Google voice search prompts do not obey volume sliders - Moto X Q&A

On a Bluetooth headset, Google (voice) search prompt tones are intolerably loud. I use Persist+ & with all sliders @ zero, it just does its own loud prompt.
Is there a solution?
My workaround is to disable Google Search & let voice search 2.1.4 handle voice dialing.
Frustrated & not rooted!
Edit
My solution. http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/general/workaround-fix-loud-prompt-google-voice-t2725610

This is my biggest gripe with this phone, and android in general... Bluetooth sucks. For me, the initial prompt is so low you can't hear it while driving, and then the command response is like 20dB louder.
That's when it manages to send it over Bluetooth. Half the time it comes over the speaker, and sometimes half of it comes over one and then switches to the other.
I'm gonna ask Santa for an Android Bluetooth stack that actually works as expected; seems pretty clear Google and/or Motorola is incapable of delivering one.

Solutions Etcetera said:
This is my biggest gripe with this phone, and android in general... Bluetooth sucks. For me, the initial prompt is so low you can't hear it while driving, and then the command response is like 20dB louder.
That's when it manages to send it over Bluetooth. Half the time it comes over the speaker, and sometimes half of it comes over one and then switches to the other.
I'm gonna ask Santa for an Android Bluetooth stack that actually works as expected; seems pretty clear Google and/or Motorola is incapable of delivering one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you unrooted & what build?
I am glad to have voice search anyway!
My ERA, the mini, is great. Battery life is poor if you leave it on, but is great via the manual switch.

aviwdoowks said:
Are you unrooted & what build?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unrooted, stock 4.4.2.

I got a FRU for a dim & slightly yellow screen with my month old phone. It worked with a much lower prompt tone.
Both phones have identical SW. So it could be a hardware issue.
BTW. After complaining about the bad FRU with WiFi not switching on at times & soft keys disappearing, Vzw CS is now sending a new phone out!

If you are talking about the prompt after you say "Okay Google Now" with that response volume being very low, this is an issue that Moto is aware of. For a temporary fix, from your home screen you can press the volume down button a few times, then turn it back up. That fixes it for me, usually until I have to restart the phone.
Try that and see if it works for you.

hbar98 said:
If you are talking about the prompt after you say "Okay Google Now" with that response volume being very low, this is an issue that Moto is aware of. For a temporary fix, from your home screen you can press the volume down button a few times, then turn it back up. That fixes it for me, usually until I have to restart the phone.
Try that and see if it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't work for me. Bluetooth volume is seriously borked in 4.4 (and 4.4.2), and it behaves erratically. Even if I lower the volume, it jumps back up when playing podcasts after accessing touchless control. I have tried to fix it (re-pair bluetooth, clear cache, clear dalvik cache, factory reset, etc.).
Really sad that one of the biggest reasons to buy this phone doesn't work as expected when you would need it most (while driving). I keep hoping for a fix, but the last two that came down from Motorola (for the Assist app) broke more than it fixed. And Google's tainted history with its bloody bluetooth stack does not have me feeling confident that this will get cleared up anytime soon.
FWIW, it was working fine in 4.2.2, and it works fine in 4.4.2 with a Moto bluetooth headset... but third party bluetooth devices (Kinivo, LG, Logitech) act as if they are haunted.
Maybe its time to just roll over on Android and go back to iPhone.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Solutions Etcetera said:
This doesn't work for me. Bluetooth volume is seriously borked in 4.4 (and 4.4.2), and it behaves erratically. Even if I lower the volume, it jumps back up when playing podcasts after accessing touchless control. I have tried to fix it (re-pair bluetooth, clear cache, clear dalvik cache, factory reset, etc.).
Really sad that one of the biggest reasons to buy this phone doesn't work as expected when you would need it most (while driving). I keep hoping for a fix, but the last two that came down from Motorola (for the Assist app) broke more than it fixed. And Google's tainted history with its bloody bluetooth stack does not have me feeling confident that this will get cleared up anytime soon.
FWIW, it was working fine in 4.2.2, and it works fine in 4.4.2 with a Moto bluetooth headset... but third party bluetooth devices (Kinivo, LG, Logitech) act as if they are haunted.
Maybe its time to just roll over on Android and go back to iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was talking about a different issue. There is a strange issue with the Moto Assist where, even if your volume is turned all the way up, the Moto Assist voice is extremely low. Adjusting the volume down, then up, is a temp fix to bring the Moto Assist voice back in line with the regular volume. The volumes jumping around issue is something different that I have not experienced yet with 4.4.2 (and I have my phone currently paired to no less than 4 different bluetooth speakers: a Miccus and a Jabra in the car, a Westinghouse speaker in the house, and a set of Plantronics ear buds).
Occasionally, when the Moto Assist voice is really low, the current song that is playing will also become low, but skipping the song fixes the problem. I have chatted with Moto techs, and they are working on the issue. (And I recall 4.2 bluetooth being more unstable in my use... 4.4 has fixed issues I was experiencing.)
You've listed several devices that have the volume jumping issue. Since you don't have any issues with the Moto headset, I wonder if maybe the receiving device isn't exactly compatible? What models of devices don't seem to work with your X? What version of Bluetooth are they on? Maybe that's something to investigate. And, yes, Google's bluetooth can be messy sometimes.
You may, of course, leave Android for the iPhone (or Windows phone). That is a personal choice. But I have several friends who have iPhones, and they have different issues that I, personally, couldn't put up with. If yours is the current state of bluetooth with certain devices, and you are certain that switching to an iPhone will fix that issue, then by all means do the switch.

