Database Users

My advise don't go for it - you'll regret it.

Greetings,
I am from germany and new on this forum, though I keep peeking in here for quite some time now and today is the time, where I believe I should post my very own impressions about the HTC Prophet.
I was using my old S25 (Siemens) cell for nearly 6 years now and since today I was quite happy about it. It was functional, worked, never let me hung and still works fine (I only changed the service provider to go for the HTC Prophet and let the contract for it run out).
At my new job I met a bunch of people who had that HTC Magician. They primarily bought it for the same reasons as most of us. It was a small device, had PocketPC capabilities, you could listen to sound files, watch movies, navigation, phoning and keeping contacts.
Sadly my reality looks quite differently than I initially had in mind. After some real life scenarios I realized that going for this smartphone was a big and really expensive mistake and I start to regret it now.
I also have a good history of PDA's and PocketPC's (Palm, Casio E125 etc.).
Problems that I have with the HTC Prophet (That I initially never thought about).
Speaker on the back side is the most supid thing that I ever have seen. Sure once you see these little machines you don't think about any problems that it might have.
You get it demonstrated by your colleagues and you see that it's an awesome device (on the first looks). But that thing is simply too silent. Sure loudness is quite a subjective thing and everyone of us hear differently.
But the HTC Prophet with its speaker on the back side is silent. In real life scenarios that thing is either laying on the table (where the speaker will be hidden by the table plate) or laying on a book or on a surface that keeps hiding the speaker. Or you keep carrying it around in that belt case that you receive with that thing. It's too silent.
I was on a trade show not long ago and I kept carrying that thing in that black belt case around my belt. With a smoking jacket around it. The trade show was well visited and therefore quite noisy (not loud but similar as if you go into the mensa at university). The thing is I kept missing one call after another, needless to say that I missed all SMS or schedules that my kalendar kept. I started to look at it at random times only to notices whether I missed something or if new SMS arrived.
A coleague of mine had another smartphone WM5 device carrying around with him, that thing otoh was quite loud. It yelled around that even I could realize it even meters ahead. Also the speaker, microphone and earspeaker was quite boosted.
Then at night during that few days trade show I slept in a motel where I used that device as a alarm clock. It was silent. Luckely I had a quite nervous sleep so I was able to wake up correctly in the morning but the alarm was quite silent. You've been able to hear it but not if you had a well sleep.
Earphone and Microphone. I have big issues listening to the person on the other end and the person has issues listening to my voice and the normal conversation goes on in multiple "pardon can you repeat" sentences. Specailly if you leave the office to go outside on the street for talk (so your colleagues don't need to follow your private conversation) it's even worse. I need to stick a finger in my other ear only to hear the person on the other end.
I think this is quite inacceptable for a device that is sold primary as "phone". I must say that I have the original rom on it, it's as I received it from this german company with the one letter and one number. With all the junk and stuff on it. Nothing touched, it's maximum loud, nothing flashed - as is.
Now a few days ago I went to another colleague of mine and compared his HTC Magician with my HTC Prophet. We set the devices to maximum loudness and played this "alouette.mid" file at the same time. His HTC Magician was drowning my HTC Prophet in all aspects. It was noticable louder than my HTC Prophet. It had better speakers and microphone. Sure it has the speaker on the backside as well but both devices were on the table head at head and his one nearly lifted off of the table while mine was silently sitting there playing "alouette.mid".
I mean, my old Siemens S25 was loud, I was able to hear it even outside of the office room on the floor, or in the kitchen (to jump back to it to pick it up) but this thing (the HTC Prophet) can't be left out of sight. If you move away more than a few meters in a silent office building then you keep missing everything.
I really don't know how this thing can be sold as phone. It misses any quality assurance during manufacturing. From that stupid backside speaker till any real life scenarios. It's more or less a play toy for geeks but rarely something for people doing business or need to keep schedules.
Otherwise that device is quite ok. Sure it has a slow CPU (yes it is slow. There was a few articles I read where people keep saying that it's not slow and that everyone who tells that it's slow are ignorants or something) but take my word. It's slow but it's ok for a phone. It's not the biggest problem since it works smoothly enough as PocketPC for adresses etc.
I started to dig around on many forums after I realized some of the problems on my own and realized that a lot of people complained about silent speakers and microphones and I must confirm this. There are many other problems with that device as well like speaker breaking quickly or the pluging jack for the headphones. I can not confirm this but I bet my pants that these issues are there for real.
I also realized (like on most forums) that people seem to be doing nothing else with it than flashing random XYZ kind of roms onto it in hope something changes (what, most people don't know either - so my impressions - and a few seem to have bricked their devices as well). But can this be ? Can this be the purpose of this device ? To flash it because it sucks in all other aspects ? People who hope to get a new rom version with news inside it, other people who hope that it boots faster (works faster) or whatever their aim is.
But for business people who only want to use the device to keep their contacts, get in touch with people, receive notices and keep schedules it's just a waste.
I started complaining to the new service provider and hope that they're going to replace that device with something that works. No play toy or something. I changed from my old service provider to the new one only for this smartphone and now I regret it. They already informed me that they are going to take it back and fine me what I have paid for it but this is not solving the problem. The problem is that I am stuck with a new contract and no phone to use or no suitable alternative to go. But taking it back without any complaints is just a sign that they might have received plenty of complaints from others.
Anyways that's so far all I have to say. I was new here before I bought the HTC Prophet and I really hope that my little review could help the one or other in making his decisions. Before you blindly jump in buying this HTC Prophet be sure that you go and inform yourself on all kind of forums and news sites. The HTC Prophet is a nice machine - no doubt - but it's useless in a couple of areas and one of them is phoning and getting notices (speaker). This is a big no go for me.
greetings,
Spatzm

I really like my Prophet.
Yes the rear speaker is a problem but it's the only problem. Just wait till it stops working completely. There is a workaround for this. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=281331
Also, yes it was a bit slow but a helpful chap called Ikarus produced an excellent overclock utility which has really helped. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=270751
I will upgrade when the time comes though - maybe a Hermes or an Artemis.

