yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] junior2991:
Hello Everybody

Need help here!

I have a i9000 body with a vibrant board in the inside. So i some sort of unique phone. lol.

I opened up a thread seeking for help on which firmware to flash etc.. here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1105155

Some background info on my flashing odyssey.

After the repair the front buttons worked but the home button didn't (since is a i9000 body). So i started to play around with firmware for the i9000 2.3, 2.2, darkkys 10.1 etc... I have over 3GB of firmware that i flashed in attempt to get the home button working and the Front facing camera. The home button never worked neither the camera and the headset also stopped working while on i9000 firmware. (Also the back and menu front buttons worked fine during all of this)

So, i decided to flash back to JFD to bring the phone back to what i first had. And guess what, none of the front buttons worked after this last flash.

I've tried more than 10 vibrant firmwares, kernels etc... in order to get the front buttons working. and had no luck. ( i guess that flashing from darkyy's 10.1 to JFD messed something real bad)

explodingboy70 and ali1276 have been helping out. ali1276; solved the issue of the headset and the volumen buttons not working on 2.3 firmware (you can check on the link to the other Thread) and explodingboy70 tried to fix the button issue with no success whatsoever. Thank you guys for your help!!

I know i should of waited instead of going ahead and flashing the world into my phone........ i know.....

Please , Please. I know there should be a way around this and i know XDA has some of the most skillful people in the Android world. And i know i will find help. Plus i will donate to whoever helps me out.

If it will help, I have the vibrant from which the board was pulled out and being a IT manager myself i can play with the hardware if needed.

PLEASE HELP
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] duboi97:
Have you tried remapping the buttons? Lol obvious but just asking
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] junior2991:
yea i've tried it.

Why i dont get is why they dont come back when i flash another rom. the question is at what level did JFD took out functionality and how to fix/wipe or something.
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ali1276:
Basically, i am plenty sure the problem is in the kernel also the keys will not usually work (none of them) if flashing a vibrant rom and vibrant kernel. Why? In the melfastouchkey.kl there are the mappings for the buttons; however, they are usually meant and formatted for the vibrant, unless sometimes the dev does not want to change everything in it in an i9000 port (usually in gb because those are the main i9000 ports going right now.) However, the buttons would still have the correct mapping due to kernel. Because of this, the back and menu buttons may work but not the home button because the kernel often overrides that of which is found in the melfastouchley.kl. Hope you got all that
[Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] junior2991:
Im a bit lost on your answer. I flashed plenty of roms for the i9000 on the phone. Before flashing the vibrant rom. Which never took out functionality of the front buttons. The phone itself had the stock vibrant rom, and the buttons worked (not the home button) but the rest worked fine. I flashed i9000 roms for the GT-i9000 and the buttons continued to work (the home button never worked). Until i flashed a back to a vibrant rom.... After that i tried to flash i9000 roms and had no luck with the buttons afterwards..

What i dont get is why flashing a i9000 rom never made the home button work while the front buttons still worked. And then why the same rom that the phone had, when flashed took out the front buttons..

Please explain your solution.

Im fairly new to the android world. THANKS A LOT AGAIN for your time
[HTC Sensation] ClydeB1:
Is this the reason why people seem to be suffering with poor signal? Not good news :(

HTC Sensation suffers from death grip, iPhone 4 caught snickering

But then again nobody I know carries the phone around flat in the palm of their hand, so probably just another overreaction from the HTC Haters ;)
[HTC Sensation] bigmachine:
just saw this at gsmarena too... can anyone do a re-test if this is true? i want to get an htc phone but these things really bother me.. please confirm guys
[HTC Sensation] kgbkny:
Just about every phone I've ever had had a death grip issue, including the Vibrant and the MT4G. Since the phones had to be held in a particularly unorthodox manner to experience this, it was a non-issue.
[HTC Sensation] ClydeB1:
I agree, if you look at the video of the Bluetooth music, when holding the phone in the normal position it works perfectly.
[HTC Sensation] redbullcat:
Yep. Just people overreacting and trying to make news.
[HTC Sensation] samnada:
I'd love to see a video of a phone that can't be made to suffer some signal loss by holding it in a certain way.