hbar98 said:
You may, of course, leave Android for the iPhone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was more tongue in cheek than anything else.
In 4.4, Google attempted to unify bluetooth volume control. Beforehand, volume controls on hardware (LG Tone+ for instance) was independent of the bluetooth volume on the phone. This was no different than connecting an aux cable to an amp with its own volume control; adjusting the amp's volume control did not affect the output volume of the phone.
This makes a lot of sense as different devices have different sensitivities, and it is desirable to leave your phone's BT volume at a median level, and fine tune the audio level of each device using their own volume controls.
In 4.4, Google decided that BT devices that had their own volume controls should actually control the BT volume of the phone, and not their own input sensitivity. This may or not be a desirable feature for most (it wasn't for me), but that would be under the assumption that the implementation actually works as intended. It doesn't. Certainly not on the Kinivo BTC450 and the LG HBS730. These are popular, highly rated devices, and the end result of 4.4's changes are jumpy, nonlinear volume settings, where spots along the midpoint of the volume slider interface are significantly louder than those above it, and volume levels change depending on what you're doing on your phone.
I suppose one could write off these devices as incompatible, but these issues did not exist with them prior to 4.4, and do not exist on devices on other platforms running BT 4. And of course, BT is a standard that is supposed to be backward compatible for the protocols (A2DP in this case) that are supported.
I'm aware that 4.4 and above fixed some issues that existed in prior builds, but my recollection is that these were mostly connectivity problems. The changes to volume behavior was simply rancid icing on the cake. I just hope a fix is imminent as this is the single most frustrating bug I am experiencing on the Moto X.

Solutions Etcetera said:
That was more tongue in cheek than anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured as much, but I'm of the opinion that if a piece of technology does not work how you want it to, or there are issues that are deal breakers for you, and a different piece of technology does address those issues, then you should switch. The comment was by no means intended to be snide or off handed: that is how I view technology (when I am able to afford it, natch).
In response to the new way that Android handles BT audio... I suppose I'm a different use case than you. Most of my stuff is either jerry rigged to work, or I don't notice the great difference in how it handles audio volumes. I can imagine how this can be frustrating when your volume jumps up and down, and for your sake I hope they do fix the issue.
I'd still be interested in seeing if there was a common theme to devices that do the audio shifts. However, it appears that it can be fixed. According to the following link, the volume controls work properly for the LG device you listed on the Nexus 5, running 4.4.2. Unless the Moto X has issues with that particular chip, you may (eventually) be in luck. (The Kinivo device is also listed, but not much more is said than the audio quality being awesome).
http://forums.androidcentral.com/moto-x/346424-moto-x-bluetooth-apt-x-vs-nexus-5-sound-quality.html

Persist + may have made a difference for me on my FRU replacement, it was (being returned due to buggy HW & getting a new phone) working much better but had no time to test everything on 442.

Related

Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet

Just came across this article describing a bluetooth vibrating bracelet. Those of you who are interested could check it out here.
http://www.mobilehornet.com/archives/643
this is quite cool but does it have a microphone and speaker? or does it just vibrate. if not just by a vibrating headset, or buy the bluetoth watch then you can see who is calling.
Funny, I was just going to post this item myself.
I saw this one: http://www.netpcdirect.co.uk/bluetooth_vibrating_bracelet.php
My first thought was how silly it was.
Then I got to thinking about it.......
I wear my Advantage on my waist, when I'm in a high-noise area (which happens a lot for me) - I can't hear it ring. I keep my bluetooth headset on my wait in another case, not in my ear at all times.
This would take care of the problem.
Also, at night, I sometimes get calls from work in the middle of the night. I keep the audio on my phone low at night, but it usually wakes the wife up anyway. This would fix that problem - I could mute the phone at night, and hopefully the vibration would wake me.
Oh, one more thing - I don't know if the Advantage could have an item like this AND the normal bluetooth headset. I would need them both to be active - the bracelet to vibrate, and then put the headset on & pick up the phone & talk through my normal bluetooth headset.
I found ( not expensive) and perfect solution for Athena owners.
It's LG HBM-500 with OLED Display and vibra .
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
jas_pik said:
I found ( not expensive) and perfect solution for Athena owners.
It's LG HBM-500 with OLED Display and vibra .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rationale for having the bracelet is that not all of us find it practical nor cool to put that 'thing' on our ear walking around and sleeping. This applies especially to people without many calls. If you get calls non stop, I supposed it is more convenient to wear something like LG HBM-500 all the time (not while sleeping though).
But people, let's come back to our senses. Why would you allow technology to ruin your lives to the extend of wanting to receive call while sleeping?
eaglesteve said:
The rationale for having the bracelet is that not all of us find it practical nor cool to put that 'thing' on our ear walking around and sleeping. This applies especially to people without many calls. If you get calls non stop, I supposed it is more convenient to wear something like LG HBM-500 all the time (not while sleeping though).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more.
eaglesteve said:
But people, let's come back to our senses. Why would you allow technology to ruin your lives to the extend of wanting to receive call while sleeping?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, I can't agree less - for now anyway. My job means available 24x7. And I get the overnight call far too often for my tastes. So in my case, a solution that allows my job to wake me up without waking my wife up is a pretty good thing.
I don't like to have to much separate gadgets: one for vibrating socond to speak
Ours Athenas have a few functions in one - so I found this LG as good comapanion ( three functions in one - view number,get signal by vibra and speak.
It's small , use mini USB to charge - you can put in close your head near bed .
For me it's much better to wake up by vibrations .So I can check who is calling - OLED gives perfect view all the night .
Because our Athena is without vibra it's best solution IMHO.
I don't like to have it in ear all the time - it's allways on strip - easy to wear
polstein said:
Couldn't agree more.
Sadly, I can't agree less - for now anyway. My job means available 24x7. And I get the overnight call far too often for my tastes. So in my case, a solution that allows my job to wake me up without waking my wife up is a pretty good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I see where you're coming from now. Are you a doctor? Nurse? Emergency equipment maintenance engineer?
jas_pik said:
I don't like to have to much separate gadgets: one for vibrating socond to speak
Ours Athenas have a few functions in one - so I found this LG as good comapanion ( three functions in one - view number,get signal by vibra and speak.
It's small , use mini USB to charge - you can put in close your head near bed .
For me it's much better to wake up by vibrations .So I can check who is calling - OLED gives perfect view all the night .
Because our Athena is without vibra it's best solution IMHO.
I don't like to have it in ear all the time - it's allways on strip - easy to wear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so you tie it to your wrist? How clever.
I have teenaged children who "spend the night" at friends houses. It is not unheard of to get a call during sleep from the kid, the other parent or (God forbid!) the police. If a call comes in the middle of the night, chances are it is not good news, but extremely urgent nonetheless. For me, a vibrate is far less jarring than a ringing phone.
A bluetooth watch is another alternative. It's advantage is that you could see who is calling, and you could control your MP3 player with it. The downside is it is very bulky and expensive as compared to the bracelet.
Not sure if they are compatible with Athena. Has anyone tried?
http://www.expansys.com.au/d.aspx?i=156733
Why they could make such tiny BT headset and still have to have such bulky BT watch? Why can't you talk into the watch without touching the phone?
eaglesteve said:
A bluetooth watch is another alternative. It's advantage is that you could see who is calling, and you could control your MP3 player with it. The downside is it is very bulky and expensive as compared to the bracelet.
Not sure if they are compatible with Athena. Has anyone tried?
http://www.expansys.com.au/d.aspx?i=156733
Why they could make such tiny BT headset and still have to have such bulky BT watch? Why can't you talk into the watch without touching the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you look on the websight that is selling the bluetooth wristband in the 3rd post on page one of this thread they sell a BT watch for just £50.00 in classic or sports editions not 2 bad, but probably not as good as the sony/erricson one
eaglesteve said:
Okay, I see where you're coming from now. Are you a doctor? Nurse? Emergency equipment maintenance engineer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IT at a TV station. Among my responsibilities - support for our newsroom software (and someone is allllmost always at work since we run live news almost around the clock), and support for the computers that keep us on the air (which do run 24/7).
It's actually the reason I went from a normal pocketpc to the Advantage - we implemented a terminal server here, and it's not very usable on a smaller screen. But with the advantage, it's like Windows 2003 on your hip. Talk about small laptops
spzero said:
if you look on the websight that is selling the bluetooth wristband in the 3rd post on page one of this thread they sell a BT watch for just £50.00 in classic or sports editions not 2 bad, but probably not as good as the sony/erricson one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did some searching for other bluetooth watches, and saw the sony/erricson one - doesn't that only work with ericcson phones?
The Sony Bluetooth watches DO NOT work with any Windows Mobile Phone, they use a propritary comm format that doesnt work.
JetWare is supposed to be working on an updated version that is supposed to support the watches. I have been waiting for months for this.
I also have the Citizen Bluetooth watch, but all menus were in Japaneese and you could not have the Watch and a headset connected at the same time as both use the Headset profile.
G
GuardianZX9 said:
you could not have the Watch and a headset connected at the same time as both use the Headset profile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my main concern. The bracelet (or watch) is useless to me if I can't use it alongside my normal bluetooth headset. I need the bracelet to vibrate, and I would then put on my bluetooth headset & hit the answer button on it.
polstein said:
This is my main concern. The bracelet (or watch) is useless to me if I can't use it alongside my normal bluetooth headset. I need the bracelet to vibrate, and I would then put on my bluetooth headset & hit the answer button on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If none of the watches allows phone conversation and issue voice command to the device, it makes sense to me to have the bracelet as it is the least bulky.
Agreed there as well. I'm hoping to see some reviews. Before I spend the $, I would like to know about the working along the headset issue, and if it vibrates strong enough to possibly wake a sleeping person.
watch and headset
eaglesteve said:
A bluetooth watch is another alternative. It's advantage is that you could see who is calling, and you could control your MP3 player with it. The downside is it is very bulky and expensive as compared to the bracelet.
Not sure if they are compatible with Athena. Has anyone tried?
http://www.expansys.com.au/d.aspx?i=156733
Why they could make such tiny BT headset and still have to have such bulky BT watch? Why can't you talk into the watch without touching the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about this? http://cgi.ebay.com/Bluetooth-Watch...ageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118
pkchainsaw said:
How about this? http://cgi.ebay.com/Bluetooth-Watch...ageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo!!
pkchainsaw,
Good find! This is exactly what I've been looking for, conceptually. Now it's a question of quality, reliability, and cost. Also, more information is needed its functionalities. For example, does it vibrate? If not, how would we use it during meeting? (its okay for me if it does not vibrate, since I'm already using "mosquitoes ring tone" during meeting now, and that works very well) Can you make call also, or only to take call? (would microsoft voice command work with this?) Will the watch comes off the wrist when I wear it to play golf or doing other exercises involving swinging of arms?
If anyone is already a user, please share your experience.

[REVIEW]Motorola S10-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headset

Howdy folks, your friendly neighborhood mod ashasaur here with a review of my new Motorola S10-HD stereo Bluetooth headset. As the name suggests, this is a Bluetooth headset that no only supports stereo sound, but REQUIRES a device that has stereo Bluetooth(A2DP) support, and that my friends...is what the HD2 has. Anywho, the review!
DEVICE-The device itself is really nice, great build quality. It comes with 4 sets of rubber ear dome-thingies so if you have giant ass ears like me you can switch the domes to ones that fit more snuggly. Included in the box are the domes, instructions and a Micro USB charger. The device has several physical buttons-Volume Up/Down, Play/Pause, Track Skip, Track Back, Power and End/Send. It is available in either jet black or silver.
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS-As I said above, you have to have a device that has stereo Bluetooth capabilities, also known as A2DP, which the HD2(and many newer HTC devices) has. The S10-HD works with both Windows Mobile and Android from my personal testing. I am using the newest Energy ROM, and Froyostone Sense v3.2, and stereo sound and calling works great under both operating systems.
FEATURES-One of the best features of the S10-HD is that it's volume controls are independent of WinMo's or Android's. Meaning, you can have your device's volume at any setting, and the volume on the headset is independent of this setting, which means that you don't have to fiddle with the volume slider on the phone in order to get a reasonable level, you can use the buttons on the headset...and your normal ringtone/system volume remains unaffected on your device. Now, one downside is that system audio is NOT pushed to the headset, IE new text or e-mail notifications still play on the speaker of your device, which is kind of a downer. Another downside is that in order for phone call audio to be pushed to the headset, you MUST answer a phone call using the Call End/Send button the the headset itself. Using the screen or buttons on the phone to answer the call will default them to the mic/speaker of the phone instead. The last downside is that the buttons on the headset, other then Call End/Send and the volume keys don't actually do anything under WinMo. I am currently looking into this and will update if I find out how to make them work, as they do work under Android.
SOUND QUALITY-The S10-HD features, in my opinion, better than average sound quality. The range of the headset is pretty damn good in my opinion. I always keep my HD2 in a holster on my left side, and the sound, even when walking/jogging is consistent with no fuzziness or fade ins/outs. However, the microphone is rather far away from your mouth, on your right ear no less, so you do have to speak up for people to hear you on a call. The sound quality itself is rather good for wireless headphones, and almost comparable to the stock HTC wired headphones, or any other wired set for that matter.
BATTERY LIFE-The battery life of the S10-HD is actually pretty decent for a stereo headset. On standby you will easily get 5-6 days, and connected you will get 7ish hours of music listening and 8ish hours of talk. It takes around 3 hours to fully charge the battery from dead.
PRICE-The Motorola S10-HD is available from stores in the US such as Best-Buy and Target for around 80USD, sometimes a little lower(I got mine for 50 bucks on sale).
PROS/CONS
PROS:
Lightweight
Good sound quality
Good battery life
Decent price
CONS:
Hardware buttons don't do anything
Calls aren't always pushed to headset
System audio doesn't play through headset
FINAL SCORE-8/10
Overall, it's a great little stereo headset, and you really can't go wrong for the price. Highly recommended!
Check out my video review on my YouTube channel here:LINK COMING SOON!
motorolla hd rokr
the battery cannot be replaced either, @ 400 chargings.
Any Bluetooth headset or any setting that incase you answer the call from the handset the voice is pushed through Headset?
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
An excellent device !!!! I have Motorola S9 HD, and Motorola S10 HD yet better...
I use more than 2 years, a battery holds fine!
Free hands works fine.
Necessarily I will purchase the update version of this device.
I am sorry for not correct English
is it fully compatible with my samsung galaxy GT I9100?
is it fully compatible with my samsung galaxy GT I9100?
REVIEWMotorola S10 HD Stereo Bluetooth Headset
Good afternoon guyfromtor. I tried that 15 day from BlueSoleil. Unfortunately, I keep getting errors "Your sound hardware cannot simultaneously play sounds and capture your voice. Im thinking it is just not compatible with the wind.
I dont know what else to try.
Thanks for your help. I may try someones mono BT headset and see if that works.
plz help!!!!!
vakas_2007 said:
is it fully compatible with my samsung galaxy GT I9100?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can anyone help me???
S9s are way Better
Just Got the S10 after my S9 broke and here is what I think:
The S9-HD is way better than the S10-HD, Motorola really screwed up on this one in my opinion. The sound quality on the 10 compared to the 9 is terrible, bass is nearly non existent. The S9 was a little wider and shorter compared to the S10 which is more narrow and longer which means that the 9 fit comfortably and formed to the back of my neck so I could wear and big coat with a thick collar and still have nothing hanging off the back of my neck hitting my coast every time i turn my neck, and the damn ear buds fall off whenever I take em off my head.....I really wish I would have bought some replacement s9s instead of the new s10s they were way better.
so here is my two cents for anyone who cares........GET THE S9-HDs!!
---------- Post added at 08:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 PM ----------
If your device has A2DP Bluetooth functionality then they will work, but get the S9's.
nice device works fine
In my opinion, I think the best Bluetooth headset is The Nokia bh-503
if you want a cheap pair you can pick them up on eBay for about 20-30 dollars
I Had mine for a year an some change and i have no complaints, I recommend them too all my friends, I use them at the gym 4 times a week, and i charge them on arrange once every two weeks, they hold a charge for a long time, Crisp clean sound
I tried the the Motorola S-9 HD and i had alot of problems with them playing music and just staying connected to my Phone HD2,
heres the link to Nokia bh- 503 on eBay, on sale for 19 dollars think i might pick up a spare pair =)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOKIA-BH-50...er_MP3_Player_Accessories&hash=item33711839e5
I got a S10-HD headphone from
http://www.digglove.com/black-red-s10-hd-s10hd-bluetooth-stereo-headset-headphone-for-motorola.html
excellent. i like it very much.

