Since the Apple iPhone 4 was released, many users have been reporting dropped calls when holding the phone in their left hand, up to their left ear.  This so called “death grip” was later confirmed by Apple itself, and the company suggested that users avoid using the death grip, or cover the iPhone 4 with a case.

Yesterday, we ran our own tests on the iPhone 4 to confirm the death grip issues and the results were stunning.  You case see the results in the table above.  For each scenario, e.g. Apple Bumper case with Left Hand Grip, we ran five tests using the Speedtest.net App, and averaged the results.

The death grip on an iPhone 4 with no case reduced download and upload speeds to zero.  Not only that, but as you can see in the video below, it took an extraordinary amount of time just to ping the Speedtest.net servers.

We also tested two cases, the Apple Bumper and Luxmo TPU Argyle skin, which helped to reduce the impact of the left handed grip.  However, even with a case installed the left handed grip still resulted in a 40% decrease in download speeds and an 80% decrease in upload speeds.  The type of case didn’t make much of a difference in download and upload speeds – download and upload speeds varied by only 100kbps or so in our testing.

These tests confirm that a left handed grip does result in signal issues on the iPhone 4.  But the good news is, any case will help.  Check out the video below for a full report:

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