News & Analysis
Comment
dylan.mcgrath
OK, well, clearly you can't please all of the people all of the time. I ...
jwc
(wacky title - wacky post)
New iPhone antenna has same 'death grip'
Dylan McGrath
2/8/2011 1:03 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO—Seven months after Apple Inc. got an embarrassing black eye over the iPhone "anntenagate" scandal, Apple is back with a redesigned antenna for the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 now available on the Verizon network in the U.S.
But according to analysts at UBM TechInsights, the redesigned antenna on the new iPhone 4 is not dramatically different than the antenna that caused Apple headaches when the original iPhone 4 initially rolled out on the AT&T network.
The antenna may not necessarily have been redesigned to address the "death grip" problem that causes the iPhone to drop calls, but to provide the best reception possible on the CDMA band, according to UBM TechInsights. The "death grip" location of the new antenna remains in the same spot, at the point of the U-shaped main cellular antenna, according to UBM TechInsights.
Verizon is set to begin selling the iPhone 4 on its website Wednesday (Feb. 9), starting at $199 for a 16GB version. The device is set to hit stores Thursday. Thus far, no reports have suggested that the Verizon version is plagued by the same issue as the iPhone 4 that began shipping for AT&T's network in July.
Apple may have inherently corrected the problems associated with the "death grip" by redesigning the iPhone for CDMA applications by utilizing a Diversity Rx antenna, UBM TechInsights said. The concept of Diversity Receiving allows mobile networks like Verizon to provide the best possible data transmission rates in all operating conditions, even if that includes gripping the phone as hard as you can, the firm said.
Diversity is essentially chosen to increase reliability and it's one of the benefits of CDMA, UBM TechInsights said. Diversity Rx can also typically reduce the amount of circuitry needed because of the commonality of the signal paths that the various reception antennae use, according to the firm.
A teardown analysis of the CDMA iPhone 4 found that the device uses a multimode Qualcomm processor, opening the door to a future global iPhone.
UBM TechInsights is a division of United Business Media, the parent company of EE Times.
Click on image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
But according to analysts at UBM TechInsights, the redesigned antenna on the new iPhone 4 is not dramatically different than the antenna that caused Apple headaches when the original iPhone 4 initially rolled out on the AT&T network.
The antenna may not necessarily have been redesigned to address the "death grip" problem that causes the iPhone to drop calls, but to provide the best reception possible on the CDMA band, according to UBM TechInsights. The "death grip" location of the new antenna remains in the same spot, at the point of the U-shaped main cellular antenna, according to UBM TechInsights.
Verizon is set to begin selling the iPhone 4 on its website Wednesday (Feb. 9), starting at $199 for a 16GB version. The device is set to hit stores Thursday. Thus far, no reports have suggested that the Verizon version is plagued by the same issue as the iPhone 4 that began shipping for AT&T's network in July.
Apple may have inherently corrected the problems associated with the "death grip" by redesigning the iPhone for CDMA applications by utilizing a Diversity Rx antenna, UBM TechInsights said. The concept of Diversity Receiving allows mobile networks like Verizon to provide the best possible data transmission rates in all operating conditions, even if that includes gripping the phone as hard as you can, the firm said.
Diversity is essentially chosen to increase reliability and it's one of the benefits of CDMA, UBM TechInsights said. Diversity Rx can also typically reduce the amount of circuitry needed because of the commonality of the signal paths that the various reception antennae use, according to the firm.
A teardown analysis of the CDMA iPhone 4 found that the device uses a multimode Qualcomm processor, opening the door to a future global iPhone.
UBM TechInsights is a division of United Business Media, the parent company of EE Times.
Click on image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
Frank Eory
2/8/2011 2:44 PM EST
Sorry Dylan, but I find this story to be very contradictory and misleading. The redesigned antenna is "not dramatically different" than on the AT&T version? In the Verizon version, it is actually two antennas with spatial diversity reception vs. only one antenna on the AT&T version. IHS iSuppli is referring to this as "an entirely new antenna design." I guess it all depends on one's definition of the word "dramatically."
You also state that there have been no reports yet of the kind of reception problems that plagued the AT&T version, yet you state that the "death grip" location of the antenna(s) hasn't changed. By that logic, wherever the antenna happens to be located -- on this or any other phone -- is now going to be referred to as the "death grip" location?
It's quite interesting to see this headline -- "New iPhone antenna has same 'death grip'" and another headline titled "Apple redesigns antenna for VZW iPhone" within the same morning news cycle.
Sign in to Reply
Robotics Developer
2/8/2011 3:52 PM EST
I would have preferred to see test results from the breakdown rather than speculation. It may or may not work, it may be fine, not knowing what caused the "death grip" issue with the old unit it is hard to tell what "fix" was needed. I will wait until some real testing occurs and then decide.