The key question is does it suffer significant loss by holding it in a normal manner. More practically do you get wifi, call or GPS drops when using the phone normally. Show me that video and I'll care.
[HTC Sensation] Chris19145:
I don't see this as an issue since how often or why do would you need to put a death grip on your phone :p
[HTC Sensation] dazz29:
Tried to replicate these issues, cannot. The initial signals must be too weak to start with, so disappear completely - or, the whole thing is a fake.....?

Bluetooth is shorter range anyway, isn't that the point, it's meant to be low power.

My Sensation wifi reception isn't the greatest but I have no issue with it, however I hold the phone :rolleyes:

Tbh I am surprised at a site like gsmarena posting 'sensational' claims..... without knowing the whole story.
[HTC Sensation] DSensation:
In 2 words: bull ****.

Really, I can't understand why people are searching those issues which are not issues at all O-o

I mean, every phone does suffer from signal drops and all that kind of things, but well.. it really depends in which position.

If you look in the video, the phone works perfectly when holding it normally.. just when you hold it like I dont know what ( who will hold it like this?) the signal drops.

So I think there is nothing to worry about..
[HTC Sensation] ARC X12:
I think that this is a valid issue since when you browse the internet and hold the phone horizontally for landscape viewing then this might cause the wifi signal to drop. I have read this issue also on the HTC Desire S. I went to the store to try and its really true that when you hold it horizontally, the wifi signal would drop. So i guess that this is also happening on the HTC Sensation.
[HTC Sensation] raegae2000:
Isn't GSM arenas phone missing a contact?

slash gears sensation has an extra contact thus I'm assuming equals better reception.
[HTC Sensation] giorgisp:
It's because SlashGear has the US version while GSMArena has the UK one.
[HTC Sensation] ClydeB1:
Yeah, apparently the 4G model has an extra contact point.
[HTC Sensation] idavid_:
The T-Mobile version needs another contact because of 1700 MHz band (not sure, I'm just guessing)
[HTC Sensation] omar302:
if the sensation is anything like the HD2, the GSM Antenna is in the lower part. On top are the Wifi+BT (same Antenna) and the GPS. Total of three antennas.

Also, the HD2 had the same arrangment were the back cover (plastic)had all the antennas & they were connected by similar conacts. The difference simply is that with the sensation the cover comes out when removing the battery while the HD2 had the plastic back fixed. So if there is a problem with this design we should have noticed it in the HD2 first.

Another thing, the BT streaming sample done, as per swedish source was done at 6m distance. which kinda long for purpose of bluetooth!!
[HTC Sensation] luffyp:
Does that mean the Sensation's Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, Radios won't work if the back cover is removed? That would be too bad coz my HD2 works fine even if the battery is exposed..
[HTC Sensation] Peterdejong8:
Today I found out that I am also suffering with my sensation.

It is absolutely no bull****.

This is my third HTC, I have next to my Sensation a HD2.

With my HD2 the deathgrip was only a problem when i cover the hole with my top hand, i never normaly do that so it wasn't a problem.

But with my sensation its a much bigger problem.

If i hold him in my right hand, there is no problem.

if i hold him in my left hand and touch with my right finger then you see that he is losing signal.

if i hold him in landscape mode then almost all my wifi signal is gone.

If i hold him in my right hand and tick with my right finger on the top of the sensation, the wifi wignal drops down.

And the biggest problem is that he loses the wifi signal and then he is searching again for wifi.

I have never tested Bluetooth, and i have 3 antenna points in the cover.

maybe i will make a video later.

and sorry for my bad english, google translate Helps me:D
[HTC Sensation] Peterdejong8:
when i remove the back cover all my signal is gone, he says: No service!

because of the bad range.
[HTC Sensation] Maedhros:
Hard to belive ppl are not thinking this is a problem.

That Position is MUCH more common then the Iphone 4 death grip... Also the issue is much more prominent on the Sensation then on the Iphone 4.

EDIT: I can NOT belive how accepting ppl are of the HTC sensations faults. It REALLY saddens me.

PPl.. there is no need to Defend HTC with your life. They are one Company. We should be choosing best company not being fan boys. Every1 should be able to recognize the problems phone have.
[HTC Sensation] Peterdejong8:
I was a littlebit a fanboy from HTC, I really like HTC's design.

