Apple: ‘Nearly every smartphone’ suffers death grip

We’re all familiar with incidents when children do something wrong, but rather than owning up and apologizing, they try to justify or downplay it, claiming, “But all the other kids were doing it.” Apple has taken a similarly juvenile approach in addressing the antenna issues with the iPhone 4, calling out RIM, HTC, and Samsung as purveyors of phones that are prone to losing reception if held the wrong way.

This claim isn’t just immature and hyprocritical, given how hard Apple works to present itself as superior by virtue of being different; it’s also dubious. Yes, rival smartphones with similar antenna may experience a drop in call quality if held in a certain way, but it’s also possible that the iPhone 4’s drop in quality is more significant.

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On its website, Apple has posted pictures and video from tests it claims to have performed on the iPhone 3 and iPhone 4, along with three rival devices: the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the HTC Droid Eris, and the Samsung Omnia II. Apple depicts how gripping each device in a certain way can result in a drop in signal strength. It’s not clear whether Apple was testing actual performance based on call quality (measuring decibel levels or sound to noise ratios) or simply counting how many reception bars disappeared during the tests. Those bar drops could be a result of a stunning software issue, not representative of a significant drop in quality, right?

Naturally, Apple’s attempt at spreading the pain and blame elicited responses from rival companies. RIM’s response on Crackberry was the most heated: “Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. … RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage.

“One thing is for certain,” the response continues, “RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”

Nokia, meanwhile, was more restrained. The company agreed that a tight grip can, indeed, affect the performance of a mobile phone. But taking a subtle shot at Apple’s fixation on aesthetics as well as the iPhone 4’s propensity to perform poorly in the left hand, Nokia said, “As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict. … That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real-life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand.”

Finally, a Samsung spokesperson told the Korea Herald that the company has not received any complaints about the Omnia II, pointing out that the device’s antenna is at the bottom, whereas the iPhone antenna is on the lower left: “Our design keeps the distance between a hand and an antenna. We have fully conducted field tests before the rollout of smartphones. Reception problems have not happened so far, and there is no room for such problems to happen in the future.”

It’s no surprise that Apple’s competitors would argue that their phones are designed to deliver adequate performance no matter how they’re held. For a third-party perspective on how phone gripping can affect performance, consider this detailed review on AnandTech comparing the iPhone 4 to the HTC Nexus One and iPhone 3G S.

When held in a case, the Apple iPhone 4 had slightly better call quality than the HTC. When held different ways in hand sans case — such as flat in the palm, naturally, and gripped tightly — both phones experienced increasingly worse quality.

However — this is the important bit — the HTC’s reception was remarkably better across the board compared to the iPhone 4. For example, when held naturally, the iPhone 4’s attenuation was 19.8 dB, compared to 7.2 dB when held in a case. (A lower number is better.) By contrast, the HTC had an attenuation of 7.7 dB in a carrying case and 10.7 dB when held naturally. When gripped, HTC rated 17.7 dB, whereas the iPhone reached 24.4 dB.

I’d be remiss in not adding that the iPhone 3G S’ quality also diminished when it went from laying flat in a case to being gripped. More interesting, its performance was superior to both the iPhone 4 and the HTC in all the tests, ranging from 3.2 dB in a case up to 14.3 dB when cupped tightly.

The bottom line is Apple should have left well enough alone when offering free cases to iPhone 4 users, rather than further fanning the flames by dragging its competitors into the spotlight. Apple’s claim that “all the other smartphones have this problem” simply invites third parties to test those claims — with the possible finding that almost every smartphone has it but the iPhone 4 still has it worse.

This article, “Apple: ‘Nearly every smartphone’ suffers death grip,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog.