All OS Comparing phone antenna strength

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Proparhino

Disciple
Hello all,

I'm looking to buy phones for a research project that will be based in rural areas with spotty network coverage.

I was wondering if there was any hardware information about a phone (a comparison of parts or chipsets or something?) that would let me compare, without buying it, how well it will pick up weak signals and keep them steady? I am quite ignorant about mobile hardware, but I know such comparisons exist for WLAN cards in laptops, so it would be useful to know if there are equivalents. A more productive way to think about this issue may be to ask if we know which phone(s) have the post powerful antennae?

On a related note, I know that one of the variables to consider is the bands a phone is compatible with vis a vis the bands operative in a region. Is there a way to know which bands are operative in a given region? Like a cellular network map for Indian telecom providers?

Reviews of phones don't seem to mention signal strength as a variable worth measuring, so I imagine it's either the same on all phones or some very technical thing most people don't know how to differentiate. I tried to Google both questions and got pretty quickly overwhelmed, and I don't currently have the time to do a better job of my own search into this. Would be very grateful to anyone who can shed light on this. Thanks in advance!
 
Network reception depends on number of antennas phone has, antennas type monopole or dipole, material used for that antenna, TDD/FDD support, MIMO support, bands support, carrier aggregation support, antenna placement, SAR value (SAR is not directly linked but having low is good) & software optimization for same. So technically even if the have phone support for similar network bands, the antennas used in that are different depending on company to company model to model & manufacturer.

Environmental factors also for this you can see Network Coverage Maps. (wont find exact band details but can differentiate between 3g, 4g & 5g.)

Sadly the companies don't disclose of of these data publicly so you have to rely on reviews. Just don't buy pixel phones they have very poor network reception.
You can find more the details about network antenna manufacturer & more but for that you need part number, which again goes to same thing companies don't disclose these publicly.
 
Thanks very much for this primer, @AJ7.

Is there a resource you can suggest that would tell me what attributes too look within the various categories you mentioned? As an example, are monopole or dipole antennae more likely to provide superior reception? Similarly where can I learn more about the other categories/factors you mentioned?

You also mention using reviews to find out about the antenna details/functionality of each model. Is there a reviewer you trust who systematically tests for this and provides comparative details? I'm looking at phones that cost about 15K INR, unless there is some clear benefit in signal strength to be had with phones more expensive than that. So a reviewer who covers that segment would be extremely helpful!

Thanks for the heads up on the Pixel, it wasn't on my longlist but useful to know regardless. What exactly is technically deficient about the Pixel's antenna hardware?
 
More SAR Value indicates MORE (Good) Network Strength/Signals .. correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not engineer or expert so can't comment in depth)

In past here on TE read that users with Nokia (Higher SAR) handset enjoying crystal clear sound compare to Sony/Samsung (Lower SAR compare to Nokia)
 
Actually to compare phone antenna strength one will need a Anechoic Chamber which is a very expensive that's why most tech reviewers will tell about a phones network reception by comparing the phone with other phones which they have tested before on basis of signal strength , call quality and internet speed .
And according to my experiences flagships does have better reception than a budget phone maybe due to use of better quality materials or having multiple antennas .
 
SkyWreak said:
Actually to compare phone antenna strength one will need a Anechoic Chamber which is a very expensive that's why most tech reviewers will tell about a phones network reception by comparing the phone with other phones which they have tested before on basis of signal strength , call quality and internet speed .
And according to my experiences flagships does have better reception than a budget phone maybe due to use of better quality materials or having multiple antennas .
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info!

Could you recommend reviewers whose signal measurements are reliable?

Also how does one find out how many antennae any given model has? Is there a site that carries this technical information for phones?
 
Mostly in Indian Community i prefer Geekyranjit he does quit a reliable phone reviews although you might not find all the phone reviews on his channel . And regarding the no of antenas then you will have to proceed with the specific phones disassembly videos on YT for the same.
 
Proparhino said:
I'm looking at phones that cost about 15K INR, unless there is some clear benefit in signal strength to be had with phones more expensive than that.
Click to expand...
If you are looking into this just to make a purchase decision, I suggest you shortlist devices that you like and then compare how they do in connectivity. You can only go by some rules of thumb, such as - higher-end SoCs sport faster and more efficient modems; combined with fast storage it'd be less likely that the modem is bottle-necked; so more often than not flagship devices are better in this regard. You can look at the specs of an SoC for modem, theoretical max down/up speeds. For coverage, ask around which provider do people have no issues with in areas you'd be using. Considering the development in the years lately, I think Jio has extended their coverage much more than others, in case you're looking to use in multiple locations.

Other than these factors, things are largely irrelevant - like antenna placement, SAR value, etc. These used to be concerns, and have since been developed/regulated for years now. There are only a few places for manufacturers to place antennae; SAR got irrelevant since most modems have prioritized efficiency since govts. regulated max SAR values.
Emperor said:
More SAR Value indicates MORE (Good) Network Strength/Signals .. correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not engineer or expert so can't comment in depth)
Click to expand...
SAR value is a loose gauge for signal strength; like TDP is for processing power. Higher could mean either more powerful or less efficient.
 
I wouldn't say it's practical to just buy with phone with the highest range to tackle patchy mobile service. It's going to drain the battery of your phone much quicker. Not to mention, it'll have higher SAR.

Not exactly what you are looking for, but…
  1. There do exist mobile range extenders. I don't know the legality of them in India. You can google about them.
  2. If you have the internet, then it doesn't really matter, as you can get full range through Wi-Fi. All smartphones these days have VoWiFi feature which eliminates the need to be able to connect mobile tower to handle calls and SMS. These days, the internet (meaning broadband) is becoming more omnipresent than the mobile services. I have seen villages with no mobile coverage, but they do have broadband. Some people run fiber cables to another village to get internet (boon for tourists) and it's cheap.
 
