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I'm leaning on upgrading to the Nexus S from the Nexus One, but have a few questions concerning noise cancellation. In the tech specs, the Nexus S states it has software noise cancellation. So is it safe to assume it uses software to remove background noise as opposed to the Nexus One which used a secondary mic? How is the software based noise cancellation on the Nexus S performing for people? Would love feedback. I work at a manufacturing plant, and being able to hold conversations in and around noisy equipment is a must. Last question is, does the built in VoIP stack on the Nexus S make use of the noise cancellation?
I would really appreciate the feedback.
I don't know, but in another thread someone posted that their new nexus s performed very bad in a noisy environment, unusable actually. So its worth investigating and owners posting their results for now.
I am pretty sure that "software noise cancellation" is bull****. they just didnt want to disappoint existing Nexus One owners. Maybe Gingerbread in general tries to improve sound quality, but it has nothing to do with Nexus S
I haven't been in a "plant" environment, but have been in a noisy office, and it has performed as well as the N1. I also frequently use the google chat voip calling feature that was added to gmail recently. It mentions "software based" noise canceling. If it's the NS uses the same, then it will be awesome.
How does your N1 perform in your plant environment? I'm guessing it also will have problems.
rhca50 said:
How does your N1 perform in your plant environment? I'm guessing it also will have problems.
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The Nexus One performs great when it comes to noise cancellation. Never had anyone complain. I have tested the noise cancellation by leaving myself a voicemail on my work phone standing next to a centrifuge, and was shocked at the results. Not a hint of background noise. My voice was pronounced and clear, albeit a tad "digitized", which I'm sure is a side-effect of the noise cancellation. Only gripe I have is the low earpiece volume. Even on "full" blast, it's still too low in noisy environments.
I am having complaints from people I talk to using my nexus s. They say that it sounds like they are on speaker phone and that the call is nice and quiet until I start talking; which they say has a lot of static and background noise. Any other people getting complaints from people you talk to using your nexus s?
p.s. I work in a loud environment and never had issues using my N1.
I have commented on this in other threads. I've used a N1 since its launch. I returned my NS after having used it for 3 weeks as my primary phone. The main reason that I returned it is the lack of noise canceling, the ear speaker sounds tinny and on a busy street the traffic noise is picked up by the mic and broadcast in my ear. My N1's in call sound quality is far superior to the NS. The noise canceling really does a good job.
given that the Nexus S uses software noise cancellation instead of a secondary mic, is this something that may be able to be fixed with a new ROM or custom kernel?
generalagony said:
given that the Nexus S uses software noise cancellation instead of a secondary mic, is this something that may be able to be fixed with a new ROM or custom kernel?
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I doubt it, for noise canceling to work in an intelligent way, I would think there needs to be more than one mic. All of the noise canceling headsets I've seen have two mics, including my Jawbone bluetooth which has a button that rests on my cheek.
if you work in noisy environment don't buy this phone. I returned it only because of this problem. Every other problem that people complain here on this forum I didn't have and are nothing when it comes to phone calls. The primary function of the phone is the worst ever. Nobody hear me when I made phone calls from my car (driving, not using blue tooth - yes still legal in some countries) and I had to put the phone always on the speaker phone to be able to hear the other callers. Finally give up and returned the phone. Same isuue with my old Samsung i8910, but i was able to tweak the speaker settings in phone service software.
otherwise great phone.
I have found the that the NS works better than my N1 in general as a phone. The call quality is much better and the ear piece is MUCH better than the N1. N1 was hard to hear in anything above an avg room noise. NS I have to turn it down most of the time and much richer sound than the tin sound of the N1. Been in a few coffee shops that are loud and did calls in them. People on the other end said they could hear the background noise but it was very low and I was very loud and clear. Just my 2 cents.
I am going to try an exchange. I bought one of the first units sold at my local best buy on release morning so maybe I got a bad one. Friend of mine who bought just before me exchanged his and said his new one has much better call quality.
I am going to try to put this to the test. Although currently I am unhappy with the results I am getting recording wise.
The situation is that I own a Galaxy S GT-I9000 and often had complaints about sounding muffled. Now a Nexus S and the complaints are gone.
