Grip gipes
The 'grip of death' that publically blighted the iPhone can affect all smartphones and can result in a 100 fold reduction in sensitivity, according to new research.
It turns out Bristol University claims to have proved Apple's CEO Steve Jobs right, who previously said: "Smartphones have weak spots....You can grab them in the course of normal use and you will drop reception."
Of course Apple suffered ‘antennagate' just after the launch of its iPhone 4 and was forced to dole out free cases, which although a bit of a PR embarrassment did little to dampen the demand of its newest handset.
Now, the University of Bristol's Centre for Communications has discovered that a thumb placed over a smartphone's antenna can cause up to a 100-fold reduction in sensitivity, making death grip a scientifically proven phenomena instead of an Apple mistake.
The three researchers, Webb, Gibbins and Beach discovered how signal levels change due to obstruction, position and motion, and that signal fluctuations increase significantly, therefore tending to impair service quality.
They also investigated how the proximity of the operator's hand affects the antenna's radiation and input characteristics and discovered that when a ‘phantom material' covers the antenna, much like a user's thumb, the sensitivity of the device was also affected.
According to the paper, "this de-tuning of the antenna was found not to significantly alter the shape of the radiation pattern, but dramatically worsened the electrical match between the antenna and the electronic circuitry."
"Antenna position and user grip on smartphones may lead to obstruction of radio signal paths and antenna detuning," said Mark Beach, professor of radio systems engineering in the department of electrical and electronic engineering at the university.
He said that research into the automated re-tuning of the antenna elements to maintain high efficiency when holding smartphones or similar devices, in a bid to enhance connection reliability with wireless networks, is ‘ongoing'.
The research has so far also found that "providing a gap between the antenna surface and the phantom thumb using a layer of plastic electrical insulator did not restore the matching and operational sensitivity of the phone for the antennas under evaluation."
So the university has proved that some phone covers on sale might not improve the death grip problem.
It will be interesting to see whether Apple decides to bring up the issue at its iPhone 5 launch, which is anticipated this summer.