I wrote quite a long post to explain in detail why I seem to disagree with you on almost every point you try to make. But I'd rather keep it short. (and I don't mean this in a nasty way, my experience is just totally different than your 'review')
Speaker: no problem at all for me. I mainly use it in loud areas. Also use it as alarm clock too and it's loud enough (believe me when I say I'm not a light sleeper). I do however use PocketZenPhone for my phone profiles (volume, call volume, ringtone stuff etc etc) and SPB Time (alarm clock).
Upgrading: Have a look on what forum you are here. Most people come here because they seem interested in upgrading the thing with a rom. For possible free extra's. Who doesn't want to have free extra's? (hell, why do people upgrade their computer, their software, their bios? Because it's all crap? I don't think so at all).
There are loads of phones on this forum, from your perspective they are all crap because people are trying to upgrade them? And yes, upgrading is difficult at times and if you do it wrong, you brick your device. Can't blame HTC for those people pusing the upgrade button...
But all with all, I'm sorry to see you are so dissapointed in your Prophet phone. Perhaps the thing just isn't your thing. And it doesn't meet up to your expectations.
For me the thing lived up all too good to my expectations and even more than that.
For me it's loud enough (maybe with the help of some programs I don't care) it's fast enough and even though I have been 100% happy with it all along I even upgraded it with a newer ROM.
I use it for phoning/smsing, calendar/appointments, adresses, car-navigation, games, watching movies, wireless internet etc. etc. and that all works flawlesly for me...

TheBrit said:
I really like my Prophet.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=281331
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=270751
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for providing these links. I'm a technican myself and am used to many pocketpc's and pda's back in the years. I also did development for those devices so I am skilled enough to know what to do.
But the primary point of mine is differently. My workday looks like this. Starting morning at 7:00 and come back at home around 20:30. A lot of traveling from A to B. Basicly a fulltime job. Now you might imagine that business people don't want to play around with their PDA.
They simply don't have time to do so. They expect that the device they bought "simply works". The terminoloy "simply works" means. You turn it on and you start working with it. There is no time and also no intentions to mess around with the hardware. Like opening it and fix what HTC had failed to solve on their own.
I am also aware of the overclocking utilities that exists but this can't be the point either. But as I said it's probably the last problem that I care for now.
I think that HTC miserabely failed with their products due to bad engineering and bad QS. I only hope that some of their engineers are reading this forum so they can think about the stuff they build.

Re My advise don't go for it - you'll regret it.
RaptorRVL said:
I wrote quite a long post to explain in detail why I seem to disagree with you on almost every point you try to make. But I'd rather keep it short. (and I don't mean this in a nasty way, my experience is just totally different than your 'review')
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello RaptorRVL, thanks for your reply. I really appreciate your feedback and I would like to raise a few further points to explain the situation.
First of all, not everyone is a technican. Most people don't know about Registry, they don't know about OmapClock, they also don't know howto flash ROM, they also don't know what AKU is.
They simply want to use the thing they paid money for. I have the feeling that you see everything as the expert kind of person that fully controls his device in all areas like knowing every DLL, knowing every Registry entry, knowing the hardware and much more. But you shouldn't forget those who bought a small device and who wants to use it. We are simply too busy with work rather than having all the time digging in all places to seek for answers where HTC has failed.
Speaker: no problem at all for me. I mainly use it in loud areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the speaker seems to be a problem by many other people. You only need to fire up Google and search for "HTC Prophet loud" or similar keywords. You can hear a lot of complaints about silent speakers, broken speakers, silent microphone or earphone, broken headphone jacks etc. You can even use search on the whole forum here and find similar complaints by others. I must admit that this is something I initially wasn't aware about but I wished someone would have told me before I was going for it.
And that's why I am here writing my second message on this forum to inform those new readers here who use this forum as a starting point to read about the pros and cons about the HTC Prophet.
Upgrading: Have a look on what forum you are here. Most people come here because they seem interested in upgrading the thing with a rom. For possible free extra's. Who doesn't want to have free extra's? (hell, why do people upgrade their computer, their software, their bios? Because it's all crap? I don't think so at all).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I am in the forum for general Prophet discussions. The one for Prophet upgrading is one further. This was also one of the first places that I came to before I bought my Prophet to inform myself about it from those who are already using it.
There are loads of phones on this forum, from your perspective they are all crap because people are trying to upgrade them? And yes, upgrading is difficult at times and if you do it wrong, you brick your device. Can't blame HTC for those people pusing the upgrade button...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No! I was only refering to my HTC Prophet here which I had the chance to compare in real life scenarios on that trade show (noisy area), within the motel (as alarm clock), with the colleagues HTC Magician and with another colleagues HTC (dunno what it was called, it has a knob in the middle and looks more like a real phone).
I don't know whether other devices have similar issues but I think that HTC needs to get in here and do something. You only need to google for all the problems it have. There are plenty of forums existing outside and the more people buy one of these devices the more "similar" problem reports you receive.
If one person complains then this is probably a one time issue but if plenty of people start complaining about the same issues then there's something where HTC needs to fix.
You are right that you can not blame HTC for a bricked Prophet, but you can't blame the users either since they expect that a new updated ROM might solve the one or other problem they noticed.
But all with all, I'm sorry to see you are so dissapointed in your Prophet phone. Perhaps the thing just isn't your thing. And it doesn't meet up to your expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And here lays the problem. I can not know whether this device dissapoints me or not without having tried it out first. I didn't knew about all the hardware related issues. I also didn't put any weight into other peoples complaints for silent speakers and realize now that I better did pay attentions to it since it really is a huge problem.
Look I and probably others didn't buy it for playing or toying around with it (Random today screen tweaking, overclocking and rom flashing) we bought it for our serious daily needs. As sort of companion that helps doing our daily tasks, keeping schedules and do the thing it has to do. Inform us where our brain leaves us alone since we can not remember everything. Of course the OS side of it does the job but the hardware side is failing here due to weak components used.

