Most smartphones have poor in-call/earpiece sound?

[ibex333]

I've been noticing lately, that any smartphone I use, the sound is horrible. I constantly have to strain to hear the person on the other end, unless I'm in a quiet room, with absolutely no background noise. I thought it was just the Samsung phones, so I got an HTC One M8 because many said it would be better. Well, it's not. Not even with the option for the hearing impaired turned on! (Off course the boom-sound speakers are awesome when listening to movies, music etc.)

I bet you'll say there's something wrong with my hearing. In that case how come I hear the TV, mp3 player, people talking to me, home cordless phone, etc, etc, just fine?

The only two phones that sounded loud and clear in calls were iPhone 4S and Galaxy S3(Rooted, Cyanogen Mod installed). Note, the GS3 was horrible in calls before I installed the mod. But I couldn't use those two phones forever, so I moved on!

Maybe the issue is that I hate talking with the phone pressed into my ear. I hold it loosely, maybe an inch or so away from the ear.

What is everyone's opinions on this? Is it just me? Which phone do you own and how do you feel about it when it comes to in-call sound? How do you hold your phone when you are talking?

 

[Keysplayr]

Have you tried different service providers? Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile?
I use Sprint and no matter what phone I've had with them, the sound quality is always spotty. Sometimes fantastic, sometimes straining to hear or the other person sounds like they are moving their phone to and from their face. I don't think it is the phones. I think it's always going to depend on the quality of your connection. Remember you are sharing airwaves will several billion other people. Lot of traffic.

 

[pcslookout]

I find landline and skype quality better.

 

[Demo24]

If your doing that try speaker option? I use that extensively, and find on my icon it has superior quality compared to the earpiece which can at times be rather 'muddy' sounding.

 

[paperwastage]

I have the same problem: find it hard to hear people over the phone (brain needs to filter out a lot of background noise and then try to decipher what the other party is saying)

Unless the other party is on T-Mobile using HD voice. HD voice (using amr-wb codec with a higher bandwidth ) makes a huge difference. Its a lot clearer and sounds a lot better

Sample:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2458374,00.asp

T-Mobile uses 12.5kbps amr wb for umts/3g hs voice, and 24kbps amrwb for volte...

Go to a T-Mobile store and test a phone call between their phones

Last I checked, att has amr wb/HD voice/volte in some phones/locations, but use only 6 kbps amrwb (may have changed). Don't know what sprint uses for their HD voice

 

[isekii]

VoLTE is amazing on t-mobile It sounds so clear.

 

[ibex333]

Thanks for the replies! I will definitely give AT&T a call. And if all else fails I'll use the speaker I guess.

 

[soccerballtux]

Have you tried different service providers? Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile?
I use Sprint and no matter what phone I've had with them, the sound quality is always spotty. Sometimes fantastic, sometimes straining to hear or the other person sounds like they are moving their phone to and from their face. I don't think it is the phones. I think it's always going to depend on the quality of your connection. Remember you are sharing airwaves will several billion other people. Lot of traffic.

make sure you guys have EVRC-B enabled. On Virgin Mobile at least, the default setting from factory on SGS2 (E4GT) was disabled. That makes a noticeable difference, but it's still not as good as being on AT&T.
but now that you mention it, my Nexus 5 does not sound as good as the Atrix4G I had. When I switched to that on STAT&T, it was like wow, what have I been missing

 

[vi edit]

Samsung call quality sucks. My motox is a night and day improvement over my Gnote II when it comes to earpiece sound.

 

[soccerballtux]

Samsung call quality sucks. My motox is a night and day improvement over my Gnote II when it comes to earpiece sound.

maybe it is just samsung..hm...

 

[Keysplayr]

make sure you guys have EVRC-B enabled. On Virgin Mobile at least, the default setting from factory on SGS2 (E4GT) was disabled. That makes a noticeable difference, but it's still not as good as being on AT&T.
but now that you mention it, my Nexus 5 does not sound as good as the Atrix4G I had. When I switched to that on STAT&T, it was like wow, what have I been missing

How is this done? I have GSIII on Sprint. Looking through phone settings but I don't see anything.

N/M. Found it.

 

[ibex333]

How is this done? I have GSIII on Sprint. Looking through phone settings but I don't see anything.

N/M. Found it.

I didn't find it. Where is it?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

HD Voice is taking way too long to roll out. Hopefully it comes soon on AT&T. But the problem is you need an HD Voice handset right? Also you need to be on the same network. Ugh its a mess.

BTW is the iPhone that loud? I don't think its THAT loud of an earpiece.