bars consistently all day since i put it on this morning. this can't be a coincidence because i know my house and this is my 5th g2x and also my last vibrant all had a bad signal dropping problem. so try it out if you want, the promo code CELL7 is posted saying 7% off too. but try CELLSHOP or look for it on a page (they post promo codes in weird places) cuz i think thats what i typed in before and they gave me free shipping which saved me a couple bucks more.
im interested to see if this works for others. like i said though it more stopped my signal from jumping around than really adding a bunch of bars or anything. but for a buck its cool with me
the ad honestly looks like a bunch of B.S. but if anyone ends up buying it let me know if you have similar results.
http://www.cellphoneshop.net/noname144.html

im going to copy paste this to other thread for accessories. didn't realize i had put it in the wrong Thread. my bad. though maybe it's worth being here too?

I soooooo want to get MythBusters on this... does this stuff REALLY work?!?

seems to have for me though i googled the name and someone said it was a scam but i assume they didn't try it or maybe put it in the wrong spot. other people posted that it worked for them too so who knows lol. but yeah that would be awesome i love the show
could be that the battery isnt touching the back of phone as much now so less static or something causing interference?

Stupid Stupid antenna

I received my replacement back cover today in hopes that it would resolve my signal strength issues.
It doesn't. My sensation loses signal if I hold it normally. It gets reduced signal from using any case/cover as well. I get 1-2 bars and if I leave it in my pocket at my house, I lose signal all togther.
My father has one and the same issues as well, and my cousin has the same issues.
With other phones, MyTouch 4g, Motorola Cliq, etc, We have 3-4 bars all the time, no matter what.
The antenna on these is poorly designed, and it could be complicated by software/radio configuration.
Just wanted to let people know that getting them to send you a back cover may not solve your issue.
I think I'm going to send it back for service/testing, but I'll bet it passes and they send the phone back. If it only works 10% as well as you think it should, but 10% is 100% of their spec's, then 10% it will be... HTC may have lost a customer..

Have minimal WiFi antenna attenuation, and it hasn't affected my usage, at all. And I mean :::zero::: You will be okay. None of the Sensation handsets have 'better' casings than others. Honest.

you're pretty lucky. considering I haven't had this issue ever since I got my sensation. but its the unbranded one.

Id guess something is wrong with your hardware, inside the phone. I hold my phone funny and still have great reception. Heck, I even put thick lead sheet in the way of the antennas and still had good reception!
Id do an exchange.
Matt

It's not the back. I had a sensation with dust under the screen. Got a warrant replacement (just the front), and now I have the death grip issue.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

Maybe.
I think I'm going to send it out, but if it's all 3 (purchased at different times from different places) then what is the issue? It drops some bars if you hold the phone. Even when you don't it is lower bars than my Motorola cliq)
I'm pissed. If they tell me nothing is wrong, it will be my last HTC.

Uhmm daaa.. Do you read instruction mannual? Dosent read shh... and posting dumb things.. EVERYTHING about anntena is written there.. the operator antenna is at the bottom of the phone! (there are little holes at the back cover) so avoid covering the holes and it should be fine! - Because as you probably noticed the wifi & operator antenna is the little gold plates on inside of the cover... and thats why you get 'death grip' when you cover them... - Basicly 1/3 of the cover WORKS AS AN ANTENNA! So no replacements will fix this.. it is just the way it is!
When I cover the antennas one bar dropes for me, but thats it... Of course when i pull the cover out i almost have no coverage(because no antenna is connected)