Nexus 4 mic gain too high / distorted input

Please vote here to bring the issue more attention.
Hey guys, something I noticed. While testing several VoIP options, I found out that my voice with the Speex low bitrate codec was coming out on the other end significantly distorted. I thought at first it was the compression (the codec may apply dynamic compression). But as it turns out, it's the mic gain itself on the phone. The codec simply exacerbates the problem. I don't know if this is a hardware or an OS problem, but it's OS-wide.
If you're holding the phone like a handset on your face, then something a bit louder than a whisper will distort a bit. If you're talking loudly, for sure. This is not as noticeable with regular calls, cause the frequency range is limited, but for higher-quality streams it is a problem. If you don't have another smartphone at hand, you can test how high you can go with e.g. Skype's call testing service, or this number someone in another thread mentioned, where you can hear yourself in real time: (909)390-0003 (I'm in the US with T-mobile).
This is not only a problem with calls, which is my main concern, but also, if you're going for example to a concert, you better get something else to record your clips. There are some of the samples I could find with loud enough audio (which is not very loud) that it distorts.
First the most egregious one: http://www.symbiantweet.com/nokia-lumia-920-vs-google-nexus-4-audio-and-video-recording-comparison
Since that comes from a WP forum, some of you may be rolling your eyes (although, faking that would be pretty childish even for the most staunch fanboy).
Here are a couple other videos I found that show the problem:
http://youtu.be/iF4MBGQUJYY:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
http://youtu.be/1UJZYWqGNMQ:
The several VoIP apps that have a "mic gain" control (Groove IP, Talkatone, Sipdroid, CSipSimple) don't actually change the mic gain, but the app's gain which means the already distorted audio will go out with a lower volume, but the damage has already been done.
From searching, it seems that the only way to set actual gain lower in Android is if the kernel permits it, which means a custom kernel. Hopefully the CM guys or someone else can address this. Since the phone is not in the hands of too many people right now and it hasn't been long, the problem is not very widely known, but once people start going to concerts and trying to record clips, there's gonna be some complaints.
It seems that LG messed up a lot that's microphone related. But this problem actually needs attention paid to it.
The Nexus 4 doesn't seem to have auto gain at all (e. g. for videos and audio recording). I'm not sure if this is an Android problem or one particular to this phone.
Also the gain on handset mode is pretty much the same (even seems a bit louder) than in speakerphone mode. I assumed it was a given that it should be significantly lower.
Are there any kernels or ROMs or anything that fixes this yet that anyone knows of? I am using AOKP with Franco Kernel and it is really bad in the app Voxer that I use several times a day. My recordings sound terrible.
Right now all we can do is hope that LG fixes it in an update or a developer fixes the issue with a patch.
andy o said:
The Nexus 4 doesn't seem to have auto gain at all (e. g. for videos and audio recording). I'm not sure if this is an Android problem or one particular to this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its android problem ( no auto Gain ) which sucks if u r recording in loud environment u will get **** sound
(but in wolfson audio chips u can control mic gain with voodoo sound like GS1 or Nexus S )
And here I was thinking that latency was the worst problem for recording apps on Android. They even supposedly improved latency on 4.1 and 4.2, but this is way worse. For recording, Android is even farther behind iOS than I thought, and if this has always been a problem and nobody cares, probably everybody will keep not caring for the N4. Ideally the CM guys would take notice, I wonder how difficult it would be to implement it for them.
andy o said:
And here I was thinking that latency was the worst problem for recording apps on Android. They even supposedly improved latency on 4.1 and 4.2, but this is way worse. For recording, Android is even farther behind iOS than I thought, and if this has always been a problem and nobody cares, probably everybody will keep not caring for the N4. Ideally the CM guys would take notice, I wonder how difficult it would be to implement it for them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember, this phone hit a little over a month old a few days ago.
The problem with this phone in particular is that the gain is set too high, but since I first posted the OP I've learned that this was also a problem with the galaxy nexus, at least on a lesser magnitude. And the fact that there is no way for apps to adjust gain is an Android problem in general (and news to me as well).
andy o said:
The problem with this phone in particular is that the gain is set too high, but since I first posted the OP I've learned that this was also a problem with the galaxy nexus, at least on a lesser magnitude. And the fact that there is no way for apps to adjust gain is an Android problem in general (and news to me as well).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also having this issue most apparent in the voxer app when you play back the message you send ... you can tell it's way too over driven.
My nexus 7 doesn't do this
I myself am surprised nobody fixed it yet.
this explains why when i lower the volume during a call it doesnt appear to actually lower the volume of the call
Lockeskidney said:
this explains why when i lower the volume during a call it doesnt appear to actually lower the volume of the call
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure that this is the same problem. Do you mean the volume you're hearing on the phone? Cause we're talking about the input gain on the mic, which means that the app will get the sound very high, many times distorted as in the examples above, and then it can lower it, but the already distorted sound cannot be fixed and it will be sent that way. Lowering the sound does work here for incoming audio in calls.
Nexus 4 mic very sensitive
I'm surprised that this is not all over the web. I guess there are not many users with VOIP accounts on their Nexus 4.
This problem makes it unusable as a VOIP phone.
It seems during a VIOP call, the second mic is not used to surpress background noise... it actually amplifies it.
I think at least two things are happening here. The second mic amplifies background noise and also pics up noise from the earpiece since they are so close.
I have put a small piece of scotch tape over the second mic and with the earpiece at 50% volume, the issue is almost gone. This solution/work around would only be suitable if a. you don't mind tape on your $350 handset and b. calls are only made in a quiet environment. This is because at 50% earpiece volume it is very difficult to hear the caller.
Again this does not happen during cellular voice calls.
I have not fully tested, but I believe using a bluetooth headset will also eliminate the problem.
Symptom: during voip calls background noise is amplified including introduced echo from earpiece causing major distortion on the receiving callers earpiece.
Bump. Is there a fix for this because i rely in Weixin (we chat) and this makes it unusable.
bump it till it's half past bumped
jackierobinson said:
bump it till it's half past bumped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have modified my kernel to fix the mic issues (I believe) but since I don't use VOIP and I don't have account either. I can't test this myself.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if my kernel fixes made any difference.
faux123 said:
I have modified my kernel to fix the mic issues (I believe) but since I don't use VOIP and I don't have account either. I can't test this myself.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if my kernel fixes made any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I initially thought it wasnt much better, but after using it a bit I think it is actually quite an improvement over how it was before. It's not on the same level as my One X, but it is at least audible in most situations now, where before it was often just fuzz.
Thanks mate. What did you change in the kernel? In layman's terms.
faux123 said:
I have modified my kernel to fix the mic issues (I believe) but since I don't use VOIP and I don't have account either. I can't test this myself.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if my kernel fixes made any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the Kernel. I think there is a slight improvement but gain on VOIP calls is still way too high...not sure what the change in the Kernel is but maybe you can try and reduce the gain even more?
Thanks,
jackierobinson said:
Thanks mate. What did you change in the kernel? In layman's terms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faux is using the method that I describe over here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2092625
It's more of a trick than a permanent fix. The kernel exposes a few audio streams to Android apps such as
MIC, CAMCORDER, VOICE CALL, VOICE RECOGNITION and others. I discovered that CAMCORDER sounds
a bit better than the rest but most apps use the MIC stream. I proposed that kernel devs hardwire MIC and DEFAULT
audio streams to always output the content of CAMCORDER.
We can try tracing the kernel code and figure out what is CAMCORDER doing differently. I would guess it's simply
a noise suppression because the physical signal always seems to be coming from the bottom mic.
The problem with a high mic gain remains.
The best solution will be to find where the driver sets the mic gain and expose these values to the user. Depending on how
the driver code was written that could be obvious or impossible to figure out.