I didn't read every word of every post, but I don't think you state which version of the Prophet you have. That said I have the Jamin with their latest ROM. I have no reason to play with other ROMs. Reliability is important for my usage.
To be honest I DON'T have the majority of the issues you seem to have. Specifically the front speaker is so loud that I have to set the volume to 50% to prevent hurting my hearing on normal phone calls. With respect to the rear speaker the volume is more that sufficient to use as an alarm clock.
The major issue that I have is the CPU performance in stock form is only just adequate. But remember static high clock rates translate into low battery endurance. I'm using Battery Status to perform automatic clock rate scaling and battery life is good or better than stock, while CPU performance is very good.
From reading I'm of the opinion that not all Prophets are created equal, but might be made so by flashing an alternative ROM.
Spatzm said:
Greetings,
I am from germany and new on this forum, though I keep peeking in here for quite some time now and today is the time, where I believe I should post my very own impressions about the HTC Prophet.
[snip]
greetings,
Spatzm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

but I don't think you state which version of the Prophet you have. That said I have the Jamin with their latest ROM. I have no reason to play with other ROMs. Reliability is important for my usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I would write something like "The user don't know anything about Prophet versions - he/she only uses it". But I have an XDA NEO - G4 and this one doesn't have a front speaker (only a really silent ear speaker).
To be honest I DON'T have the majority of the issues you seem to have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have only one issue with it and not "majority" (which implies dozens of issues). The only issue I have is the weak components used for speaker, ear speaker and microphone.
From reading I'm of the opinion that not all Prophets are created equal, but might be made so by flashing an alternative ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have the impression myself now. But that shouldn't be the problem of the end users or customers. That's the big problem of HTC for implementing some sort of quality assurance.
I also doubt that flashing an alternative ROM (there is no official alternative ROM that guarantee fully functionality (but more on this later on) that will solve a hardware issue. Flashing a new ROM don't change the position of the speaker from the back side to the front side.
I also think you should start reading my replies more carefully to understand that not everyone has the time or the geek factor to flash "or want to flash" his Prophet to use it.

By front speaker I mean the speaker that used when the phone is on your ear.
I would comment that the Prophet is a platform and Jamin, XDA Neo, etc are products. In fact the user shouldn't even know or be concerned with the underlying platform. He should buy based upon the end user product's features and performance. Note that HTC doesn't necessary have to manufacture each product to identical specifications. And I say this from a OEM's perspective.
With regard to flashing various firmware and debugging a product one purchased, I only can agree with your position. My only point is that what issues you have doesn't necessary apply to all versions of the Prophet.
Dopod released a patch to increase volume. If your product doesn't have this fix (e.g. running the most current firmware) then I would be thinking about getting my money back or Ebay it if that is not possible.
Spatzm said:
Normally I would write something like "The user don't know anything about Prophet versions - he/she only uses it". But I have an XDA NEO - G4 and this one doesn't have a front speaker (only a really silent ear speaker).
I also think you should start reading my replies more carefully to understand that not everyone has the time or the geek factor to flash "or want to flash" his Prophet to use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Silent but loud, slow but fast ?!
I share all comments claiming weakness of Prophet speakers and slowness of its processor and i'd read too much about these before buying one.
Anyways, many claims about the OMAP come from users who did not overclock. At 286mhz the baby is fast enough for me and no serious standby time shortening.
Coming to the speakers, using the oldphone ring, i find it loud enough. Of course there's always individual tastes and feelings. Mines are not so negative.
Finally, don't forget to set sound level to maximum for alarms and disable program sounds. This prevents boring sounds when you use menus.

slow or fast its in your hands only
well in my eyes , i had took the S200 (qtek) or whtever name he have, as base for smartphone app. for security usage. like you i had to choose between the stability , quality and speed. the hardware base had all i need, battery and SD, wifi and BT, and all very steady. yes speed stunt me slow at begining, but with the help of jesterz and one of his coocked Roms, i got it fatser, and for the final battery status gave me real overclock of 247-260 which is more than i need. when i load it with streamin video (mpg-2) no it dose not gag nor crash nor hang. thats more than i had with HP/ASUS/ etc pda on the same level. have more trust in your littel device. remember rule 1.
garbadge in-garbadge out. set it correctly and you'll have only fun.

Not loud enough to wake up?
Although the sound quality is not the best I found my old JAMin loud and strong as an alarm, especially with the LB sound file. In fact I am using the same file on my new SE P990i. I sold the JAMin as a trade-in and bought a P990i a month ago and although I am very happy with the new phone as it improves in all areas where I found the Prophet not so good (built-in support for A2DP, camera, sound quality and so on), sometimes I miss my old phone. What I don't miss though is the SCREEN ALIGNMENT PROBLEM. I am amazed how well the touch screen on the P990i works and how it even lacks an Align Screen function.

abubasim said:
Although the sound quality is not the best I found my old JAMin loud and strong as an alarm, especially with the LB sound file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what a LB sound file is. May you post it please ?
What I don't miss though is the SCREEN ALIGNMENT PROBLEM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never had a Screen Alignment problem with my HTC Prophet but I keep reading about these issues on plenty of other news sites and forums.
So to sum it up these are the most known hardware related problems that come along with the HTC Prophet.
* Backside speaker useless and totally misplaced if the phone is placed on the table.
* Ear speaker quite silent, if you are in a noisy area or street then you need to plug a finger in the other ear to hear the other participant clearly.
* Microphone quite silent, the other part is permanently asking to repeat what's said.
* Headphone plug is causing problems when unpluging there's no sound sometimes (not confirmed by me but found on various places).
* Backside speaker is dying at times (not confirmed by me but found on various places).
* Backside speaker is applied at the backside.
* Misalignment of the touchscreen (not confirmed by me but found on various places).
* Battery life ends with 28% and needs recharging (I have the same problem. The device needs to be recharged).
These are the common problems, that I came along so far. Windows Mobile itself is operating normally so far, but the hardware is causing problems. Every company with name by now would have started a call back to replace the faulty systems. My next device will be from an manufacturer with name, who has skills in doing proper devices - no no-name branding.