One week with the AT&T HTC One X

Well, I saw a Rogers user posting his comments after a week of use so I figured I'd post some opinion as well, especially since I disagree with several of his opinions.
First, I've noticed the wi-fi issue as well. As with some other posters my router is not known to be super reliable, so that could have some impact. Also, it seems that some folks are having success switching to G instead of N and that may also help as I believe I am on G at work and I haven't had any issue with wi-fi at work. Hopefully this can be fixed with a software update.
I first reported some disappointment with the warm hue of the screen, and either it is growing on me or it is burning in a little bit and the tans, greens, and oranges are starting to look better. The screen as a whole looks fantastic. Several people have remarked how it looks like a sticker on the phone or like the image is sitting on top of the glass. The resolution is fantastic and everything looks crisp vibrant. Reds, blues, and yellows look fine too. White seems pretty white to me. When comparing a white screen on the HOX to an AMOLED screen the HOX looks white and the AMOLED looks blue.
Battery life is about what I was expecting and seems to be on-par with the international version. I've not had any trouble making it from 8AM to 11PM even with pretty heavy usage. It's not as good as my Captivate on AOKP which could make it ~30 hrs under my normal usage which is relatively light. Because the HOX is such a great phone and it's brand new I've been using it a lot more so the most I think I've gotten is 18 or 19 hours which most people would consider fantastic in consideration of the usage.
Camera is by no means average and it absolutely smokes the iPhone 4S. I took some test shots with my wife's iPhone and the HOX just blows it away. The flash is much better, but even in low light without the flash the HOX looks better, has less grain to the photos and generally focuses better and has better color reproduction. The speed of the camera is incredible and using the burst mode to capture a moment is a stroke of genius if you have a dog or a kid that you want to take a pic of them doing something cute.
I've not had any status bar icon issues or in call volume adjustment.
My biggest complaint is not being able to turn off LTE since I'm not in an LTE area. I tried using a different APN and I didn't notice any difference and it didn't improve my battery life at all. I only had the new APN for ~2 days but I felt I may have been getting worse battery life, but certainly wasn't getting better battery life so I just went back to the stock APN.
I guess the Rogers poster was coming from an iPhone and remarked on a slight lag moving between homescreens. This is exagerated to say the least. This phone with sense 4.0 is the fastest UI I've seen on an android phone and the only phone that is more fluid is the iphone and that is due to apple putting realtime priority on UI rendering computations while Android puts industry standard normal priority on rendering. No matter how good the code is, no matter how fast the processor is, it's just never going to look like the iphone because it's never going to have realtime priority. That said, this phone responds instantly to all touches in virtually all parts of the phone. The only times I've seen lag is either app related or network related. It's a great user experience.
Another concern I saw in some other threads that I completely agree with is that the white smudges easily. In addition, the polycarbonate shell may be very durable in that it protects the phone, but it's basically the same material as a LEGO and as such can be dented with a drop as I've unfortunately experienced already. As far as the smudging the phone wipes back to a bright white easily, but probably needs to be cleaned every few days to keep it bright white and not getting dull. The white looks fantastic, best looking white phone out there, but I'd have to reluctantly recommend the grey if you aren't going to use a case in order to hide some dirt and dings more easily.
Overall, this is a fantastic phone. HTC has lived up to the hype and produced THE top android the device out right now. If you want the best in basically every area, you want an HOX right now, and it doesn't look like Samsung is going to beat it and it's going to take quite some time for the S3 to come to the US. If you've got an ATT upgrade in the next 2 months, you'd be crazy not to drop it on the HOX.

Hey since your on the AT & T version and you don't have the setting to turn LTE off. Type *#*#4636#*#* go to phone information and you can switch it to GSM/HSPA only. Let me know if that works for you!

My two biggest concerns right now are the wi-fi performance (which seems to be real and potentially fixed with a software update) and the battery life. In a few days we should see professional reviews for the AT&T model that will be able to compare the international and LTE editions under equal usage.
I know the white is harder to keep clean but I really prefer the look of it over the grey. Maybe I'd just make the effort to keep it clean.
I also think the camera lens is an issue with respect to scratches. I don't plan on using a case 95% of the time, so I'd have to find a DIY way to cover said lens while not in use. (I was thinking a small piece of electrical tape or something along those lines.)
I'm also going to wait until the WWDC keynote next month to see what Apple has in store for iOS 6.
If the wi-fi issue can get settled, battery life is solid while using LTE, iOS 6 isn't leaps and bounds better than iOS 5, then I'll probably make the jump. Some things to line up first though.

therulebookman said:
Camera is by no means average and it absolutely smokes the iPhone 4S. I took some test shots with my wife's iPhone and the HOX just blows it away. The flash is much better, but even in low light without the flash the HOX looks better, has less grain to the photos and generally focuses better and has better color reproduction. The speed of the camera is incredible and using the burst mode to capture a moment is a stroke of genius if you have a dog or a kid that you want to take a pic of them doing something cute.
I've not had any status bar icon issues or in call volume adjustment.
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Click to collapse
I did some more testing with the camera and no doubt it is able to create some fairly high quality shots. I just find the camera experience a bit easier overall with the i4s. We have matte grey walls at home and for some reason they always show up weird and distorted, I'll take a pic after work tonight and post it to show you what I mean.. I'll also post a comparison pic off the iPhone camera.

mattymon said:
Hey since your on the AT & T version and you don't have the setting to turn LTE off. Type *#*#4636#*#* go to phone information and you can switch it to GSM/HSPA only. Let me know if that works for you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried this before and posted results in my first thread about it. Doesn't work.

