Speakerphone being weird; Is this a feature or defect? - Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers

I was using my Note9 on a phone call today with speakerphone on. I noticed some odd behavior where the earpiece and bottom speakers were both acting as speakers, but randomly, the earpiece would become quieter and only the bottom speaker would be loud. After some investigating, I realized that the earpiece became quieter ONLY when I either put my phone near my head (approximately 1 foot away or closer), or when my hand went near the screen. Note though, that the earpiece never gets muffled physically.
I'm trying to see if my phone is defective or if this is actually a phone feature. A safety feature, to be precise. I THINK that this is a feature to prevent you from accidentally putting the earpiece up against your face and blowing out your eardrums (exaggeratedly speaking), but I can't be certain.
Can anyone chime in if (A) they know this is in fact a feature, or (B) if they are able to also repeat the symptoms by doing the steps below? I'd greatly appreciate it. I still have time to do an exchange (only had the phone for 3 days now) and need to take advantage if my phone is broken or defective.
How to repeat the issue:
1) Make a call
2) Put phone on speakerphone
3) put phone on flat surface with nothing on top of it.
- - earpiece should be acting like a speaker
4) Hover your hand about 1 or 2 inches over the earpiece. Do not physically muffle the earpiece though.
- - earpiece should become quieter
5) remove hand from over the earpiece
- - earpiece should get louder again
6) Pick up phone and move it to your ear
- - earpiece should stay loud until it gets close to your head
Again, I appreciate any feedback.

Mine does it too. I'm guessing it may be intentional, to keep the speakerphone from blasting into your ear if you put the phone to your ear as if for a normal call.

Related

my simple fix for Crack/muffled/distorted/blown speaker issue

This is a TEMPORARY FIX.
i have muffled/distorted/cracked/blown speaker.
whatever you guys called it.
i opened the case, and notice its the left speaker that is causing problem, the other speaker is working fine.
if there is only a way to shut down the spoiled speaker. cutting the power cable to that speaker is risky, and may cause more damage, and ruined the chance to get it fixed in the future.
so what i did was cut a piece of paper, folded it multiple times to be about 0.2cm thick.
place it on top of the spoiled speaker, then close the back case. the paper will press the spoil speaker and stop it from making any sound.
my tablet can now play sound at max volume with no distortion.
this is just a temporary fix until the ASUS service center at my place receive the spare part for speaker replacement. which may take months.
Instead of doing all that faffing around. Can't you just use the poweramp app and use the sound settings menu to cut off volume to that speaker by turning the knob towards the opposite speaker in the balance option. Although I don't know if this will totally decrease the output to the affected speaker.
bubblesmoney said:
Instead of doing all that faffing around. Can't you just use the poweramp app and use the sound settings menu to cut off volume to that speaker by turning the knob towards the opposite speaker in the balance option. Although I don't know if this will totally decrease the output to the affected speaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will
Sent from my Kang Phone
bubblesmoney said:
Instead of doing all that faffing around. Can't you just use the poweramp app and use the sound settings menu to cut off volume to that speaker by turning the knob towards the opposite speaker in the balance option. Although I don't know if this will totally decrease the output to the affected speaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if this works, it only works in the power amp app.
If you watch YouTube videos, the speaker still blown sound.
My temp fix really works through out all app that produce sound.
And it is reversible. Just remove the paper and its back to the blown state.
Just a temporary fix until asus service center have the spare part to replace my speaker.
I had the same problem and read in another thread somewhere that the speaker grill to the "broken" one had popped up.
I took the back cover off and just pressed the speaker down. Worked perfectly.
I sent in my Nexus 7 after the speaker blew after a month. They sent me a new one after a week. Unfortunately it's still the C60 series but fingers crossed that there's no more problems.

[Q] Rattling/buzzing noise, something loose inside.

Upon receiving my second HTC one today (I RMA'ed the first one due to quality control issues discussed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwOu5oXpjVQ ) I find that this one have something loose inside of it, somewhere around the area of the upper speaker or the camera (camera works I've checked it). And it makes this Rattling/buzzing noise every single time a put the phone in my left palm (or by lightly tapping the upper part of the phone), quite annoying after awhile... It's not from a loose power button nor the volume keys. I also tried pulling out the simcard tray as well, and the noise persists.
I never noticed this on the first phone. Are you experiencing any of this? This can't be normal, right?
Hey, a simple no answer would be good if you're not.
Thanks.
(Added poll)
No not for me. If anything, its probably the camera for you thats "loose". It happens with a lot of phones
I'm having a buzzing vibration from the top speaker when playing sound through the speakers (music, video, etc. but not during call). Definitely something vibrating under the speaker grill with the sound waves of the speaker, particularly at the frequency of a male voice talking. I'm about to contact HTC for a return. Very frustrating because the rest of my phone works great. Now I'm worried about getting a refurbished unit with other problems...
dborgo said:
I'm having a buzzing vibration from the top speaker when playing sound through the speakers (music, video, etc. but not during call). Definitely something vibrating under the speaker grill with the sound waves of the speaker, particularly at the frequency of a male voice talking. I'm about to contact HTC for a return. Very frustrating because the rest of my phone works great. Now I'm worried about getting a refurbished unit with other problems...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got mine RMA'ed, second time now. I haven't received a refurbished unit as of yet.. But I'm not in the US and rma's are handled a little different (we do it through the retailer as long as there is any warranty left). Got a new device last time, and I'm expecting that is what I will be getting this time also.