I can't provide any technical details but as others said above, among other things a higher SAR means stronger reception. Back in 2017 I used two phones side by side, a pixel xl and iPhone 7. Former had extremely low SAR compared to the latter and I was rather proud. Then I realised over time how much the iPhone 7's reception (mostly for mobile data connectivity) was better.
Then there's the quality and placement of the modem used on the mobile device.
 
BullettuPaandi said:
If you are looking into this just to make a purchase decision, I suggest you shortlist devices that you like and then compare how they do in connectivity. You can only go by some rules of thumb, such as - higher-end SoCs sport faster and more efficient modems; combined with fast storage it'd be less likely that the modem is bottle-necked; so more often than not flagship devices are better in this regard. You can look at the specs of an SoC for modem, theoretical max down/up speeds. For coverage, ask around which provider do people have no issues with in areas you'd be using. Considering the development in the years lately, I think Jio has extended their coverage much more than others, in case you're looking to use in multiple locations.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for a this info!

To quickly provide more context in response to what you've said:

The ~15K market for phones seems quite extensive, so I don't really have a shortlist yet per se. I'm buying these foraa research project so it would come from the equipment budget, so I'm not spending my own money. Battery life isn't a relevant consideration, and there will be no Wi-Fi available. I've already got someone local's anecdotal info on the best networks in the area. My idea was to simply find out if there was any phone that would provide more reliable connections.
lockhrt999 said:
I wouldn't say it's practical to just buy with phone with the highest range to tackle patchy mobile service. It's going to drain the battery of your phone much quicker. Not to mention, it'll have higher SAR.

Not exactly what you are looking for, but…
  1. There do exist mobile range extenders. I don't know the legality of them in India. You can google about them
Click to expand...
Will look into range extension. Thanks for the suggestion!

There is no broadband/Wi-Fi in the areas we will be in, and battery life is not a relevant consideration for our use case as we will be running an extensive system of portable power generators.

SAR might be a consideration if there is evidence that the difference between phones with better and worse connectivity is medically relevant to humans. Do you know anything about this? I didn't think of it until someone brought it up in this thread.
sauravghosh said:
I can't provide any technical details but as others said above, among other things a higher SAR means stronger reception. Back in 2017 I used two phones side by side, a pixel xl and iPhone 7. Former had extremely low SAR compared to the latter and I was rather proud. Then I realised over time how much the iPhone 7's reception (mostly for mobile data connectivity) was better.
Then there's the quality and placement of the modem used on the mobile device.
Click to expand...

Having no technical knowledge on this myself, I think SAR may be correlated with stronger reception, but it is unlikely to be a useful single variable to infer with, since efficiency is a confounding factor with any emissions-based inference of power.
 
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Proparhino said:
Thanks very much for this primer, @AJ7.

Is there a resource you can suggest that would tell me what attributes too look within the various categories you mentioned? As an example, are monopole or dipole antennae more likely to provide superior reception? Similarly where can I learn more about the other categories/factors you mentioned?

You also mention using reviews to find out about the antenna details/functionality of each model. Is there a reviewer you trust who systematically tests for this and provides comparative details? I'm looking at phones that cost about 15K INR, unless there is some clear benefit in signal strength to be had with phones more expensive than that. So a reviewer who covers that segment would be extremely helpful!

Thanks for the heads up on the Pixel, it wasn't on my longlist but useful to know regardless. What exactly is technically deficient about the Pixel's antenna hardware?
Click to expand...
You can have t look at moto g54 it's around same budget. Watch this review he mentioned all signal related technologies names not in details but yes at least he mentioned them. You can find more like this on YouTube & try some googling around. Hope this helps you. Link for moto g54 5g video dropped below.

 
You can build your own antenna.
I have not tried yet but working on 2.4 GHz antenna for existing wifi router.
All tutorials, instructions, pdfs, photos, videos, research paper etc etc available on internet.

May be it will support your network booster project. There are gadgets which do provide the same but not legal to use (don't know much).
 
Proparhino said:
SAR might be a consideration if there is evidence that the difference between phones with better and worse connectivity is medically relevant to humans. Do you know anything about this?
Click to expand...
Honestly, I don't think it'll be that bad medically. Recently, iPhone 12 high SAR in France was in the news. It was said that medically problematic SAR was still a few times higher than what mobiles are allowed to emit.
 
Just for anyone in the future who discovers this thread: I wasn't able to find anything reliably definitive on which phones have better antennae. I used SAR values as a proxy and went with one of the higher ones in my budget, and we still had trouble with signal sometimes, but anecdotally, there were other phones people used that fared worse with the same networks at the same locations. Hopefully someone will be able to provide more actionable information at some point, because this is an important (and seemingly radically under-discussed) aspect of mobile hardware that will (at least to me) relevant every year or two as I plan new rural projects.

Thanks to everyone in this thread who helped out!
 
Proparhino said:
Just for anyone in the future who discovers this thread: I wasn't able to find anything reliably definitive on which phones have better antennae. I used SAR values as a proxy and went with one of the higher ones in my budget, and we still had trouble with signal sometimes, but anecdotally, there were other phones people used that fared worse with the same networks at the same locations. Hopefully someone will be able to provide more actionable information at some point, because this is an important (and seemingly radically under-discussed) aspect of mobile hardware that will (at least to me) relevant every year or two as I plan new rural projects.

Thanks to everyone in this thread who helped out!
Click to expand...
good that you post here for future ... but will be more helpful if post Brand Name & Model you bought. (add in quoted post only)
 
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