However. It is very difficult to understand an issue OTHER people are hearing, so I am doing some recording tests in different situations and I will be posting the results to http://technocrate.net in the next day or so.
I'm in the same boat with ya. I thought I was the only one. yeah perfect on the N1 now my wife says I sound garbled on the end. I changed the radio thought that would help but didn't. Just upgraded my from the N1 to the NS other wise the phone is great. I guess there's not a fix for this. I'll be returning mine then. even with the newest radio KI1, same way
Edit: Returning my second one, I'm done with this phone. I'm sad to see it go really like it beside the mic problem. Did samsung happen to fix this later on in a rev. batch?
Phone Fixed Post above
Well called samsung and they me told to send in my second phone in. I explained the issue about the mic to the tech which said they never heard about that issue. Ok well havent got a chance to make it home yet to test it but they replace more than just the mic:
Original Problem:
TECHNICAL INQUIRY - AUDIO/SPEAKER/SOUND/VIBRATION - SPEAKERPHONE NOT WORKING
Problem found:
RINGERTONE INAUDIBLE/NO ADJUST - CAMERA FAILURE - LOCK UP DURING OPERATION (SW)
Solution:
REPLACED COMPONENT - REPLACED COMPONENT - REPLACED PBA
Til i check it when I get home, just to let you guys know. The problem at the top, there system didn't have an option for the microphone. They replaced a lot of stuff but the mic only problem was the problem? I was liked its not the speaker just the mic to the tech. She said it was in the notes about the problem. I've been very happy with samsung trying to fix this issue. so far til i get home.
I take no credit for this, I remember seeing it in a thread here (which I can't find now). Been plagued with alot of background noise always coming thru the mic whenever I call from anything less than a silent environment. Someone here suggested a small piece of tape placed over the mic hole on the inside of the back cover with a small pin hole poked thru effectively attenuating the amount of sound coming thru to the mic. It works! Took it one step further though cuz I always seem to get alot of resonance from the cover itself so I cut a 1×1 piece of duct tape & put it on the inside of the cover in the area opposite the battery. Its just enough to dampen the resonance & improved call quality to everyone so far. All this after setting everything to evrc-b too.
Sent from my OTB Comm.Rominate
I'm so glad I'm not the only one having this problem. I've been fighting with Verizon over this issue since I bought the phone. They think I'm crazy and wouldn't give me a replacement of a different brand. They've replaced the phone 3 times now even though I told them it isn't defective, and it's more of a design flaw of the phone.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I will be giving this a try. During many of my calls people say where are you at, just be cause it is crazy loud on there side. The only plus side, my wife never calls to talk to me anymore during the day.
Sent from the device that entertains me.
To be fair to all those considering Note, after all praising (I still do think it's best phone in the world right now), there are definitely drawbacks.
Here is one for example:
The regular phone speaker above the screen (not the loud one on the back) is not pointing sound into one direction. You can even speak on the phone with back side of Galaxy Note put to you ear, you will still be able to hear everything clearly, even on low volume.
On top volume, it is comparable to speaker phone on some other phones, so if you pick up a phone while surrounded by other people (unless you are in very loud place) they will hear the other person.
While in the office, I noticed myself turning volume down a lot when I pick up the phone.
I dont have this kind of problem , my old Nokia phone does.
Sure someone can hear some of the content near the phone you are talking in a dead silent arwa, it's inevitable.
I feel Gnote already perform quite well compare to the other phones, like HTCs in this area
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
to be honest id rather it was loud and have the ability to turn the volume down than it be too quiet and unable to turn the volume up
as my mum used to say,if its cold its better to have a coat and be able to take it off if you get hot than be cold and need a coat and not have one
Richy99 said:
to be honest id rather it was loud and have the ability to turn the volume down than it be too quiet and unable to turn the volume up
as my mum used to say,if its cold its better to have a coat and be able to take it off if you get hot than be cold and need a coat and not have one
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It's not a question of whether badly working phone is better than no phone. It's a question of best phone being of high quality. In this case its potential privacy concern.
I switched from iPhones, where it was not an issue. If you put it tight to your ear in silent room, none else hears the person on the other end. Even on loud.
