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Voice quality terrible

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I tried this phone out in a Sprint Corporate store and the voice quality was just terrible. I don't know if it was just this phone or not, but I certainly would not buy it. I called several people and they all said that it sounded muffled. Do you guys think that poor voice quality is the accepted norm on many smartphones? It just doesn't cut it.
 
I don't seem to have any problems with voice quality either. the loud speaker isn't as loud as it was on my Moment but I did notice however that the call quality is much better even with a very low signal.
 
anticipator said:
Do you guys think that poor voice quality is the accepted norm on many smartphones?
Click to expand...

Your asking this leads me to believe one of two things. You have either had a mulitude of very bad experiences, or you simply don't like the call quality of mobiles. I have had phones range all over as far as call quality, but I wouldn't lump smartphones as "generally bad" any more than I would any other group of phones. That is to say, there was just as much a difference between call quality ten or fifteen years ago, in a time sans smartphones, as there is today.

Do you have a smartphone? Would you consider the call quality generally poor? I don't have a shift, but I noticed a pretty substantial difference when I switched to the EVO, and so did the people on the other end of the line. I came from an iPhone and would be interested to speak on and listen to someone speak one one on Verizon;s network. It would be interesting to see if it's the phone or the network. I had every single iPhone to date, and the call quality was about the same. Definitely not unusable, but something to be desired, especially now that I have something tangible to compare it to.
 
@Lordofthereef I've carried a number of smartphones, first the BB Pearl (good sound quality), then BB Bold (just okay), then Droid Incredible (buggy, but fairly decent, better than Shift). Also, have kept an older Nokia dumbphone, which I still use for absolutely stellar clear, voice quality conversations. After reading and seeing numerous rave reviews about the Shift, both the voice quality and the performance, I was extremely disappointed when several people that I called said nearly immediately, "you sound like you are in a box." I had really hoped that this phone would sound good, especially since it worked well and had a nice size factor for the pocket, plus the keyboard. It just leads me to believe that, in general, the voice quality of smartphones overall is not being improved substantially. Hopefully, you and others have had different experiences. The store I was in was so busy that particular day that I couldn't get to a point to try the original EVO, but will do that soon, maybe that will be nice as you suggested. Certainly and IPhone is out of the question since I know those aren't up to par with voice conversations (have used friends and talked with them on theirs) and just don't like the restrictions that Apple has. I'm still keeping my eye on the VZ Thunderbolt, which supposedly has another noise cancellation microphone. We'll see.
 
A definite possibility. Will give it a shot at another corp store. Thanks.
 
Also - fwiw - if you're into wired headsets:

I have a Sprint store monobud - around $10 or $15 so overpriced - but - it has a soft fabric cord - not vinyl - like a braided nylon.

I plugged that into my Evo and suddenly everyone and I mean everyone I talk to said that I sounded like I was right there - that they've never heard any call as clear in their lives. I mean, 100% total raving.

The package had no distinguishing part or model number, it was just one of those things.

As I tend to rarely talk without it, I love this doo-dad.

But - the handset, especially with CDMA - that should begin by sounding great.

PS - Made a huge improvement on the Moment, that headset.
 
This phone probably is my least favorite as far as call quality. It isn't bad but it doesn't sound as nice as my three previous samsung phones and my previous sanyo phone. I figure it is just how htc handsets sound since this is my first htc. I always thought my brother in law sounded a little different on his nexus one and now I feel my wife and I sound similar. Not bad just different.
 
Hey, thanks for the tip. Great that you found something that works well. Will definitely keep this one in mind. Still going over to another store when have some time and try another Shift out. It's getting to the point now, that I'll have to get another one because my old Nokia has is about finished. Thanks for sharing.
 
Well, WifelyMon got her Shift tonight. She reports that I sound better than she's ever heard me before, I found her voice much louder - almost to the point of clipping the mic, so once I had her quiet down a little, it sounded much better.

I'm undecided if it's better or worse, but she did sound different that on her Moment - but after a few minutes of chatting, it just sounded like her, so we're happy so far. I'll be listening critically for the next few days and then maybe decide if it has any frequency range limitations - dynamic range seems way ok.

EDIT and PS - After another day - it does seem that the upper frequencies are a bit attenuated. Not at all enough to be considered muffled or bad voice quality - but it's definitely limited that way, to my ears.
 
I found out that Voice Privacy was turned on in my settings under Menu>Settings>Call>Voice Privacy and that really decreased my call quality and added static to some of my calls. Once I shut that off my call quality has been as good as my previous phones. I am not sure if it is on by default or not but I leave it off now.
 
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