* Backside speaker useless and totally misplaced if the phone is placed on the table.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not much of a problem for me.
* Ear speaker quite silent, if you are in a noisy area or street then you need to plug a finger in the other ear to hear the other participant clearly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a problem for me.
* Microphone quite silent, the other part is permanently asking to repeat what's said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a problem for me.
* Headphone plug is causing problems when unpluging there's no sound sometimes (not confirmed by me but found on various places).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NOt a problem for me.
* Backside speaker is dying at times (not confirmed by me but found on various places).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this has happened to me twice not. First time it went for a repair - second time I used a workaround - see my first post in this thread. Has anyone had this on a G4 - maybe it's fixed in that version.
* Backside speaker is applied at the backside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same as first issue on this list.
* Misalignment of the touchscreen (not confirmed by me but found on various places).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not been a problem for me.
* Battery life ends with 28% and needs recharging (I have the same problem. The device needs to be recharged).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not been a problem for me.

I'm sure some people have problems with the phone, which is in fact not really surprising because it's a stuffed up little machine with lots of sensitive electronics in it (made as cheap as possible to position it in the market for a certain price obviously).
But I must say that when looking at forums and people with problems there, you might not get a good idea of what's really going on with a device.
Forums are usually filled with questions and complaints instead of people searching for the forums to say "Hey! My device is working just properly! cheerios!".
It would be much more interesting to know how many devices have been sold and what % of those had faults/problems. Mind you, the prophet is sold world-wide and is a very popular device, which would increase the number of people with complaints on a forum considerably.
I wouldn't exactly call HTC a no-name manufacturer too. It's just that they are not well known because they have always made their hardware for other companies who put on their own brand and name on the device. Yet still it is a HTC product.
I haven't had a single problem with my device and know a lot of people who don't have problems with the thing too. I know someone who works in a store selling them and he says they don't see loads of the devices coming back with the complaints/problems you write.
For example, I have none of the problems you list up there. If the phones would have been so bad, don't you think I should at least have one of the problems here? Or do you think I'm the exception of having a error free phone and faulty devices are the standard?
So perhaps a somewhat more subtle approach on the subject might not hurt. I could be reading you the wrong way, but it almost seems like because of your dissapointment of your device you are on a small crusade stating the prophet is a very bad device. A device that only works for geeks with too much time on their hands changing roms, editting the registry and repairing the device themselves.
Which is, ofcourse, not the case at all.

TheBrit said:
Not much of a problem for me.
Not a problem for me.
Not a problem for me.
NOt a problem for me.
Same as first issue on this list.
Not been a problem for me.
Not been a problem for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but it has been a problem for many others. It's as simple as that. If there are a few geeks really happy with it then be it that way. This thing simply isn't the right device for serious people who simply want to do their work. It's that simple.

LB.wav
Spatzm said:
I don't know what a LB sound file is. May you post it please ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you the open the Clock settings and choose the Alarms tab then you can choose the sound file to be played by tapping the bell icon. LB is one of the provided sound files. In case it's missing on your phone then here it is.

Spatzm said:
Yes, but it has been a problem for many others. It's as simple as that. If there are a few geeks really happy with it then be it that way. This thing simply isn't the right device for serious people who simply want to do their work. It's that simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is quite funny is the fact that you just called everyone who likes their device (or do not agree with you) a geek and apperantly not a serious person.
Like I said in my other post, it might not be a bad idea to take a somewhat more subtle approach to the whole subject, instead of just reading the forums fast and sum up the first 8 problems you come across and state them as facts.

RaptorRVL said:
What is quite funny is the fact that you just called everyone who likes their device (or do not agree with you) a geek and apperantly not a serious person.
Like I said in my other post, it might not be a bad idea to take a somewhat more subtle approach to the whole subject, instead of just reading the forums fast and sum up the first 8 problems you come across and state them as facts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
This wasn't meant as insult or offense. I was just quite fed up with the device when I replied. The thing is that everyone has a right to like his / her device.
For my personal impression this thing is more a geeks toy rather than something for people like me who are deep into all kind of works and need a serious companion.
One that doesn't need tweaking, fixing or worrying. Something that simply works and does its tasks. I depend on connections with other people, it's my work, my business. I can not offend people by telling them to repeat themselves 20 times just because my cell is failing.
No problems with that but we also need to keep an eye on those people who have serious issues with it and the list is getting longer.
You said (or wrote) that people do not agree with me but I already received replies within this thread from people who confirmed parts of the issues raised.
I think it's just fair to light both sides of the medal. It's not fair to only hype this device and ignore or speak all issues it has to death.
So, just because YOUR Prophet is fine, doesn't mean that other peoples Prophet is as well. You are just the lucky one or your service provider bought working branches rather than getting the monday devices.
I don't ask for much and simply hope that some people from HTC are spending some time reading the contents of this forum and get uphold of these issues.
Thailand and probably most other asian countries are known to not supply the same quality standards that europe requires or that we are used too.
Just my opinion and I believe that I speak many people out of their heart here.

Spatzm said:
So, just because YOUR Prophet is fine, doesn't mean that other peoples Prophet is as well. You are just the lucky one or your service provider bought working branches rather than getting the monday devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, we can turn this around and talk about how your device is the bad one and how that doesn't mean all the others suck too. I just don't think this is very productive. You don't like it, but others like it.
I for one am very happy with my Prophet, and guess what: I am from Germany too and I also got my phone from o2. I never had to change ROMs or overclock the processor. The only "geek" thing I've done is to abort the installation of the extended ROM.
My device is working just fine and I've never had any problems. No broken speaker, battery working fine, no screen alignment problems. It's fast, it's smooth, it's loud.
And oh yeah (and I really don't mean this in a smartass way), if I'm in a loud environment and can't hear the phone, the vibration massaging my leg lets me know someone is calling. Not a solution for the earpiece problem but at least for the incoming SMS and organizer alarms.
Well, to sum it up: you're not happy, others are. Simple as that. I don't know if it's very smart to keep discussing this.