Like I've said above, on Note in silent room regular speaker (not the loud speaker) is comparable to loud speaker on some other phones. You can hear through the phone! Test yourself, make a call with screen side out, battery cover side to your ear, you might be surprised, that it's practically no difference what side you hold it to the ear, even on lowest in-call volume you can still comfortably speak with wrong side of the phone touching your ear.
I have not tried other Notes than mine, but I seriously doubt that it is one time occurrence, seems to me like an engineering issue, not enough sound insulation behind the speaker, just few thin layers of plastic.
If it is such a privacy concern, why not use a bluetooth headset or earbuds? Why not leave the room instead of taking the call in the room?
I mean there are more options that just sitting there letting everyone else hear your conversation if you feel that you have something to hide. But then again, your talking so they naturally are going to hear at least 1 part of the conversation no matter what. So I fail to see how you can really be concerned with privacy when they hear everything you say anyways, right?
If you were that worried about privacy you would send texts, emails or use an IM program to send messages so that no one knew what was being said or talked about. But since you are willing to sit in the room and let them listen to what at least you are saying, then you are not overly concerned with them at least hearing part of the conversation.
When I get a call that I dont want anyone else to hear I either leave the room, put on my earbuds or tell the person I will call them back when I can talk. So really it isnt about privacy concerns at all, it is just an inconvience for you to know that the speaker is loud. Louder than you are used to at least.
Fuuny that you mention this because i never thought i'll use those bt headsets until i own the Note. Each time i put it in my ear, my worry is not the volume but the number of heads turning towards me and the the sheepish grin that follows.
--- --- --- ---
A damn proud Galaxy Note owner.
Maybe try turn down the volume and using a case.
I wonder how those HTC phones perform because they all have ear speakers that are wide across the width of the phone itself.
eksasol said:
Maybe try turn down the volume and using a case.
I wonder how those HTC phones perform because they all have ear speakers that are wide across the width of the phone itself.
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Lol..the speaker grill on HTC phone what we call it, is just a gimmick. If we see inside, the speaker none the less is only small portion on the middle side
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
Astrum said:
While in the office, I noticed myself turning volume down a lot when I pick up the phone.
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That's a really good point. Something else to improve in the Note2 along with moving power button!
Sent from my Amiga GT-N7000 using XDA Premium.
Hi guys, I didn't see anything posted here about this so maybe it's just my phone, but does anyone else seem to have a quiet microphone? People are telling me they can barely hear me. I notice this issue on all ROMs including stock, and even though I have the phone NV unlocked for AT&T, even the sound recorder app is playing back my audio at a low volume.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any fix (software or hardware)?
If you have taken the phone to the gym and sweat or simply haven't cleaned out the mic area that will probably fixture issue. I took the phone to the gym a couple times and my fiance couldn't hear me afterwards whatsoever. Cleaned the mic and all of as back to normal.
Sent from my XT907 using xda app-developers app
Jersey846 said:
If you have taken the phone to the gym and sweat or simply haven't cleaned out the mic area that will probably fixture issue. I took the phone to the gym a couple times and my fiance couldn't hear me afterwards whatsoever. Cleaned the mic and all of as back to normal.
Sent from my XT907 using xda app-developers app
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Hmm, well the mic area looked clean to me, but this was a pre-owned phone I bought from Swappa so I'm not sure if the previous owner did anything. In any case, I called some friends and they said they could hear me fine. I don't know if cleaning the mic did the trick, because using a voice recorder app it still sounds low, but as long as other people can hear what I say, I'm fine with it. Thanks a lot for your help!
phantomsniper773 said:
Hmm, well the mic area looked clean to me, but this was a pre-owned phone I bought from Swappa so I'm not sure if the previous owner did anything. In any case, I called some friends and they said they could hear me fine. I don't know if cleaning the mic did the trick, because using a voice recorder app it still sounds low, but as long as other people can hear what I say, I'm fine with it. Thanks a lot for your help!
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Glad it's working better.. let me know if it persists and I'll do some more research.
I recently snagged an M from Craigslist. The phone is in pretty much brand new condition, not a scratch on this thing, the guy even threw in a brand new Otter Box case for it. It works great, except for the terrible mic quality. No matter who I call, they all complain about the quality, whether I have 5 bars of 4G or not. I've downloaded a few voice recorder apps, and they seem to record in fairly reasonable quality, so I'm not quite sure what the deal is. I've been looking for any reference to poor mic quality for the xt907 for a few days now and this is one of maybe 3 threads on the topic. So obviously it's not a very widespread issue. But I'd still like to be able to use my new phone without resorting to Bluetooth or a wired headset.
Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Or replacing the actual physical mic inside the phone? I've found replacement parts here and there, but they all just say 'XT907 Replacement Mic" etc. If someone has an actual model/part number for the microphone, or know where to find it, I'd greatly appreciate the info.
For the OP, when you cleaned your mic, how exactly did you go about it? I've hit it with compressed air but I haven't taken the phone apart yet.
Thanks again for any help.
WusteHase said:
I recently snagged an M from Craigslist. The phone is in pretty much brand new condition, not a scratch on this thing, the guy even threw in a brand new Otter Box case for it. It works great, except for the terrible mic quality. No matter who I call, they all complain about the quality, whether I have 5 bars of 4G or not. I've downloaded a few voice recorder apps, and they seem to record in fairly reasonable quality, so I'm not quite sure what the deal is. I've been looking for any reference to poor mic quality for the xt907 for a few days now and this is one of maybe 3 threads on the topic. So obviously it's not a very widespread issue. But I'd still like to be able to use my new phone without resorting to Bluetooth or a wired headset.
Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Or replacing the actual physical mic inside the phone? I've found replacement parts here and there, but they all just say 'XT907 Replacement Mic" etc. If someone has an actual model/part number for the microphone, or know where to find it, I'd greatly appreciate the info.
For the OP, when you cleaned your mic, how exactly did you go about it? I've hit it with compressed air but I haven't taken the phone apart yet.
Thanks again for any help.
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Compressed air would probably work, I just blew into it to clear any dust, and I tried to take a small microfiber cloth and insert the corner into the mic piece just in case there was any extra dust, though the mic hole was pretty clean to begin with.
I mostly had the problem when I called my dad though, and I found out the problem was a problem with the earpiece in the Droid 2 Global that my dad was using. When I switched him to an older Sony Ericsson w518a, the voice still seemed a *tiny* bit quieter than I think it should, but by no means was it as bad as with the Droid 2 Global.
tl;dr: I pretty much came to the conclusion that the earpiece of the other person was faulty, not the mic of the Razr M.
I also have the same issue with the outgoing voice quality of the Razr M. After a lot of researching I have come to the conclusion that it is actually the Noise-Cancelling feature of the phone that is not tuned correctly or outright defective on some devices. The secondary mic is located on top of the back camera. If you try to cover it completely with tape or something rigid, the voice quality improves somewhat.
Since the default phone application is the only one that seems to utilize the noise cancelling feature, it also seems to be the only one that suffers from horrendous outgoing voice quality. All my other apps that use a mic, like Viber, Voice recorder and VoIP apps, do not have this problem.
There is no way to disable this feature, on some phones it's a simple toggle but not on the Razr M with JB. I know of other mods where it can be disabled in the Phone.apk by disassembling it and removing the lines of code that way, but I have no knowledge of doing that. If someone is able to shed some light on this process, please help us out.
Problem with noise suppression, nothing else. Try to remove second mic from the board.
I noticed when i talk on my phone and place the phone on my desk on its back, people say they can't hear me... Is there only one mic on the nexus 6p which is on the back ?
Getting the same whenever I hunch my shoulder up to balance the phone near my cheek
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I think I had a similar issue with my Nexus 5. When the noise cancellation mic was blocked, people would have a hard time hearing me. My guess is now that the mic is on the back and not the top it is easier to block.
The Nexus 6P is supposed to have three microphones. I assume the main mic is in the bottom speaker. There is clearly a mic hole on the back just below the camera hump, so that may be what people are blocking. I'm not sure where the third mic is, perhaps in the top speaker.
It is a little odd that block one of the extra noise cancellation mics on the back of a phone would disrupt call quality (at least in a quiet place). This is a common design and you'd think the obvious use case of speakerphone with the phone sitting on a flat surface would be considered.
Perhaps, once one of the noise cancellation mics is blocked, the phone can't tell what's background noise and what's your voice, so it starts attenuating your voice as if it's background noise?