Odd question, can you do time lapse videos? I know this is an ICS thing, just wondering if HTC left it in?

BoostedSR20 said:
Odd question, can you do time lapse videos? I know this is an ICS thing, just wondering if HTC left it in?
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I don't have the phone yet but i remember from reading a review from neowin that they left the time lapse feature out.

blairh said:
My two biggest concerns right now are the wi-fi performance (which seems to be real and potentially fixed with a software update) and the battery life. In a few days we should see professional reviews for the AT&T model that will be able to compare the international and LTE editions under equal usage.
I know the white is harder to keep clean but I really prefer the look of it over the grey. Maybe I'd just make the effort to keep it clean.
I also think the camera lens is an issue with respect to scratches. I don't plan on using a case 95% of the time, so I'd have to find a DIY way to cover said lens while not in use. (I was thinking a small piece of electrical tape or something along those lines.)
I'm also going to wait until the WWDC keynote next month to see what Apple has in store for iOS 6.
If the wi-fi issue can get settled, battery life is solid while using LTE, iOS 6 isn't leaps and bounds better than iOS 5, then I'll probably make the jump. Some things to line up first though.
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I know a lot of user's are concerned about getting the white version dirty, eBay has some clear gel cases for 2$, figured I'd share since a clear case won't hide the beauty of this device
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

rambo8987 said:
I know a lot of user's are concerned about getting the white version dirty, eBay has some clear gel cases for 2$, figured I'd share since a clear case won't hide the beauty of this device
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No clue if I'll end up getting the One X, but if I do, I'm only going to use a case when necessary (working around the house, etc). Love the way that polycarbonate feels in my hand. Camera lens needs to be covered with something though.

Has anyone messed with the APN settings and noticed a difference in battery life. You definitely can force HSPA/+.

Little bit bent/twisted Xperia XZ (6 months of use)

Hi everyone, recently I noticed that my Xperia XZ was a little bit twisted on two corners however, I'm too carefuly everytime, I never save it on my back pocket, every time I save it in the front packet and I have Rhinoshield PlayProof protector. So the question is, are you Xperia XZ bent too? The bent on my phone isn't possible to see, the way to check it is pushing your finger on the 4 corners (1 per time) and if your phone moves a little bit, it's bent.

Ahm, define bent, provide pictures if you have to. Flat and pretty much pristine here.
Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk

I have the same issue on my Z3 from carrying in my front pocket. Bending it back is no problem.

there is no need to open another thread about bending...we already talked about it...let me explain something...xperia xz is made mostly from plastic and some aluminium back cover and its prone to bending...i know that flagships should not be that way ,but maybe sony made something new with the xz like bending ability (joke) at the end it can be a good or bad thing. i think they went for plastic design because of overheating processors.Sony simply cant make a phone that wont overheat...this is still there biggest problem to solve and also chips are going only to be better and better so more power with more heat will come and Sony again wont be able to manage that.we will se what will happen

mine is bent a little bit
always carry it in the front pocket of my jeans
see no problrm with it

cocagenda2 said:
there is no need to open another thread about bending...we already talked about it...let me explain something...xperia xz is made mostly from plastic and some aluminium back cover and its prone to bending...i know that flagships should not be that way ,but maybe sony made something new with the xz like bending ability (joke) at the end it can be a good or bad thing. i think they went for plastic design because of overheating processors.Sony simply cant make a phone that wont overheat...this is still there biggest problem to solve and also chips are going only to be better and better so more power with more heat will come and Sony again wont be able to manage that.we will se what will happen
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Click to collapse
The hybrid (polycarbonate, AL- alloy) structure was chosen for radio related purposes, heat expulsion has nothing to do with it; as a matter or fact, polycarb is a quite decent heat insulator. Now to the problem at hand, it takes a considerable amount of force to bend the polycarb frame, as for the Alkaleido back-panel is quite easy. I usually keep it in my pants front pocket, not a problem so far, +6mo user.

MrRojano97 said:
Hi everyone, recently I noticed that my Xperia XZ was a little bit twisted on two corners however, I'm too carefuly everytime, I never save it on my back pocket, every time I save it in the front packet and I have Rhinoshield PlayProof protector. So the question is, are you Xperia XZ bent too? The bent on my phone isn't possible to see, the way to check it is pushing your finger on the 4 corners (1 per time) and if your phone moves a little bit, it's bent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey checkout my post https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xz/help/phone-completely-flat-t3586806
We've been talking about this, seems as a common problem.