[Q] Upper speaker volume dramatically reduced [hardware problem]

Hi there,
I've had my HO since May and have noted in the past 3-4 months that the in-call volume level was getting less and less.
However I didn't think about it too much, blaming it on me personally as a person who's been having problems with in-call volumes of all my previous HTC phones.
However the problem didn't exist when I first bought the phone.
Just played some music on it:
I still can't hold the lower speaker grill right to my hear as it is just too loud - same as when I had just purchased the phone.
But the upper speaker is a different story - hold it right against it and I can still hear more sound coming from the lower speaker than the upper speaker.
There's no cracking or strange sounds, it just seems clogged up from dust/dried sweat/whatever?!
Tried gently cleaning it with pressured air, didn't do the trick.
Does anybody have another suggestion before I come up with a tooth brush and might damage the speaker inside?
Did some further research on some other boards:
took a dry toothbrush and scrubbed over the speaker a couple of times - like new again!

Speaker crackle - defect, normal, common?

I've had my phone replaced 4 times now, each had a problem. I'm on my 5th Nexus 6 and this one has speaker crackle in the top speaker. I noticed it when I had a Facebook notification, but I haven't heard it since, so obviously. I can only hear it when I play some sort of sound, and afterwards, once the particular sound has finished playing, I hold it right against my ear, and it's sort of like white noise with like crackles and pops in. I can't hear it when it's away from my ear and it doesn't seem to affect call quality.
I've noticed the bottom speaker outputs normal white noise once audio has finished playing, but again, only when holding it up to my ear.
I've read a lot of people have had this, but their replacements seem to do the same thing. Is this worth a replacement (in my case a refund, I don't want a sixth phone) or is it just one of those things that won't really affect the phone?
Move doesn't appear to get any worse when the battery is lower either. It's constant when Google Music is open, when a song is on pause, but I only know this because I held it right against my ear.
Surely, if it was a defective speaker, the speaker wouldn't sound as good as it does playing audio?
Anybody else's so this?
zingxao said:
I've had my phone replaced 4 times now, each had a problem. I'm on my 5th Nexus 6 and this one has speaker crackle in the top speaker. I noticed it when I had a Facebook notification, but I haven't heard it since, so obviously. I can only hear it when I play some sort of sound, and afterwards, once the particular sound has finished playing, I hold it right against my ear, and it's sort of like white noise with like crackles and pops in. I can't hear it when it's away from my ear and it doesn't seem to affect call quality.
I've noticed the bottom speaker outputs normal white noise once audio has finished playing, but again, only when holding it up to my ear.
I've read a lot of people have had this, but their replacements seem to do the same thing. Is this worth a replacement (in my case a refund, I don't want a sixth phone) or is it just one of those things that won't really affect the phone?
Move doesn't appear to get any worse when the battery is lower either. It's constant when Google Music is open, when a song is on pause, but I only know this because I held it right against my ear.
Surely, if it was a defective speaker, the speaker wouldn't sound as good as it does playing audio?
Anybody else's so this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I have the same problem. It's a low frequency noise... after each sound, but only if you hold it to your ear.
Let me tell you that, that does not affects the overall product. I have deal with lots of FACTORY BUGS (like Sensation 4G BT antenna) and so on, but this 1 sec low frequency does not affect as much.
For me is only more noticeable when on low battery.
Hope this helps!:good:
I think it's more of a software issue, are you completely stock? I flash a lot of Roms. There are some I get the crackle noise some that I don't. I also use lean kernel which has updated audio and display drivers... No crackle or pops for me in quite a long time
Is it definitely a software problem? I read online about people saying its hardware, but if it is software I'll keep it. If not I'll have to send it back Monday... would a factory reset do anything?
And yes, completely stock.
And same, mine is worse when on low battery. If I play a game with sound off, there's this constant buzz coming from the top speaker.

Bottom Speaker Louder then Top?

As the subject states.
I'm noticing my bottom speaker is massively louder then the top speaker when playing music and when in call on loudspeaker.
I test by simply covering one of the speakers. The effext is very evident.
The top speaker is very low compared to bottom.
Is anyone else noticing this or has my top speaker failed on me?
dillalade said:
As the subject states.
I'm noticing my bottom speaker is massively louder then the top speaker when playing music and when in call on loudspeaker.
I test by simply covering one of the speakers. The effext is very evident.
The top speaker is very low compared to bottom.
Is anyone else noticing this or has my top speaker failed on me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm noticing the same thing. Balance seems to be off.
If you have had it like that since the beginning you are most likely experiencing the same problem i had.
When the phone was built in the factory, a small plastic piece above the speaker wasn't removed correctly so it muffled the speaker. It went under the warranty cause it's a a problem from the factory
GeoI777 said:
I'm noticing the same thing. Balance seems to be off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Starting to think this is normal?!
Which is weird.
I say normal. Because I just ran the rest on my girlfriends z3c and she notices the same low sound from top speaker.
Lame.
Gonna go test this is store on the demo models see if this is indeed normal...
Tried the demo model in store today I can confirm that both top and bottom speakers provided an EQUAL level of sound (when playing music at least.)
Unlike my phone which has clearly suffered over time through no direct fault of my own.
Sending it back tomorrow

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