I'm assuming the 6P using Qualcomm's Fluence noise cancellation, which is what most phones with Qualcomm chipsets use these days. Fluence has always been kind of mediocre as far as noice cancellation goes. The Nexus 5 with Fluence tended to cut people's voice off a lot. I was hoping the extra third microphone would improve things, but it's also the algorithm that matters.
There's definitely better noise cancellation out there. The Audience chip (now called EarSmart) is probably the best. It was in the Nexus One, which had amazing noise cancellation (and also in the iPhone 4). But both Apple and Google dropped it. Samsung put it in a lot of the Galaxy S phones, but has dropped it now too. I assume they just don't want to pay for the licensing. Motorola uses four microphone noise cancellation and their own propriety algorithm, which is pretty good--that's what's in the Moto X 2014 and the Nexus 6, don't know about the new Moto X.
Anyway, you could experiment with covering the hole on the back and see if that's what's causing the problem.
I facing the same issue. Not sure hardware issue or software issue or some setting.
Having the same issue, need to have the microphone right up to my mouth for anyone to hear me. If I move it an inch away people sound it too low. Going to get onto google tonight about returning. Hopefully it's just a faulty microphone and not the phone design. I've tested in quite and noisy spots and same in both. Also checking not to cover any pin holes in phone that may be noise cancelling microphones.
I have the same issue with people reporting they cant hear me when the bottom mic is off angle from my mouth. I've done some testing by calling a desk phone on speaker and playing with the angle of the phone. From my testing and personal opinion it seems that the issue is likely due to over aggressive noise cancellation. Hopefully this is fixed in a software update or google gives us at least the ability to disable noise cancelation.
I am having the same issue, complaints that I am not able to be heard.
Any feedback yet on this?
Same issue here, a lot of people saying they cant hear me properly, if i then swivel the phone so the mic is in line with my mouth problem goes away. It seems very sensitive!!
Same here...
Anyone resolve this issue with a replacement device? It's quite annoying to have the phone glued to your face and if you move an inch the other party cant hear you clearly.
godsafk said:
Anyone resolve this issue with a replacement device? It's quite annoying to have the phone glued to your face and if you move an inch the other party cant hear you clearly.
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Same here....not sure if its a hardware issue or bad design? But if every phone is not like this then I have to send it back. Just need to determine what it is first.
Also when playing music my bottom speaker is not as loud as my top....I'm assuming that is a defect as well.
Same here with 2 devices. I've read that disabling noise cancelling fixes the issue, but this obviously requires root to do. I sure hope Google adds an option to disable this without having to root....or at least tones it down because it definitely does seem over-aggressive.
I also enabled advanced calling on both devices, and I'm not sure that didn't *help* at least a tiny bit...although I don't really have much to base that one other than neither of us getting any complaints for the past 24-48 hours....and if any of you are for sure using advanced calling and still getting complaints than I guess take this fwiw.
I remember this happening with my Nexus 5... The fix was to disable to the noise cancellation until Google came out with a patch.
I was talking to a nice Tech guy from Huawei on a completely separate issue, when I tried to hold my phone with the face while resting it on my shoulder. The guy told me that he started hearing me all muffled up. When I told him what I was doing. He told me that there is a third Mic that is in the back of the phone, which when covered, causes low or muffled noise to the other user. Seems, like disabling noise cancelling is the only option to fix this, because I do want to put my phone down and use speakerphone., especially during long conference calls.. Hope someone else can find a solution that does not require root.
There is a huge post on the official nexus forums about this issue with an actual official (kinda) response here.
It's very obvious at this point that this is a software issue related to noise canceling.
Just commenting to say that I'm experiencing the same thing as everyone else here. Thought it was just because the phone was so big, but looks like its definitely a software issue related to noise canceling
I have same issue got a replacement thought it fixed it, but realized today I still have the same issue. I am losing my patience with this phone and the replacement device has a pink hue on the top of my screen.
It's not a bug, it's already been explained that it's because if you cover the noise cancellation mic on the back near the top you'll muffle yourself. Personally I don;t know how you could possible hold this phone in a manner that would block it but... I'm used to seeing a lot of nonsensical issues from smartphone forum posters these days.
I've had the phone resting face up on the table on speakerphone and the person the other end can't hear me properly