Verizon iPhone 4 Suffers From 'Death Grip' and 'Death Hug' [Video]

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Posted February 8, 2011 at 10:27pm by Shalom Levytam

While performing tests on the new Verizon iPhone 4, iLounge discovered that it suffers from the 'Death Grip' as well as the 'Death Hug'.

The CDMA iPhone 4 can still lose substantial cellular signal strength when held in the prior "death grip" position, as well as Wi-Fi signal when held in a different position, in each case noticeably slowing or completely stalling the reception of data.

The problem with Wi-Fi reception appears when the device is held snugly in landscape orientation with two hands, a position common when playing games or using the widescreen keyboard. Prior to the Verizon iPhone 4's launch, sources told iLounge to be on the lookout for the issue, which was being referred to as the "death hug."

You watch these grips being demonstrated in the video below...

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takwando - February 9, 2011 at 10:45pm

yes yes opinionated. I hate those people who show such errors, even this is not an error, it is now these people are doing so that people would not buy iPhones sorry for my bad english anyway you understand me guys.

Walmart connection center employee - February 9, 2011 at 1:28pm

I just tried the "death grip" on our new Verizon iPhone 4 demo that we received yesterday and it is not affected by it what so ever. Didn't get to try the wifi but as far as 3G reception it was not affected by it. ( side note my Att iPhone 4 does drop a few bars outta it's case but not bad)

AdamB - February 9, 2011 at 1:01pm

I've had my iPhone 4 for about four months now, but no matter how I try, I can't cause any signal drop at all. It's obviously not a Verizon one though, but the hardware should be the same.

Stephen - February 9, 2011 at 8:55am

Why would the iphone 4 for Verizon be any different. they built the phones almost the same time so Of course they are the same. the Verizon iphone has been in production for better part of last year this Partner ship has been in the making for over 2 years. I buy ATT iphones for $299 use them for a year and resell them on ebay for $600+ I do not believe the verizon phones will be worth much since you cannot use them anywhere but Verizon. My current phone I take any where in the world and use it with local sims.

nono09 - February 9, 2011 at 7:14am

How come this is a story, why would Verizons iphone 4 be any different than apples iphone 4? The iphone 4 has these problem (although I never had any) Its still the same damn phone!

David - February 9, 2011 at 2:58am

This must be a problem only in the USA. No one in Europe complains about the Death Grip. Coverage issues... sometimes; but dropped calls... never! I thought that the fuss was because of AT&T's crappy network.

vlad - February 9, 2011 at 8:43am

Entirely correct i have an iphone 4 and my dad has also one, no problem what so ever. i even tried with one finger, moist hands, full palm, NOTHING. Bizarre :)

iPhonedo - February 9, 2011 at 2:46am

Why doesnt people understand that it's not GRIP you can literally just touch one point on iPhone 4 and the connection dies.

Chris - February 9, 2011 at 9:09am

I understand that, but what I was saying is the way I personally hold a phone I don't make contact with that specific area. Now if someone is intentionally trying to hit that spot to prove a point then that's just silly :)

john - February 9, 2011 at 1:49am

so are they going to pull out the "can you heare me" ads? :D

h0mersd1 - February 9, 2011 at 12:33am

i have to agree. who in the world holds the phone in that fashion? i could maybe see the regular death grip. even that is a stretch. But the death hug! come on. who would hold the phone like that. that makes it virtually impossible to use the device. I mean look at the video the guy has a hard time even refreshing the browser when holding the phone like that. The design may not be "perfect" but why make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Zack - February 9, 2011 at 12:32am

I wish that people would get over this stupid death grip thing. I wonder if this guy knows how stupid he looks in this video trying to get this death grip to happen. If you just use the phone like you would normally, everything works like it should.

Dumitru Robert - February 8, 2011 at 11:31pm

No you are not alone :) I think is impossibile to hold the phone like that and to use it in the same time ...... See ya

Chris - February 8, 2011 at 11:21pm

I've owned a bunch of phones, including iPhones and never have gripped any of the phones in the "death grip" fashion, I tried but it's rather uncomfortable for me personally. Am I alone?

iPhoneUser - February 8, 2011 at 11:39pm

I must admit that the way I hold my i4 does produce the signal loss issue despite it being a lot less weird than the methods on this video, I mean what is that landscape grip about? My only concern is that Apple could possibly have been arrogant enough not to resolve the issue on these generations of iphone and instead leave it to the i5. i mostly use either the bumper or a common thumb and forefinger method to avoid a disconnected call.

PReaper - February 9, 2011 at 3:45am

No you're not alone! And these problems seem to be "US only" because americans are pretty much the only one's complaining about this.. I can get my bars to drop to 2-3 here in Sweden with the "Death Grip" if i squeeze it but the quality of the call is maintained and I've never had any problems with it..