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back to article Micro-mech chips to free phones from 'grip of death'

CES 2012 Week In the summer of 2010, Apple's marketing was forced to move from the offensive into a defensive mode. The successful launch in June of the iPhone 4 had been quickly followed by 'Antennagate', the controversy surrounding claims that holding the handset in a certain way would kill its ability to communicate with …

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  1. petur
    Boffin

    "by the close proximity of an 80 per cent water human hand"

    I'd be very surprised if a human hand contained 80% water. Just because a whole body does so, doesn't mean this is true for each part of it.

    And just to remind you, this has nothing to do with antennagate, which was caused bu the human hand bridging the antennae who were at the outside, unprotected. Hence the 'easy' fix by isolating them with a thin rubber/silicone/... bumper.

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    2. Silverburn
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re-wording the famous quote

      "You're holding it wrong. You must use a hand containing only Apple-approved water"

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  2. Frederic Bloggs

    Cough... Varicap diodes?

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  3. Schultz
    Go

    Phased array

    Well, that's what they should build: A small phased array antenna for 2.4 GHz.

    They could also turn around the cell-phone cancer scare: the directed radiation can be used to treat (burn) your brain cancer! Just include a brain scanner for real-time monitoring.

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    1. Silverburn
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      @ Schultz

      We hearby give notice that you should desist from posting about features of iPhone 5, or any Apple future products, and from describing in detail any technologies in pending or existing Apple patents.

      Regards,

      An Apple shark in a [very expensive] suit.

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  4. Charles 9

    Something bugs me.

    I believe multiple antennas are becoming more of a necessity as more wireless features are being used *simultaneously*. For example, WiFi tethering (both sanctioned and unsanctioned) employs both the 3G/4G frequency and the WiFi frequency at the same time. I don't think one antenna could cover both roles without a lot of shuffling back and forth which could result in increased wear.

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    1. Ru
      Reply Icon

      I was assuming

      That this had more to do with the main cellular radio connection, of which presumably only one frequency band is used at a time.

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    2. Frederic Bloggs
      Reply Icon

      MIMO

      In fact designs are already using multiple antennas deliberately to improve S/N, and thus speed, for a given power. This also involves some array phasing. How effective it is on a device that is held in the hand is moot. However, arguably, if one is using smaller antennas and they are arranged "all over" the device, one could envisage these being phased in realtime as the user waves the device around their body.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Competition

    The plethora of frequencies emerging looked like it would mean that every phone would likely be tied to just one carrier - perhaps this is the saving grace that will continue to allow phone portability, and therefor wireless competition.

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