Call Voice quality issues

[Ken1ceo]

Titan Problems

I have had major issues with my HTC Titan. If I try to usenthenhandset to speak NTO the people on the other end say I'm too far away from the phone to hear me. It also has possibly the worst reception of any phone I've owned. BTW: this is my third phone and the same issues exist. Nokia 900, where are you?

 

[artzznyzz]

Unusable HTC Tilt; & Deliberately Untrue Carrier / Retailer Reviews

Hello, Ken1ceo:

I had posted several times in November both here and on XDA-Developers about my same sound problems which rendered all three of the Titan's which I tried completely unusable. At the time there were numerous other people posting about the same problems (and others) in these forums. Since then I've seen absolutely no reports of the problem being successfully resolved.

So, I did return all three Titans and went back to my Tilt-2 and out of contract status for the time being. I am also awaiting March 18th (the rumored release date for both the 900, and also the Titan II).

But on to a more troubling note: I've noticed that this, and other, very real problems are almost never mentioned in the reviews and ratings posted on the carrier and retailer sites. They all claim their offered phones are rated by their "real" consumers at ~4.2 - 4.7 - 5.0!

The message - Enthusist blogs are the only reliable source of information. We can not trust the manufacgturers to correct their problems. And we can not trust the carriers & retailers to priovide honest reviews.

(This problem with phony 'bought and paid for' "consumer" reviews has been widely reported in recent weeks in the press, such as the New York Times.)

Buyer Beware . . .

Meantime, thanks for your input.
Artzznyzz

 

[neftv]

Hello, Ken1ceo:

I had posted several times in November both here and on XDA-Developers about my same sound problems which rendered all three of the Titan's which I tried completely unusable. At the time there were numerous other people posting about the same problems (and others) in these forums. Since then I've seen absolutely no reports of the problem being successfully resolved.

So, I did return all three Titans and went back to my Tilt-2 and out of contract status for the time being. I am also awaiting March 18th (the rumored release date for both the 900, and also the Titan II).

But on to a more troubling note: I've noticed that this, and other, very real problems are almost never mentioned in the reviews and ratings posted on the carrier and retailer sites. They all claim their offered phones are rated by their "real" consumers at ~4.2 - 4.7 - 5.0!

The message - Enthusist blogs are the only reliable source of information. We can not trust the manufacgturers to correct their problems. And we can not trust the carriers & retailers to priovide honest reviews.

(This problem with phony 'bought and paid for' "consumer" reviews has been widely reported in recent weeks in the press, such as the New York Times.)

Buyer Beware . . .

Meantime, thanks for your input.
Artzznyzz

Reviews sites have sponsors so its whoever is footing the bill they will cater to.
At least on CNET among one aspect of the review they do have a sound clip of how the audio sound on a particualar phone by leaving a voice message on a land line. So listen to Titan on that and then like listen to Venue Pro (which I have now) almost a night a day difference. I would expect Titan II not to be any different with call audio quality since the can't figure out the Titan I call audio problem. I can't believe that people put up with this kind of quality. It's great to have all the other features but it is a phone after all too. I guess I am alone in this.

 

[kevm14]

Mine has been serviceable enough to have patience. Each day I keep thinking to myself that, overall, I am very happy with my Titan. But that doesn't mean I don't want someone to be working on improvements. I'm still steamed about not getting real HSPA+ speeds. I still have never seen anyone post a speedtest that suggests real HSPA+ category 10 speeds.

 

[Diamondx_8]

If you get a Bluetooth earpiece, will that bypass the call quality issue. I have a Titan and this is becoming a problem.

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

 

[scdkad]

Wife's Titan is muffled 80% of the time I talk to her. It is strange that once in while she does sound somewhat clear.

Has ATT or HTC acknowledged this issue anywhere?

 

[SolunaKitty]

There was voice quality fix investigation a while back. It worked for me. Just be wary of taking over where the sound comes out of.