[BUG] In-Call Volume Inheritance between Speaker and Headset - BEWARE OF YOUR EARS

Similar Thread
So far I have searched a thread about this on xda. However it did not catch much attention.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2055110​
Tested ROMs
Stock JDQ39 Android 4.2.2 Factory Image
Android Open Kang Project Official / PUB
Paranoid Android Official
CyanogenMod Official​
Reproduction Procedure
1) Plug in Headset
2) Make a call via Phone app
3) Use volume rocker to turn the volume to [In-Call Volume X] (e.g. Lowest)
4) End the phone call
5) Plug off Headset
6) Make a call via Phone app
7) Because Speaker mode uses another In-Call Volume Profile, you are now hearing [In-Call Volume Y] (e.g. Highest)
8) End the call
9) Plug in Headset
10) Make a call via Phone app
11) You are now hearing [In-Call Volume Y] (e.g. Highest), where you SHOULD hear [In-Call Volume X] (e.g. Lowest)
12) Use volume rocker to modify volume (e.g. press rocker up), now you hear the correct [Modified In-Call Volume X] (e.g. Lowest +1)​
Reported to Google - Issue 53281
Please star it if you can reproduce the issue!
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=53281​
Potential Danger
This can be potentially dangerous for people that uses the Nexus 4 AS A PHONE everyday, or even rely on phoning in his/her job.
In the above example where a user with Headset is unaware of the "Inherited" Highest In-Call Volume from the Speaker mode, the user's ears would be blasted every time he/she makes/receives a phone call.​
Phone calls are the essential feature of a phone. Bugs inside the In-Call Volume on a stock Nexus 4 is really intolerable.
This seems to be a small issue like the incorrect battery percentage reporting / buzzing phone speaker / shaking the phone causes sound etc., but this is different, because it can cause human damage!
Again, please help me to catch Google's attention on this by starring the issue, with the hope that they will fix it soon. Thanks!​
Not using headphones, so I don't really care.
komoornik said:
Not using headphones, so I don't really care.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't use it really frequently too. But don't you want to help make the N4 perfect? That is a very basic function and really shouldn't appear on this phone. In addition, I believe it would be a pain for people who makes alot of phone calls every day. Really a pain.
Because there are alot of people don't care, thats why this basic volume bug is not getting fixed.
5 days, and no one noticed?
alanwyl said:
5 days, and no one noticed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, people just dont care.
either their headphones are with overall lower sound volumes so even when the bug appears it doesnt affect them
or xda people just dont use the N4 to make a lot of calls
i just hope putting the link in my sig can help a little bit
Miasmic said:
lol, people just dont care.
either their headphones are with overall lower sound volumes so even when the bug appears it doesnt affect them
or xda people just dont use the N4 to make a lot of calls
i just hope putting the link in my sig can help a little bit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more link there:good:
|
v
Well. Sorry to say.
I never used Google stock ROM since Nexus one. Nexus S. galaxy Nexus. And also Nexus 4.
as far as i know. low volume quality earpiece when in call volume happens since Nexus S.
so i always use custom kernel and ROM.
a question. Which one will blast our ears?
earpiece or earphones (headset/headphones).
thats why this basic volume bug is not getting fixed.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
rejanmanis said:
Well. Sorry to say.
I never used Google stock ROM since Nexus one. Nexus S. galaxy Nexus. And also Nexus 4.
as far as i know. low volume quality earpiece when in call volume happens since Nexus S.
so i always use custom kernel and ROM.
a question. Which one will blast our ears?
earpiece or earphones (headset/headphones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For low quality, I can still live with it as long as it doesnt damage my ears, but for this one, it is a freaking volume blast.
I have tested the issue (volume inheritance between profiles) on my maguro and it is not there.
I hvn't tested it with those big headphones. But I believe the effect will be significant in those earpieces that put volumes directly into our ear canals - unexpected maxed volume together with the background noise + low quality output, that blast will be horrible!
As far as my knowledge tells, some earpieces have an overall higher volume (especially those without a mic on the wires, and is especially built for music instead of phone calls) to facilitate better music experience. And those combined with this bug will result in a catastrophe. I have changed my earpiece to those built for phone calls + casual music, and even it blasts, the impact is not as big as the ones mentioned above.
so i believe it happens when u used headset isn't it?
and also headset doesn't include out of the box in Nexus 4.
is it possible some thing wrong with your custom headset?
rejanmanis said:
so i believe it happens when u used headset isn't it?
and also headset doesn't include out of the box in Nexus 4.
is it possible some thing wrong with your custom headset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I have tried different ones, with mic, with no mic, etc.
Headsets may be different in their "actual volume output loudness" (how loud ACTUALLY do u hear with the same volume setting, might be different), but the OP is talking about the "software volume output". No matter how quiet your headset is, the bug still happens. (when u plug back in the headset, the call volume output of the nexus 4 still remains the one u set without headset)
It is only a matter of whether it will damage your ears. if your headset's "actual volume output loudness" is loud, then it blasts your ears. if it is very quiet, then it doesnt hurt you.
Sent from my Nexus⁴ using xda premium
I have this problem too and it's really annoying. I'm temporarily fixing it as follows:
I'm currently solving this issue using Llama: whenever I plug in my headphones, I set my call volume to maximum and set a variable. Then whenever I'm in call, I set the call volume back to down to minimum (or whatever you want) AFTER A ONE SECOND DELAY (this is important) if the variable is set. The variable gets cleared whenever the volume gets set back down since it doesn't need to be done multiple times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Change mic gain?

Trying to get a secondhand Droid 4 operational for my wife, who really, really wants a hardware keyboard. When I got it, it worked fine except that intermittently the handset microphone would get too quiet for the person on the other end of the line to hear. Switch to speaker or Bluetooth and everything is fine. It didn't happen all the time, but enough to be annoying. A search revealed a suggested solution was to clear data for Google Services Framework and reboot; this seemed to be somewhat effective, but the issue continued to recur.
Having tried everything else, I rooted it and flashed the latest CM11 milestone. And the mic behavior changed -- now it's always too quiet (not intermittent). Testing reveals that if I shout into the phone, the person on the other end can barely hear something. And Google voice search is unusable -- when I shout, the mic icon flashes sometimes, but it never gets anything.
The intermittent nature of the issue and the change in behavior after installing a different OS leads me to think it's a software issue. Can anyone steer me toward a system file where mic gain is set, or any other possible solution to this issue? Thanks so much.

Categories

Resources