This is my phone bent/twisted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TWqkMP7yZc

Aaromtaar said:
The hybrid (polycarbonate, AL- alloy) structure was chosen for radio related purposes, heat expulsion has nothing to do with it;
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Click to collapse
And yet my XZ has absolutely horrible wifi coverage, unable to hold onto signal from a 2.4ghz router 2 rooms away. As a comparison, full metal bodied LG G5 has 2 of 5 bars in exact same spot of house where XZ won't see the router.
---------- Post added at 16:02 ---------- Previous post was at 15:55 ----------
MrRojano97 said:
This is my phone bent/twisted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TWqkMP7yZc
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Click to collapse
I tried the same with my blue XZ, and yes I have same issue as you. But I use a case so do not notice it.
On my phone, its the bottom left corner that is raised compared to other three. I'm guessing its lack of quality control (and care) by Sony. That's why no other flagship since Galaxy S5 (back in 2014) is made of plastic.

xperia phones were always known for having a bad wifi coverage...i know this cuz i had xperia Z,Z2,Z5 and now XZ and all the same...also i had sgs7 for 4 months and before all of those phones i also had sgs3 and i can confirm that xperias simply cant compete with Samsung in wifi coverage ,there chips are far better.the solution to this is get a wifi extender, atleast for xperias LOL

cocagenda2 said:
xperia phones were always known for having a bad wifi coverage...i know this cuz i had xperia Z,Z2,Z5 and now XZ and all the same...also i had sgs7 for 4 months and before all of those phones i also had sgs3 and i can confirm that xperias simply cant compete with Samsung in wifi coverage ,there chips are far better.the solution to this is get a wifi extender, atleast for xperias LOL
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A sample size of one person isn't enough to declare a widespread problem. It's just as likely if not more so that it's something to do with your own setup or your unintended biases.
---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------
asestar said:
And yet my XZ has absolutely horrible wifi coverage, unable to hold onto signal from a 2.4ghz router 2 rooms away. As a comparison, full metal bodied LG G5 has 2 of 5 bars in exact same spot of house where XZ won't see the router
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The number of bars is *completely* meaningless, as each manufacturer determines what these arbitrary bars indicate for their own device. A one-bar rating from one manufacturer could easily indicate a stronger signal than a three-bar rating from another manufacturer. If your XZ can't hold onto a 2.4GHz signal from two rooms away, you have a problem, either with your phone or with your network and environment. Mine is fast, snappy and has 3/4 bars on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks when easily 100 feet from the router with at least four or five walls between phone and router. (Just checked and as of right now I have four bars on my 2.4GHz and three on 5GHz in precisely these conditions in a location with ten networks currently visible.

knoxploration said:
A sample size of one person isn't enough to declare a widespread problem. It's just as likely if not more so that it's something to do with your own setup or your unintended biases.
---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------
The number of bars is *completely* meaningless, as each manufacturer determines what these arbitrary bars indicate for their own device. A one-bar rating from one manufacturer could easily indicate a stronger signal than a three-bar rating from another manufacturer. If your XZ can't hold onto a 2.4GHz signal from two rooms away, you have a problem, either with your phone or with your network and environment. Mine is fast, snappy and has 3/4 bars on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks when easily 100 feet from the router with at least four or five walls between phone and router. (Just checked and as of right now I have four bars on my 2.4GHz and three on 5GHz in precisely these conditions in a location with ten networks currently visible.
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u probably understood us wrong...so let me explain it this way...first its not about the wifi bars cuz they are like u sad in ur comment relevant from manufacturer to manufacturer...now let me give u an example: i leave in 34m2 apartment wich has 2 rooms separated and when i go to toilet and thats about 5-8meters away from my Asus router... so tell me how the hell i loose signal... are u going to say that i leave in a bunker it berrarly stays on single bar and it disconnects everytime i move the phone a bit so i have to catch the signal by moving it about meter towards the router.With other branding phones i dont have to do that...even with older ones. All i want to say here is that in my experience i have these issues but im not bothering so mutch cuz it can be solved quite cheep buy buying a wifi extender and also it comes in handy for other opertunities. peace folks

I was realised the issue at the early of the April last month. I bought my Xperia XZ since May 2017. This issue had caused my screen glass poke out and cause the proximity sensor not function properly. After put the phone on a flat marble table I realised that my phone was bend. I thought this might be some hardware problem or probably is battery faulty, then I sent my phone for warranty. The Sony Service Centre managed to change a new frame case as well as the back metal case. Now the phone is no more bending, but the screen glass will poke out when the phone overheat as the service centre did told me this is because of the defective waterproof glue.