Sign in to Reply
dylan.mcgrath
2/8/2011 4:31 PM EST
Thanks for the comments and feedback as always. In the opinion of the analysts at UBM TechInsights who performed the teardown, the antennae design isn’t innovative or revolutionary, but they acknowledge that it is an improvement over the previous design. They say that both the AT&T and Verizon models still use two antennae, but because the Verizon is a CDMA version it gives them the ability to incorporate a Diversity/A-GPS style antenna.
As for the "death grip," that's just a colloquialism to refer to that particular area that many analysts thought was responsible for the dropped calls. But the UBM TechInsights analysts say they can speculate with some certainty that regardless of the "death grip," the choice of the Diversity Rx in CDMA has shown to improve signal integrity.
That said, I think that the UBM TechInsights analysts and I would agree with Robotics Developer, that we won't know with certainty that the new design improves on the performance of the former without some real testing.
Sign in to Reply
kr6x
2/8/2011 5:02 PM EST
No, I'm going to have to chime in with my agreement with what Frank says. The original article is misleading if diversity reception corrects symptoms, even if the Verizon phone has one antenna with the same "gap" as the AT&T phone. Even the UBM lab report you reference recognizes the value of diversity reception, but you had to have a "headline".
Sign in to Reply
Luis Sanchez
2/8/2011 4:59 PM EST
Well, who's going to test? TechInsights? I'd appreciate if you provide a link once testing data is available.
Which would be better? CDMA or GSM?
Which will have the least amount of dropped calls? Actually, I haven't seen data to objectively know the antenna performance of the first At&t apple iPhone 4. Will there be any for this new CDMA breed? And after all... wasn't the problem solved with the firmware upgrade that Mr. Jobs announced :-)
Sign in to Reply
GREAT-Terry
2/9/2011 1:24 AM EST
The re-design seems to be a good one. The nice thing is that Apple doesn't need to change the outlook of the phone and people basically won't aware of any change at all. Anyway, still would to like to wait for the field test result.
Sign in to Reply
DrQuine
2/9/2011 7:36 AM EST
The teardown images of the iPhone are a tremendous advance over previous articles in the media about the "death grip" problem that causes the iPhone to drop calls. However, as other readers have mentioned, the article seems self contradictory regarding the antenna redesign and design issues. PLEASE take the last step and show all of us how and why this antenna design suffers from problems when the phone is held a particular way.
Sign in to Reply
Allan Yogasingam
2/9/2011 11:49 AM EST
@DrQuine
I was one of the gents that was involved in the teardown of the iPhone 4. I think the wording of the article may have caused some confusion to you so here is my take:
The "death grip" antenna is still in the same location. If that was the only antenna change, the issue with dropped calls would most likely reoccur.
HOWEVER, the addition of the Diversity Rx antenna by it's very definition improves the quality of the reception. Whether or not Apple intended for this is what we don't know. My understanding (and I could be wrong here because by no means am I an antenna expert), because this is a CDMA phone, designers typically choose diverity receiving as a default.
My opinion is that Apple knew the reception was going to be improved regardless because this was a CDMA phone, so a drastic redesign of the antennae was unnecessary.
Though I am hearing rumors that in areas of questionable coverage, where the benefits of diversity Rx aren't possible, the death grip is causing dropped calls. I cannot confirm that though.
Sign in to Reply
daleste
2/9/2011 11:32 AM EST
After the issue Apple had with the GSM version, I would be very surpised if they didn't do in depth testing before releasing the CDMA version. So the test data exists within Apple. It would be interesting to see independent test results, but I would expect the result to be acceptable.
Sign in to Reply
Anand.Yaligar
2/9/2011 11:18 PM EST
Yes, I too feel the same. Apple wont take the chance this time around. They would have tested it thoroughly before release this phone. But lets see the performance of the phone in live field.
Sign in to Reply
R0ckstar
2/10/2011 2:36 PM EST
I think the general consensus is that the article itself is fine, but the headline is inappropriate. The article does not offer anything to support the implied claim of the title that the phone suffers from the death grip defect of the previous GSM design.
Sign in to Reply
selinz
2/10/2011 4:24 PM EST
Well, the headline made me read the article. Not sure I would have otherwise!
Sign in to Reply
jwc
2/11/2011 9:53 AM EST
I suppose you could strangle any cell phone if you were so inclined.
But given the capability of these phones, if the phone itself chatted with you during a signal loss you probably wouldn't notice the difference.
(wacky - wacky post)
Sign in to Reply
jwc
2/11/2011 9:56 AM EST
(wacky title - wacky post)
Sign in to Reply
dylan.mcgrath
2/11/2011 12:35 PM EST
OK, well, clearly you can't please all of the people all of the time. I understand where you guys are coming from and respect your points. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. The headline was only meant to suggest that the antenna has what had been a problem spot on the CDMA version in the same location. We can't tell the full story in the headline. Those of you that found the article useful and interesting even if you didn't agree with the headline, that's usually good enough for me. Thanks again everyone. We value the feedback.
Sign in to Reply