RaptorRVL said:
What is quite funny is the fact that you just called everyone who likes their device (or do not agree with you) a geek and apperantly not a serious person.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So...I'm a Geek!
I'm also a serious user. I use the Diary, Contacts, phone, TomTom etc etc. Bubble-Breaker when on the t.....never mind. Syncing the Diary and Contacts with both my home PC and my work PC a great bonus - so simple and so very useful.

loudspeaker... Good?

Hello.
Ive just ordered a HD2.
But i would like to know what the sound quality is like when using the loudspeaker in the phone.
I currently got a hd1.. and that phone sounds... not too good.
Anyone could maby make a video of it or something?
THanks

The loudspeaker is unusable unless you're in a loud environment, it is like a megaphone even on the lowest volume setting.

Hi Hargibi,
The loudspeaker on my phone is loud and the quality and sound outputs are acceptable.
Does exactly what it says on the tin ie LOUD.......SPEAKER for environments where you need to use it.
Obviously in circumstances where you don't need the loudspeaker you would switch it off?
WB

wacky.banana said:
Hi Hargibi,
The loudspeaker on my phone is loud and the quality and sound outputs are acceptable.
Does exactly what it says on the tin ie LOUD.......SPEAKER for environments where you need to use it.
Obviously in circumstances where you don't need the loudspeaker you would switch it off?
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have always used my speakerphone function on previous handsets to allay fears over radiation at the ear etc....I would hold the phone in my hand at breast height and conduct my calls like that, not whilst out and about of course. The HD2 has unfeasibly loud volume though (even at the lowest setting) and I just can't use it in a quiet environment - precisely the environment I would have used the feature previously. Stop defending it mate when it's obviously a problem. No other phone has anywhere approaching this volume, so are they all 'broken' and the HD2 is perfect?

Sunking,
Not defending it mate, just telling it as it is, from my perspective
WB

wacky.banana said:
Sunking,
Not defending it mate, just telling it as it is, from my perspective
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than for using sat nav in the noisiest open-top Landrover, when would you ever need a LOUD speakerphone function though? I don't have a problem with the speakerphone being able to go loud, turn it up, that's fine! I just wish the volume control went (much) lower. I find the settings bizarre.

I use mine in large conference rooms where there's a load of us listening in. I'm afraid I don't have an open top Landrover.
As I said to you in another thread somewhere on here, you and this phone don't get on, which is a shame. However one size does not fit all so your decision to sell and move on is a good one, I think.
Don't want to take this thread off topic as its not fair on the OP, but what do you intend to buy now?
To the OP, there is a poll on here somewhere that gives an indication of how many people think the loudspeaker is good versus bad. Try and find it if you can, it makes interesting reading....
WB

Sounds good. will recive it in 2 days

wacky.banana said:
I use mine in large conference rooms where there's a load of us listening in. I'm afraid I don't have an open top Landrover.
As I said to you in another thread somewhere on here, you and this phone don't get on, which is a shame. However one size does not fit all so your decision to sell and move on is a good one, I think.
Don't want to take this thread off topic as its not fair on the OP, but what do you intend to buy now?
To the OP, there is a poll on here somewhere that gives an indication of how many people think the loudspeaker is good versus bad. Try and find it if you can, it makes interesting reading....
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dunno mate, the HD2 was the one for me and I waited impatiently for it! Now I don't know what to get....

Compared to N95 8GB and HD how is it? I just ordered mine from Amazon, was confused between HD2 and N900

The PRO said:
Compared to N95 8GB and HD how is it? I just ordered mine from Amazon, was confused between HD2 and N900
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you want to know, how loud does the speakerphone go, how good is it with music, does it crackle and distort etc? I'll tell you now though, the N95 has wayyyy better speakers than the HD2. What the HD2 specialises in is LOUDNESS.

sunking101 said:
What do you want to know, how loud does the speakerphone go, how good is it with music, does it crackle and distort etc? I'll tell you now though, the N95 has wayyyy better speakers than the HD2. What the HD2 specialises in is LOUDNESS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically it's amazingly loud but the sound gets distorted ?
I wanna know specifically about playing music on the loudspeaker

Low ring volume?

Is it just me, or does the Nexus One seem to have a somewhat low ring volume?
When some one calls me, or I get a text message or new e-mail or any other notification of some sort I'm barley able to hear it when I'm at work?
Tried to crank the notification and ring volume to the maximum, but it's still way lower than what I'm used to with every other phone I've had before?
If I dare compare it to when I used my iPhone 3G at work, I had the volume set to about 70% and I was still able to hear it loud and clear every single time?

RamGuy said:
Is it just me, or does the Nexus One seem to have a somewhat low ring volume?
When some one calls me, or I get a text message or new e-mail or any other notification of some sort I'm barley able to hear it when I'm at work?
Tried to crank the notification and ring volume to the maximum, but it's still way lower than what I'm used to with every other phone I've had before?
If I dare compare it to when I used my iPhone 3G at work, I had the volume set to about 70% and I was still able to hear it loud and clear every single time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the complete opposite experience with my phone; I have to keep the volume at around 40% in order for it to be remotely acceptable volume in the workplace. At full volume every call and notification is so loud that I am almost embarrassed for drawing the attention of everyone remotely close to me.
The speaker is not of the highest quality, in my opinion, but it is damn loud.
I don't know of any secret options that affect ringtone volume, so I am curious to hear other people's testimonies to see if there is a widespread difference.

I agree with the opening post, my Nexus One is too damn quiet, I've missed loads of call and text message notifications. Mind you, I do tend to keep my phone in it's sleeve, so that is obviously a contributing factor, but even outside of the sleeve the speaker is really quiet.
I had a Nokia 5800 previously, which had exceptional speakers - loud and very good sound quality, so maybe it's just that I'm used to something a lot louder.
Although, my only other HTC experience was the Touch Pro (which I hated with an unholy passion), and the speakers on that were really crap too.

