14 DAY TRIAL // AnandTech, a company specializing in hardware analysis, has found that the Verizon iPhone 4 death grip is “essentially mitigated," after thoroughly reviewing the device. The report follows Consumer Reports’ own analysis which pretty much said the contrary.
It’s all a matter of which tests you believe are more reliable, but it might help make up your mind to learn that AnandTech was one of the first, if not the first media outlet to fully diagnose the original handset’s antenna issues, as TUAW points out.
According to the firm’s tests, the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 experienced a signal loss of 16.5 decibels when held in "death grip."
When held “naturally,” the handset saw a signal loss of 15.5 dB.
AnandTech thus concluded that, compared to the GSM counterpart running on AT&T’s network, these results were far more positive.
The GSM iPhone 4, as some may recall, experienced an attenuation of 24.6 dB in "death grip" and 19.8 dB when held “naturally”.
As such, the reviewers concluded that holding the Verizon iPhone 4 in "death grip" mode results in less signal loss than compared to a GSM iPhone 4 held in a normal manner.
"I feel completely confident using the CDMA iPhone 4 without a case, and did so for the duration of all this testing without once dropping off the network," AnandTech's Brian Klug noted.
In its own report covering the antenna attenuation issues allegedly surrounding the CDMA iPhone 4, Consumer Reports said that “The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions.”
Needless to point out, this is in no way comparable to the conclusions AnandTech reached after putting the phone to the test.
However, given a shot at redesigning the iPhone 4 to work on CDMA networks, it is reasonable to assume that Apple has made some adjustments to improve signal strength.