But the Sensation dissapoint me.
[HTC Sensation] wulls:
What is the app you are using in the video and where can I find it, I have searched android market but cannot find it.
[HTC Sensation] np1:
I received this phone today. I experienced the problem holding the phone in a few landscape grips I was comfortable with.
[HTC Sensation] jetjockgordo:
BT BS

Damn, I am FOR SURE having Bluetooth issues. I bought a new car a couple of weeks ago with BT and with my HD2 (w/CM7) BT was working perfectly. Now with my Sensation placing the phone in the same spot as the HD2 it keeps dropping the BT. I can see the message "Bluetooth disconnected" on a regular basis. This is with the phone on top of the dash. I have since changed where the phone holder is and it still does the same. I also use a BT enabled home phone system and even with my phone 5 feet from the base unit it doesn't always hold the BT connection.

I have tried deleting a re-pairing for both devices.

MAJOR bummer.

Time to make some noise with TMoUs and HTC.
[HTC Sensation] johnsonrod27:
Heres my vid of the wifi going out ..

http://youtu.be/cUkUrHfIhlU
[HTC Sensation] johnsonrod27:
This phone most definetly has issues with certain ways of just holding it.. in some cases worse that my iphone 4 i had..ESPECIALLY in landscape modes.. wifi and cellular both take major hits..
[HTC Sensation] sorcerika:
Here:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&feature=search_result
[HTC Sensation] wulls:
I noticed that one when searching the market but did not realise it was the one I was looking for. Thanks for your help.
[HTC Sensation] McT1980:
I've not paired my Sensation with my car yet but i did have the same problem with my Desire and SE Arc. The solution i found was to pair them, turn BT off, reboot phone and reconnect them. Also if the car finds the phone itself it would keep disconnecting. If i connect them using the connect button in car it works like a charm. If this is a phone or car issue i dunno..

Not saying this would work for u but it did for me :)
[HTC Sensation] Fat Tone:
Cant post outside link yet, but check out My youtube video i made explaining the problem. Then come back and tell me this is not a problem. Its under thizzrdie4200. You can just search youtube for htc sensation wifi and it should be the second video

I discovered this problem in real life while trying to watch netflix in landscape mode with only ONE Hand!!!

As you can see in the video why everyone isn't experience this problem. Can anyone make a video showing their phone not losing their signal while not being close to the router but still has full bars?
[HTC Sensation] KillaHurtz:
Fawker ! This comment made me spit my drink on the monitor !
[HTC Sensation] jrwingate6:
I was having the death grip WiFi issue but I fixed it last night. Under advanced settings in WiFi settings, there is a check box that you need to check. It's called "Best WiFi Performance". After checking this box, my WiFI stayed strong when holding it in landscape.

Try it out and see if it fixes you problem.
[HTC Sensation] digiholic:
Tried it on mine but didn't help. See the exact same amount of loss.
[HTC Sensation] Utorrent76:
Death grip isn't affecting my phone @ all. Tried to replicate,but not successful. Might just be some units that have this issue.
[HTC Sensation] digiholic:
Could be your wifi strength/setup also. I can easily replicate it at work where our wifi isn't the greatest. At home I have a harder time getting signal loss.
[HTC Sensation] craigkahn:
Here's my 2 cents re the death grip issue. I went into a T Mobile store yesterday afternoon and got a chance to play around with the Sensation. I asked the employee to connect the phone to WiFi. I held the Sensation in landscape mode with my fingers extended horizontally along the top edge of the phone. The signal dropped from full to about 1/4 strength. HOWEVER, I would never hold the phone like this because my thumbs cover the screen and it's just not comfortable. When I held the phone as I normally would, with my fingers extended horizontally across the back of the phone (not the top) there is no loss of signal.
[HTC Sensation] dj75728:
Well I'm definitely suffering from the death grip. I'm a lefty and if I rest my index finger on the back of the phone wifi signal drops, I have to move my index to the top of the phone to keep signal up.

Secondly, when trying to watch videos I hold the phone in my left hand with my fingers cupped on the back to increase the sound from the speaker.

Both of these positions are EXTREMELY comfortable and my default hand placements. I'm having to hold my phone in unusual (not necessarily uncomfortable though) positions to keep signal up. I think this is an issue. Not the biggest though. I'm gonna buy a case soon and see if that remedies the situation, but I kinda doubt it. Can anyone else replicate my issue?

P.S. I'm still keeping the phone, unless mine happens to be defective.
[HTC Sensation] hurrpancakes:
Here is a quick video I made of my Sensation having wifi issues when holding it in a certain way. Not the greatest quality, but I think it gets the point through.

