Grip Of Death!

[peestandingup]

OK, so I've been following all of the threads about the Titan's not so great reception (data speeds, dropped & muffled calls, etc). I just picked mine up today & noticed right away at my house that the Titan was constantly going in & out of service while I was using it. Granted, my house isn't exactly the picture of great cell reception, but my Focus (and previous AT&T phones were never this bad).

So, WTF? Right?? Well, I remember watching a video review (I believe it was MobileTechReview) where they briefly mentioned how all the antennas & some of the guts that pertain to that are in the bottom piece of the phone's body (the darker lower half of the backside).

Anyways, I tested the theory & held the phone like I was normally doing (with my palm wrapping around the bottom half of the phone) & sure enough, dropping in & out of service like crazy. Then I "two finger" held it (just from the very sides of the phone) for a couple minutes & never went out of service. Not once.

Thoughts??

 

[HeyCori]

I've been hypothesizing about a death grip for a few days now. I'M TELLING YOU I AIN'T CRAZY!

 

[jd914]

As much as I try, I can only get it to drop one bar when I cover the bottom part with my palm. Most cellular devices have antennuation issues the Titan isn't any different.

 

[awesumjon]

Well, I thinks it's nothing a case can't fix. I think pretty much any phone has that one point where calls will drop. It was only a big deal w/ the iPhone because it was "the infallible iPhone"

At least you know where it is. Is it where you usually hold your phone during calls?

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

 

[Blacklac]

As much as I try, I can only get it to drop one bar when I cover the bottom part with my palm. Most cellular devices have antennuation issues the Titan isn't any different.

My experience is the same, and yes, all phones will do this to some degree.

 

[peestandingup]

Well, I thinks it's nothing a case can't fix. I think pretty much any phone has that one point where calls will drop. It was only a big deal w/ the iPhone because it was "the infallible iPhone"

At least you know where it is. Is it where you usually hold your phone during calls

No, not during calls. But the problem is that when I'm at home web surfing with the phone, I usually cradle it in my left hand, so the antenna is constantly dropping in & out. And WP7 is quite annoying with this because no matter where you are in the phone, it lets you know there's no service by dropping down that little symbol in the upper-left of the screen.

Ugh.

 

[ninjaap]

Maybe its because the Titan is made of aluminum?

 

[edboogie78]

I was running some speed test with bandwidth on my friends WiFi. I noticed that sometimes the app would just take so long to finish. After several test I realized that when I was touching the back part of the phone the WiFi signal would die or dramatically slow down. When I placed the phone on the couch to do the test the WiFi speeds were very quick. Try it out for yourselves and let me know what you guys see. I really think that there's a death grip issue with wifi. I think a nice case will remedy this problem though.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

[edboogie78]

This also might be causing some of the bad call quality.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

[peestandingup]

^Yep. I personally think its all related. Both the WiFi & cellular antennas are right there.

 

[SolunaKitty]

The antenna issue (either from the back cover being snapped well into place or the death grip) being the cause of reduced reception is what I have been hearing also.

 

[Brunothesheep]

Same here. I sat in a full 5 bars area last night. Picked up the phone and immediately dropped to 1 bar. Set the phone into my lap, 5 bars again.

So I decided to run a speed test. Holding the phone like I normally would (hand wrapped around the lower half of the phone), .89 up, .89 down. And the test took forever to complete.
I then placed the phone on my leg and ran the test again. 2.6 down. 1.1 up.

To be honest, coming from iPhone 4, this doesn't bother me too much. I'll just get a case.
What bothers me is that there isn't an Otterbox yet..lol. Even though I have to admit, the Case Mate cases look pretty nice too.

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

 

[Slowzee]

we would have an otterbox if more people would speak up and ask for one via Facebook or twitter lol

Sent from my TITAN using Board Express

 

[fc000]

I had this issue as well. Lost about 3 bars easily by holding the phone, and I've always had a natural grip towards the lower half to compensate for the size. I sent my Titan back after losing a few calls and suffering slow connection speeds.

 

[Brunothesheep]

Another quick test, 5 bars, this time outside and not in a big high school auditorium. 3.49 down, 0.88 up. 32ms ping.

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

 

[Blacklac]

Are you guys sure the contacts inside the case are making contact to the outer shell? It seems strange not everyone has this problem.

 

[Brunothesheep]

The strange thing is, my signal problems are intermittent. I definitely have a huge loss in data speed when I hold the phone toward the bottom, like you would if you were browsing and the likes (aka death grip). My house/surroundings also seem to degrade the signal quality quite a bit. And yes, the contacts all seem to be connecting just fine.

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

 

[Fiann]

The strange thing is, my signal problems are intermittent. I definitely have a huge loss in data speed when I hold the phone toward the bottom, like you would if you were browsing and the likes (aka death grip). My house/surroundings also seem to degrade the signal quality quite a bit. And yes, the contacts all seem to be connecting just fine.

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

Next time you see the issue, try rotating your body around a bit without otherwise moving or changing your grip and see if it changes anything. If your hand is between the antenna and tower you will see some attenuation, case or no.

Anyone know if it's possible to get to the diagnostics screen on the Titan? it would make it a lot easier to diagnose with a proper signal display.