I also agree with OP. It is really low for me even at max volume i miss a lot of texts and some calls. I do keep the phone in my pants but with my previous phones was way louder.

It's lower volume than I was use to with other devices. Not sure if there is a way to pump it up some?

I've noticed that some of the ringtones are much more audible than others. Cricket, for example, "carries" pretty well, as a sound. I'm guessing you've tried them all though, if you're not happy with the volume.
FWIW, for various notifications, I have Cricket, Captain's Log and Pizzicato in use, all of which seemed fairly audible to me. For sure more so than the default one.
Going through them again now, I'm wondering if some of the other notifications haven't been made a bit louder/more shrill in today's update. Damn updates. Make me imagine all kinds of things have changed
My workplace is a lab, so it's pretty quiet. I might well have complaints about the volume if I worked in a noisier place. And I honestly don't receive a bunch of calls on it, just emails and SMS.

Rediculously Quiet
Well I’m a bit of a gadget nut, and own pretty much every top phone on the market. Huge fan of this phone but the ring volume is pretty much a killer. At maximum volume its way less than any phone I have at 50% volume. I miss calls all the time and therefore have dropped it as my goto phone. What purpose does a phone have if you can’t hear it ring. Seems crazy to me that all my other WM HTC phones are acceptable or crazy loud. Just to hear my phone in my pocket I have had to make a MP3 ring tone mixing it at max volume, that was my only solution but it’s still not loud enough and now the speaker begins to distort and crackle the sound, making me think there will be no soft fix for this.
Huge Disappointment

That's the main reason I want to get a Desire rather than N1

vegetaleb said:
That's the main reason I want to get a Desire rather than N1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you heard Desire ring tone?

vegetaleb said:
That's the main reason I want to get a Desire rather than N1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly doubt the Desire would fix any of these issues. It's the same phone essentially.
Uhh. I usually keep my Milestone at 1 notch from bottom and I can hear it clearly. Today I missed 3 calls on my N1 with it 1 notch from the bottom. I later realized I probably need it around 50-60% volume to hear it well for a near 100% catch rate. Forget noisy places like the subway. If I put my Milestone at 50-60%, it'll rock my office.
I've gone through an iPhone 3GS, Nokia N82, Moto Milestone, and the N1 ranks dead LAST in terms of ring volume. That speakerphone is just terrible. 40-50% on the N1 can't even compare to a Droid at like 20% or so.
The same goes with the Earpiece. I can make calls perfectly fine at 10-20% on my Milestone whereas I gotta crank up to 80% or so on my N1. Unacceptable.

Some people reported a significant raise in volume when using Desire ROM on N1 and if you look at the Desire pics you will notice that the speaker openings are larger than the 3mm one of N1

vegetaleb said:
Some people reported a significant raise in volume when using Desire ROM on N1 and if you look at the Desire pics you will notice that the speaker openings are larger than the 3mm one of N1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be good =) maybe I should ask some people about this more. The voice on the N1 also sounds very tiny through the earpiece (you know like when you turn your volume way too high on earbuds and the sound leaks out?). The Milestone seems more stereo and filling as if I'm in a room carrying out a normal conversation. I hope the Desire can address these issues.

See what I mean on the attached pics?
Also perhaps google asked HTC to do it quiet for safety reasons, the Legend which is the little brother of the Desire has a very loud volume...

I would think it has to be very high on the hardware development importance list to include a decent speaker especially with many using these phones in conference call situations these days. This volume on the Nexus phone seems crazy low and indeed we are throwing conspiracy theories out there but HTC are going to sell the Desire, the exact same machine (little less cool and with that weird touch nav) out onto the market right in Google's face for 200$ more! My bet is yes the hardware on this Desire is the grade 'A' stuff including the speaker.
Please let there be some kind of code fix for the Nexus 1,
Anyone had any experience with the Desire Rom on Nexus 1 regarding volume increase?

Someone on the Android Help forum said that the loudspeaker is programmed to output 75% of its maximum volume. Can someone verify that?

jsoverson said:
I don't know of any secret options that affect ringtone volume, so I am curious to hear other people's testimonies to see if there is a widespread difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just convert the ringtone file using any converter and maximize the volume in settings... I tried it once with TVC but the sound became distorted

NexusDro said:
Someone on the Android Help forum said that the loudspeaker is programmed to output 75% of its maximum volume. Can someone verify that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure where someone got that from.
I've been searching through the Nexus source and, as far as i can tell, the audio is all controlled via the kernel and nothing else, volume wise anyway. I'm not sure why Google changed HTCs method (which was easy as hell to hack) but they've definitely removed it.

how do we open the kernel to get to these sound files, if someone walks me through it, i will hack the files, i dont care about htc copyright, i want a phone i can hear ringing.
PM me if you want me to, and i wont upload any copyright stuff here, i will host the file somewhere else ehhhm rapid shares cough cough

Sleeve trick
If you guys are using the sleeve this might help a lot (it does for me)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=641995&highlight=sleeve+trick

Blaiz said:
HTC are going to sell the Desire, the exact same machine (little less cool and with that weird touch nav) out onto the market right in Google's face for 200$ more! My bet is yes the hardware on this Desire is the grade 'A' stuff including the speaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the Desire will be 100$ less, at least in Europe and Asia

Had high hopes for N1 but disappointed

Long time lurker here and I have migrated from Winmo back in the day to Symbian and then to HTC's N1. Have also tried many other deivces along the way but thought this could have been it!
Unfortunately, I have been spoiled by the Nokia 5800. The sound quality from this thing is superb both for music playback and for speakerphone and I use it for both these purposes a lot. I had read about the N1 sound quality but thought the other bells and whistles would make me forget about it, sadly not.
The N1 I am sure is a great device but for now I am back to the Nokia. Perhaps with a little more time and patience I would learn to love the operating system of Android 2.1 but the hardware limitations (speaker and camera in the main) have led me to place my 2 day old Nexus One on the market.
For anyone interested, it's in the marketplace HERE for £449.99.
I will keep a close eye on Android and with MWC just around the corner, perhaps I will be tempted back when the hardware is available to match the O/S!

