Do metal cases and bumpers affect reception?

aeronium

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Nov 25, 2013
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Hi all,

I'm looking to get one of those metal bumpers or cases for my note 3, I was just wondering if these will affect the signal strength?

Thanks!

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UJ95x

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Aug 26, 2013
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The bumpers shouldn't, because they only cover the sides/bezel. A metal case can potentially affect signal strength, depending on how thick it is.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2
 

kiwiruss

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Aug 27, 2010
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I just got a metal bumper for my Galaxy S5 and there appears to be a noticeable impact on GPS performance. the GPS appears to be drifting and lagging a lot when I play Ingress which uses the gps.

I will try a couple of days without it again to verify but its really annoying cause the gold metal bumper looks really sweet.
 

kiwiruss

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Aug 27, 2010
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GPS is definitely back to normal with the plastic bumper after a week of using it again.
I'll now switch back to the metal bumper for a couple of days.
 

kiwiruss

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Aug 27, 2010
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I did notice worse reception and difficulty with the GPS keeping to the roads when driving with the Metal bumper, which is a shame because it looks fantastic on the phone.
I guess we are limited to plastic.