I think the only time I would be affected by this is if I'm holding the phone in landscape mode, and even then, I kinda have to be gripping the top.

I dunno, just thought I'd try to help or something.
[HTC Sensation] :
Checked it out in the store. I cannot replicate this problem, no matter how hard I try. Btw, Bluetooth stereo is awesome!
[HTC Sensation] Jackasaur:
I'm wondering if an invisibleshield for the HTC Sensation will fix this problem, because I remember it did so with the iPhone 4. Hrmmm. Any thoughts?
[HTC Sensation] undercover:
Don't think so as IIRC issue with iPhone signal was more to do with grounding than covering. Could be wrong on that though.
[HTC Sensation] EmceeGeek:
no one holds the phone how they're holding it, and i just tried to and it made the signal stronger. lol
[HTC Sensation] Fat Tone:
Wow .HTC will admit theres a problem b4 u guys.

Let me say this again for those people that didnt watch the video. If you are close to the router. It will not effect the wifi signal.
[HTC Sensation] Super Chimp:
As I don't use wi fi I am not too concerned about the death grip in that respect, which the majority of the posts here seem to talk about, but what about the 3G side of the matter is that less effected or effected at all have people found in real life use?
[HTC Sensation] Mainspring:
I can not duplicate the death grip.

I tried holding the phone all kinds of ways... nothing.

not sure what to think of it. sounds like some of you are experiencing it so...
[HTC Sensation] jrwingate6:
I did one of two things that fixed my WiFi deathgrip. When I first got the phone it had a bad WiFi deathgrip but since enabling maximum WiFi performance in the settings and putting the T-Mobile Gel Skin on, I don't even drop a bar when on WiFi and holding it in landscape.
[HTC Sensation] r3awak3n:
Just got my sensation yesterday. I have to say that it unfortunetely does suffer from the death grip, in landscape mode when i hold it. It is a fact, the phone will go from wifi to 4g immediately.

However, I will tell you this, if you hold the phone normally, i have amazing WIFI performance. I came from a nexus one and usually had really spotty wifi in a part of my house, it always showed 1 or 2 out of 3 bars and it was damn slow. My mac book pro is somewhat the same. With the sensation, the wifi is at full and FLYS. Its pretty awesome how it looses no wifi and I can actually use it there (because 3g/4g is really spotty there for some reason).

But when I turn the phone, blah, it goes down to nothing. I am fine with that because I usually do not use my phone horizontally.

I am keeping it, this is a hell of a phone!
[HTC Sensation] hurrpancakes:
In the video I posted the previous page, my phones connection strength was greatly affected, and my phone was not even 10 feet from my router.
[HTC Sensation] vecowski:
deathgrip confirmed

Deathgrip is a giant problem on this phone, as just touching my sensation causes my wifi signal to drop, holding it causes my wifi to drop all together. I will be returning this phone asap
[HTC Sensation] Robboftw:
Sounds like you have a faulty phone if it's that bad.
[HTC Sensation] fr0st.exe:
Death Grip Fix?

I Have the sensation 4G and i have the same problem with the wifi however after watching ady3900 youtube video i came up with this.

Its NOT an elegant solution but so far it works for me! :)

I use a cover btw and thanks to youtube user ady3900!
[HTC Sensation] graffixnyc:
Mine drops down a lot when held in landscape mode. It doesnt drop out completely but it does drop and I'm only 15 feed away from the router. Not a huge issue for me though, If it becomes one that's a different story. But hey, at least it's better than the iphone, HTC can just release a new back cover to fix it unlike the icrap where it was built into the phone

I too have the gel case on but have my wifi to best performace. I will test to see if the skin really makes it worse
[HTC Sensation] sibyy:
People you might wanna check this out too, more proof there's a problem:

http://www.stuff-review.com/2011-06/htc-sensation-death-grip-its-real-and-its-annoying/
[HTC Sensation] mikro:
Death Grip issue

Hi, I've had HTC Sensation for a week and experienced serious trouble with WIFI quality while holding the device in landscape. Sure every device suffers a signal quality loss when its antenna is covered, no doubt about that, but compared to my old HTC Desire the new HTC Sensation disconnects from the network frequently whereas Desire still works fine under the same conditions - same distance from AP, holding the device with both hands.

