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HTC One X users complain of WiFi “grip of life” as result of loose antenna, company promises to investigate

By on June 12, 2012 at 5:17pm in Mobile News


Some users of the HTC One X are claiming that the phone suffers from a reverse grip of death, or as I’ve begun to referring to it, the grip of life. It appears that in some cases the WiFi antenna is not soldered onto the motherboard properly and is causing attenuation in the signal. This leads to dropped connections or, in most cases, poor performance when connected to a router.

The current test is to take your device and squeeze it gently between your thumb and forefinger on the top right side of the device near the top right of the screen and, on the reverse, the camera module. If the WiFi signal temporarily improves, this may mean that your device is affected by the issue.

Widespread panic has begun as a result of these claims, but as you can see from the above screenshot my Rogers HTC One X has no such issue. In fact, connected to both my 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz hotspots the HTC came out on top in signal strength (as measured in -dBm) by a good margin. In fact I was aware of claims against the One X’s WiFi quality when I purchased the device and have had nothing but good things to say about it.

If you suspect that your device suffers from the issue (it appears that the Tegra 3 version is more prone) head on over to XDA-Developers and make yourself known to the HTC representative there. The company claims they are investigating the issue and will hopefully offer a no-compromise replacement to anyone seeking reconciliation.

Check after the break for an example video of the issue.

Via: RegHardware
(Thanks Rajendra!)

Related posts:

  1. HTC exec claims that users prefer thinness over battery life, says company will discontinue devices with hardware keyboards
  2. “Antenna Meter” app checks your BlackBerry’s antenna signal strength
  3. IDC: WiFi is most desirable attribute among Smartphone users
  4. WiFi-enabled iPads make up 89% of total users: Localytics

Discussion

27 comments for “HTC One X users complain of WiFi “grip of life” as result of loose antenna, company promises to investigate”

  1. Poor htc. First the apple ban on their products in the the US, then the poor sales, and now this. They just cant catch a break!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 5

    Posted by TheywillbepisSes | June 12, 2012, 5:21 pm
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  2. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 32

    Posted by WP74Life | June 12, 2012, 5:26 pm
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    • Are they blown away by how boring it is? Or is it how obsolete it is? Wait who are we kidding who would spend 2 secs looking at any Wp7 device if they have the amazing One X. It’s like comparing the mona lisa to a 2 year old’s drawing.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 10

      Posted by Dalex | June 12, 2012, 6:16 pm

  3. GS3 screen looks so much better in side by side picture above.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 22

    Posted by Joe | June 12, 2012, 5:31 pm
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    • You took the words right out of my mouth.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 6

      Posted by Nope | June 12, 2012, 5:34 pm

    • The GS3 has better contrast levels and the picture above is a black background picture so its not exactly a good comparison.

      They both have amazing displays. The GS3 has better contrast and more saturated (also cooler) colours, so it appeals more to some people.

      The One X renders whites significantly better and the colours are a lot more natural (and warmer). The text is slightly crisper on the One X as well, though that may be due to the full RGB Palette vs the Pentile Matrix on the S3.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 4

      Posted by Dalex | June 12, 2012, 6:22 pm

  4. HTC phones seem to always have poor wifi signal. I remember when I had my HTC Touch Pro, HTC Desire Z and several other devices, it seemed like a huge task to keep a good WiFi signal on the phone

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Marco | June 12, 2012, 5:45 pm
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  5. No problems here with my rogers one x, seems quite opposite actually, i get full signal everywhere in my house and most public places i go to..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 5

    Posted by onexl | June 12, 2012, 5:48 pm
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  6. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 33

    Posted by Someguy | June 12, 2012, 6:08 pm
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  7. @WP74Life are you dumb?? Did you even read the article? This has nothing to do with Android, this is a hardware issue.