That's $707.25... I can buy a new on and have it sent overnight for ~$600.
Not trying to troll or anything, just a tip if you plan on selling it to anybody in the US.

I would troll.. thats a ripoff and he knows it

To bad it did not work out for U...mine keeps getting better by the day! Well best of luck to ya selling it at that price...

I am going to bite my tongue... your logic is very flawed in many ways.

It may not be a rip off when you include the VAT he would have had to pay. We can get it cheaper here in the U.S. sure, but what is the total bill (including VAT) for someone in the U.K.?
IRT sound quality the speaker phone is utter crap but music is not bad if you have a decent set of headphones attached.

It sounds about right. My total came up about £441 after the VAT.
I agree re speaker sound but I'm saving up for QC 15 and I hope it will sound good enough not to buy an dedicated player.

I have been using my Nexus one since the day after it was announced. I also have an HD2, iPhone 3Gs and we just got a new Palm Pre Plus to play around with testing for our users. Overall, my favorite is the N1 for customization, but there is one thing with the N1 that keeps pulling me back to my jailbroke iPhone and that is they keyboard. The iPhone keyboard is just so much easier to use. The only reason I can understand why is that it has multitouch. I often miss letters while keying on the N1 and best I can tell its when I hit the next letter before I lift my other thumb off the previous one. So I can type so much quicker on the iPhone over the N1. Why can't the keyboard be multitouch on the N1?

Why use speaker phone, and the external speaker to listen to music anyway? Get a decent set of headphones and a BT ear peace and be done. The former were never intended to be used in such a way for longer than when you have nothing better available and need to set the phone down. Its like expecting your netbook to game like your desktop, you set your self up to be disappointed.

codyt01 said:
I have been using my Nexus one since the day after it was announced. I also have an HD2, iPhone 3Gs and we just got a new Palm Pre Plus to play around with testing for our users. Overall, my favorite is the N1 for customization, but there is one thing with the N1 that keeps pulling me back to my jailbroke iPhone and that is they keyboard. The iPhone keyboard is just so much easier to use. The only reason I can understand why is that it has multitouch. I often miss letters while keying on the N1 and best I can tell its when I hit the next letter before I lift my other thumb off the previous one. So I can type so much quicker on the iPhone over the N1. Why can't the keyboard be multitouch on the N1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try smart keyboard pro from the market

I will admit, the speaker on the N1 is not that great.

bofslime said:
Why use speaker phone, and the external speaker to listen to music anyway? Get a decent set of headphones and a BT ear peace and be done. The former were never intended to be used in such a way for longer than when you have nothing better available and need to set the phone down. Its like expecting your netbook to game like your desktop, you set your self up to be disappointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this so much, I honestly do not know what you were expecting from a mere cellphone - even though some may have superb sound playback, I honestly never have "high expectations" for the quality of the speaker. Honestly, I never knew people so extensively used the speakerphone on a device enough to actually make them completely regret the phone.
I also thought that having a 5 megapixel camera (with flash) would make the phone an awesome device to take pictures with, it seems to me you simply wanted to complain, then sell the device - and this seemed to be the correct place to do it. I know that I'm wrong, but thats my 2 cents on the matter..

I use my N1 for music all the time, and think it sounds great. In the dock over bluetooth to my computer's speakers it sounds great. With my QC2's plugged in it sounds like I'm in da club.
The speakerphone is a speakerphone...I don't expect 5.1 out of it. What's with people???
I hate the standard OSK, so I installed the HTC-IME, and love it! Why do people quit so easily these days when we have SO many options?

xspyda said:
Long time lurker here and I have migrated from Winmo back in the day to Symbian and then to HTC's N1. Have also tried many other deivces along the way but thought this could have been it!
Unfortunately, I have been spoiled by the Nokia 5800. The sound quality from this thing is superb both for music playback and for speakerphone and I use it for both these purposes a lot. I had read about the N1 sound quality but thought the other bells and whistles would make me forget about it, sadly not.
The N1 I am sure is a great device but for now I am back to the Nokia. Perhaps with a little more time and patience I would learn to love the operating system of Android 2.1 but the hardware limitations (speaker and camera in the main) have led me to place my 2 day old Nexus One on the market.
For anyone interested, it's in the marketplace HERE for £449.99.
I will keep a close eye on Android and with MWC just around the corner, perhaps I will be tempted back when the hardware is available to match the O/S!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, what an idiot.
From the other thread:
I have listed my brand new Nexus One on eBay, simply because the speaker is not loud enough for me having come from the Nokia 5800.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your only reason, let me rephrase, the ***ONLY*** reason you are returning it is because the speaker is not loud enough?
A) There is an audio hack in the works that will make the N1 MUCH louder than your Nokia, guaranteed. Here are the links for the N1 (in production) and G1 hacks:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=618058
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=517745
B) Why don't you try using the rest of the phone???
C) You're selling it for $175 more than the unsubsidized cost. WTF????
This has to be one of the dumbest threads I've seen in a long time.
????????

He's right in that the phone's speaker does leave something to be desired--Nokia phones generally have higher-equality speakers, what with them taking their "music phones" awfully seriously (I came to the N1 from the 5730 Xpressmusic: ****ty phone in every way but playback quality). It's a shame their devices aren't good for much else. Well, except durability. Those little buggers can withstand a lot of abuse.

I find it amazing that just because of the speaker he's prepared to loose all the other fantastic benefits of this amazing device... but still, different people, different priorities I guess. Myself I bought an £8 Veho360, very small and makes the music/podcasts sound like they're coming from a Hi Fi (Well, not quite... )
On the price, it is a bit cheeky he's trying to then make a profit. Mine cost £355 shipped and I may get a £60 VAT receipt soon. Having said that, there are peope on eBay asking £500 for it... I assume some idiots pay that.

