14 DAY TRIAL // The signal strength of any mobile phone is affected by the manner in which it is held by the user. This is what Apple said several months ago when people complained about the antenna in iPhone 4, and this is what HTC says now, in response to allegations that its HTC HD7 device would be plagued by similar issues. The mobile phone, released on the market only several weeks ago, with Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 operating system on board, can be seen in a series of videos around the Internet losing signal strength while held in a certain manner.
Various bloggers and news sites already came up with reports on the death grip antenna effect on the HTC HD7, some suggesting that it is rather interesting that HTC did not take into consideration this aspect.
To be more precise, we should note that the effect was spotted at times when the handset's bottom was covered with the hand. Take a look at the video embedded below (courtesy of wpcentral) to learn more on this.
It should be noted that the situation was rather hard to reproduce, though the result was not encouraging when the testing succeeded, as the death-grip problem even led to data being held up.
In response to these allegations, HTC says that, during the design process, they actually tried to make sure that no such issue affects the device, a recent article on ComputerWeekly.com reads.
“Quality in industrial design is of key importance to HTC. To ensure the best possible signal strength, antennas are placed in the area least likely to be covered by a person's face or hands while the phone is in use,” a statement from HTC reads.
At the same time, the company admits that any mobile phone would who similar behavior when it is held in a certain manner, which covers its antennas.
“However, it is inevitable that a phone's signal strength will weaken a little when covered in its entirety by a user's palm or fingers,” HTC's statement continues.
“We test all of our phones extensively and are confident that under normal circumstances reception strength and performance will be more than sufficient for the operation of the phone when network coverage is also adequate.”