I've returned the phone to the reseller as in my opinion device characteristics that prevents using the device in standard way ( hell, not asking HTC to make my phone work under water, I simply want to watch streamed videos and play games naturally holding the device in both hands) is frankly to be called malfunction.

Today I've been contacted to fill out a customer satisfaction survey for a ticket I've submitted regarding htcsense.com service that I could not connect to due to error 'unable to get region from the server' and all I got for an answer was that servers are overloaded :) . So when asked to fill out the satisfaction survey I could not resist not mentioning my recent bad experience with HTC. Sharing my comments to HTC survey below. Anyone had a similar experience with HTC Sensation or HTC support?
[HTC Sensation] thoriig:
hi,

i got the same problem with wlan like this:

http://www.stuff-review.com/2011-06/htc-sensation-death-grip-its-real-and-its-annoying/

iam 1 meter away from my wlan accesspoint and cant play any games horizontally or surf the net.

this week i will replace the sensation for the third time. the first replacement got the same problem.

all german vodafon sensations with 2 pin wlan connector.
[HTC Sensation] cirrob:
That's just retarded. I'm not going to drop 500 bucks on a phone and put duct tape on it it tin foil or what ever that is. I'm just going to take my money and get a phone that doesn't require user modification to get it to work properly.

I'm not talking about strong signal but workable signal. I don't own the phone but would love to get it. However I went to my local store and the Rep and I tried this on two phones using the stores Wifi. Both sensations lost all Wifi holding the phone normally in landscape. We didn't have to try hard to find a position that would cause this total signal block. But we did have to work hard to find a way to avoid it. And to all of you idiots saying you have to hold it unnaturally to cause this; we ended up holding it in an unnatural way to avoid it.

HTC needs to own this issue and correct it.
[HTC Sensation] Germian:
Couldn't a case help to solve this problem?

EDIT: Yeah, yeah, I know. That's not 'solving' the problem, but until they can change anything on the hardware - if they are able to construction wise - it could be a temporary solution.
[HTC Sensation] KillaHurtz:
Unfortunately, no in most cases people are reporting.
[HTC Sensation] KillaHurtz:
I think the perma-fix for this issue would be a replacment back cover, maybe they can even put a lense on the front-facing camera !
[HTC Sensation] jrwingate6:
I don't know if out was the case I put on our turning the wifi performance to maximum in the settings but I can be trip roms away from my router and not even drop one bar when holding in landscape. I have never got a signal at the end of my drive way but now I get 2 bars. I think as long as the landscape issue gets taken care of, the Sensations wifi is pretty damn powerful.
[HTC Sensation] Germian:
Well, how about trying it out? Take off the case, try the death grip with the best wifi option and then without and then tell us if that helped or not :)
[HTC Sensation] ARC X12:
Very nicely said! :D
[HTC Sensation] tapfuma:
Sorry

But as an HTC fan, this sucks, I just came off an HD2 and hand a N1 and MT3G and don't have this issue with all those other phones ,except my Brand new fking Sensation. There issue is there and should be taken a look at. Sense also recycles once in a while. I am tempted to return this and wait for Samsung , fix it HTC !!!
[HTC Sensation] jrwingate6:
Your right, it is retarded to add duct tape or tin foil. My phone had the death grip issue when I got it but after turning the WiFi performance to maximum and adding a Gel Skin Case, my Sensation does not drop a single bar when on a different level of my house than the router is on. My G2X would only get 2 bars up stairs but my Sensation gets full bars. My G2X would also cut the WiFi off when in my car out front but I get 2 bars on my Sensation in the same location.

By the way. The T-Mobile black Gel Skin looks a lot better than tin foil!
[HTC Sensation] graffixnyc:
I posted something in another thread with an email response from HTC about the death grip issue, the dust under the screen issue and the touch screen sometimes not responding/unlocking her/their response is here: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=14982417&postcount=78
[HTC Sensation] johnsonrod27:
Agree 110%
[HTC Sensation] joslicx:
Got mine today.

tried to replicate the death grip. The worst I could do was just 1 bar loss when I was completely cupping the phone. Otherwise there was no percievable effect on wifi when using normally, even in landscape mode.

the screen is a gem, by the way! Its amazing looking. Drained my battery and its charging now, so more play tomorrow!