    Guess you for about the following:

    From purple screens to rattles to unresponsive buttons, the Nokia Lumia 900 still has a couple of nagging problems for a few of us. Here’s what people are complaining about most.

    wpcentral.com/lingering-issues-nokia-lumia-900-purple-screens-dead-buttons-rattles

    finance.yahoo.com/news/oh-boy-theres-another-problem-214537657.html

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 7

    Posted by Nick Fury | June 12, 2012, 6:14 pm
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    • Ya you tell him nick fury!!! By the way, I’m a big fan of your work with the avengers, also where did u get that sick eye patch?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Theywillbedead | June 12, 2012, 8:12 pm

  8. My desire hd had this with the gps. The problem is they had removable panels and the antenna was on the panel. The connections that were between the two sucked and over time signal got poorer and poorer. Sometimes you could fix it by pushing on the camera panel. Will never buy another htc phone that has a removable anything for this reason

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Tom | June 12, 2012, 6:37 pm
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  9. I actually want to get the One X, but read about this problem. I am going to wait until end of month to see whether they fix it or not. If they have, I’ll pick up the One X; and if they haven’t, I’ll probably get G3

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Rick | June 12, 2012, 6:42 pm
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    • Rick,
      As long as you get a one XL (at&t\rogers) you wont have this issue, like Daniel said, “mine has no such issue”, and I concur. This phone is simply sensational, screen is drool worthy and how does 40 hours per charge sound?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 4

      Posted by Spartacom | June 12, 2012, 11:05 pm

  10. Funny they should mention this, I actually have the same problem with my HTC Amaze. I dont know if it’s a software bug or if its just a lucky coincidence.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Darren | June 12, 2012, 7:30 pm
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  11. i know you posted that just to show off you have the SGS3 in your grubby hands still.

    If i could win it all will be forgiven….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by andy c | June 12, 2012, 8:07 pm
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  12. What is wrong with all these i****s who think that the windows phone is better than the android that is not true at all!!!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Kay | June 12, 2012, 8:47 pm
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  13. You are so “Kay” lol

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by kromba | June 12, 2012, 9:07 pm
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  14. You want a phone that works great right out of the box for all your needs with regular updates pushing innovation buy a Windows Nokia…you want to spend a lot extra to buy a unit with eventual bugs/flaws leading to more problems go with HTC.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 11

    Posted by aregularonhofo | June 12, 2012, 9:12 pm
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  15. Does the s3 have support for 5ghz wifi?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by ExcessDan | June 13, 2012, 12:03 am
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  16. haha more android crap. get a blackberry if you want a reliable phone.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 6

    Posted by iamkennypowers | June 13, 2012, 3:22 am
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    • where you reliably have to pull the battery on it once a day to get it working?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1

      Posted by ExcessDan | June 13, 2012, 10:35 am

  17. haha. BB for reliable phone? That’s funny. I’ve had many BB’s that suffer from an amazingly low volume issue with the speaker – it resolved itself when you pinch the speaker portion. Of course, you can’t really do this while talking. So I guess that’s the BB “grip of.. hearing”? FWIW, I encountered that problem on multiple 9000′s, 9700 and 9780. I’m currently using a 9900 and no problem with the sound – although the approximately 8.5 seconds of battery life per full charge kind of sucks.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by PhuFighter | June 13, 2012, 10:38 am
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  18. @ExcessDan: alas, no. I don’t pull the battery on my 9900 at all. I can go weeks without restarting it. But then, I don’t use it for as much as the average iphone or Android user uses their phone for :) Email, Calendar, web browsing, and some light app usage (weather eye, pocket informant, poynt, browser, msn, gtalk, bbm are what i usually use). Compared to the dozens of games on the iphone..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by PhuFighter | June 13, 2012, 10:40 am
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  19. My Rogers HTC One X doesn’t have this antenna problem. I’ve had it now for about a month and a half, can usually get about 2 days use on one charge… now that the novelty’s worn off, and I’m not trying every 3D game out there just to see what it can do :) Great phone, lovely user experience with the GO Launcher up and running.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1

    Posted by C.K. Lee | June 13, 2012, 11:05 am
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