Yeah, I wish my speaker was louder too (because I prefer to carry only one device to act as phone, tiny computer, media player and all) but it's far from a dealbreaker. Listening to music on it while out in public places is obnoxious, anyway, so I use the headphone.
Speaking of which, many people in countries other than the US/UK/Singapore/Hong Kong are quite willing to pay in the region of $600-800 for the phone. Makes me wish I'd ordered a few extra. Would've made a tidy profit.

xspyda said:
Long time lurker here and I have migrated from Winmo back in the day to Symbian and then to HTC's N1. Have also tried many other deivces along the way but thought this could have been it!
Unfortunately, I have been spoiled by the Nokia 5800. The sound quality from this thing is superb both for music playback and for speakerphone and I use it for both these purposes a lot. I had read about the N1 sound quality but thought the other bells and whistles would make me forget about it, sadly not.
The N1 I am sure is a great device but for now I am back to the Nokia. Perhaps with a little more time and patience I would learn to love the operating system of Android 2.1 but the hardware limitations (speaker and camera in the main) have led me to place my 2 day old Nexus One on the market.
For anyone interested, it's in the marketplace HERE for £449.99.
I will keep a close eye on Android and with MWC just around the corner, perhaps I will be tempted back when the hardware is available to match the O/S!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to say this is way off the mark.
firstly the 5800 is rubbish. I had one and the earphone volume was ultra low until you pushed the case. Faulty connection in 90% of 5800's made. the OS is a nasty mess of s60v3 and touch. Sometimes you need single touch, sometimes you need double touch.
The contruction quality is poor, to be charitable.
You might be right about the sound quality, I gave my 5800 back within 2 days so never really tried it. but HTC devices normally have pretty good sound, perhaps a third party player with different codec might improve, or further roms might improve in the future.
On every other stat I wouldn't even bother to compare the 5800 to the N1

melterx12 said:
I would troll.. thats a ripoff and he knows it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a ripoff if he sell it in the UK, and he will know there is no way a US citizen is gonna buy it, why would they?
They are selling on eBay for more than that over here.
Kev

Eclair~ said:
I agree with this so much, I honestly do not know what you were expecting from a mere cellphone - even though some may have superb sound playback, I honestly never have "high expectations" for the quality of the speaker. Honestly, I never knew people so extensively used the speakerphone on a device enough to actually make them completely regret the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A bit unfair on the guy, I agree the speaker is silly bad, and why? Nokia can and do put some nice speakers in some phones, 5800 and N95's come to mind as brilliant, and some stinkers a bad as the N1, like the E72, N97, N97 mini.
Even the iPhone speaker from flipping 3 years ago sounds quite nice when you have no choice but to use it instead of headphones.
Kev

Tough choice

Hey,
I was planing on getting this phone due to how cheap it is and wanting to try wp7 out.
I read a lot of issues about the phone and kind of discouraged.
The big question I have is should I just wait and see what "if" any newer wp7 phones are coming to Tmobile or should I take the plunge.
Please be honest lol You'll be saving a life if this phone really is a hassel.

the problems with this phone are fixed via new firmware and mango (most likely)
if you waited this long you could wait for the next batch to come out (like the searay)
but if you want a keyboard - this is the phone to get. It is also mad cheap!
i picked one up even tho i already have a w7 phone and i plan to get the new nokia too. (but i'm crazy)

A lot of the problems are reportedly fixed by the new (.212) firmware, which is due out this week! There's a good write-up in the article below.
http://wmpoweruser.com/dell-venue-pro-users-new-fw-report/
My phone is very stable with wifi disabled i.e. no lockups or reboots in over 3 months. The wifi issue is apparently caused by a DMA conflict - the new firmware reportedly fixes this.
It's a very nice phone. I don't regret purchasing mine.
On the downside, the camera is relatively poor. It's also thicker than most phones as it has a (very good) hardware keyboard.
Your decision is whether to get an ageing phone (i.e. DVP) cheap or wait for the next generation devices. This is something you will have to decide for yourself

Great phone...
1. Terrible camera
2. Low (read very) heatset volume
Hence spoils your upload to Facebook fun and also the the zune experience...
I honestly don't recommend this phone
Using .212 .... very stable with wifi

Strange. For me, headset volume has been very good using ue-18 pros. Very powerful at 15/30. However, my DVP is running old firmware(.105) and crashes alot. Like the device, but am still waiting for an update.

mechmouni said:
2. Low (read very) heatset volume
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned by aFo3262, the type of headset / earbuds you have can also make a big difference.
I listen to my DVP on the underground using cheap Creative EP-630 earbuds and have never had a problem with the volume being too low. Earbuds that fit inside your ear often give the best volume. They also reduce noise leakage, as long as you have the right size rubber pads, so people around you don't hear what you're listening to.
These are the earbuds I used to use with my iPod. The iPod is louder - however, the DVP goes loud enough that I always leave my iPod at home
Thought I'd mention as I'm not sure how much Dell can / will do to increase the output of the earphone jack.

You should not be using earphones playing music loudly to cover up other loud noises. You will destroy your ears. I am travelling in the UK and I have to agree with magicsquid, on my Skullcandy over-ear headphones the trains and underground seem dull compared to my headset volume of 17/30.

I work outside (very noisy equipment) all day every day and use these:
http://na.audeoworld.com/products/perfectfit/
Highly recommend them.

mechmouni said:
Great phone...
1. Terrible camera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nod nod to that.
the camera.. even in bright light, is crap!
volume is fine.. but i always keep it maxed. its max is lower than you'd expect. But i'm find with it
running 212 and mango beta 2.

I received mine from the eBay deal 2 days ago. It came with .212 firmware on it and I've had no issues. I put Mango on it today. Performance is good and I have no headphone issues - I'm listening at about 20 (out of 30).