 

[artzznyzz]

Hello, SCDKad,

While there was an ordinary user who claimed an instant message (or e-mail?) exchange with HTC acknowledging the problem, I've seen nothing from HTC owning up to it, nor offering a fix to existing Titan (Is) already sold.

And no mention here nor at XDA of anyone who had been experiencing the problem, and then having it cured.

Moreover, the last Titans which I've tried at AT&T corporate stores all had the problem.

It appears that a few people experienced some level of improvement when either (i) further reeming out the voice input hole at the bottom of the case, or (ii) holding the phone so as to speak more directly into the hole, or so as not to cover up the hole - BUT THISE SEEM TO BE ONLY MINIMAL IMPROVEMENTS, not addressing what may be the real issues.

The consunsus seems to be that the problem stems from a few hardware & software conditions, which intermittently but generally interact:
(i) The noise cancelling secondary pickup microphone & software cancel out way too much true speach;
(ii) The all metal back of the phone, which is part of the antenna system, may intermitently pick up stray (radio) signals, or be randomly 'muted' (grounded?) by the user's hand; and
(iii) I believe the metal back picks up & transmits (to the mic as noise signal) any minimal vibration from shifts in the contact with the user's hand or surface upon which the phone may be resting.

(In all fairness, the sound problem does not seem to occur when the mic is bypassed by use of a bluetooth, or wired headset, or for some, buy use of speakerphone. Not exactly part of the advertised 'features' - more of a bug . . .)

I am disappointed that ATT & HTC do not address this, instead only selling hardware out of inventory.

I did love the potential of the Titan (I) & hoped this would be cleaned up for the I, or at least acknowledged and corrected on the Titan II. But, as ATT & HTC have ignored it, we will have to look to other manufacturers for an AT&T LTE WP7.

Or, alternatively, go kicking & screaming, to another platform.

NOTE TO ANYONE FROM AT&t or HTC WHO MAY BE LURKING & MONITORING THIS FORUM:
I'd truly appreciate your comments. If you private mail me, with info so I may identify your affiliation, then I will respond directly to your comments.

Artzznyzz

 

[Rocket_Girl]

Wow. I was sad to give up on Titan back in December. Feeling better about walking away from Titan having seen that very little has changed since then. I'm sorry, guys - I know it stinks - I have been there! Good luck...

 

[KrGow]

I bought an HTC Titan for the 1 cent sale they had. I was leery after reading about this, and I am afraid that I can confirm that the new device has the issue as well. It's going back. Going to use my Samsung Focus for now.

 

[Pocket PC]

Glad I came across this forum. I have been drooling over the TitanII and Nokia 900 since I heard of them. I just needed to decide which phone to go with, Up until now, I have been leaning towards the Titan II, even willing to pay more money for it.

However due to HTC's blatant disregard for customers, as is evidenced here in these forums, I am now leaning towards Nokia. At least Nokia is trying. Sounds like HTC is becoming arrogant and complacent. Not the kind of company I want to deal with for the next 2 years.

Microsoft should take note of the voice quality issues as well. Their Voice search and Voice-to-text are top-notch and one of the best features, but the poor audio quality issues will be a detriment to speech recognition.

From what I have heard, it sounds like the phone is cancelling out the high frequencies, which provide inteligibility.

Shame on HTC...

 

[spence2]

I have a HTC Titan with poor call quality and because i had dropped the phone I thought I had damaged the microphone. I went on Ebay and purchased a second titan that was never used. It is exactly the same. Call quality in comming is good but I sound muffled to the people I am Talking with and am asked to constantly repeat myself. They describe it as the way teachers sound in the charlie brown cartoons. It does work a little better on speaker phone but there can be no backgropund noise or on blue tooth, but the blue toothh fades in and out. I have a voyager Pro+ HD and an ERA jaw bone both top rated for sound. I am very disappointed in both ATT and HTC. I am No longer an ATT customer. Same issues muffled sound on the new carrier. I know the devices are faulty. The voice recognition is having similar issues with voice dial and speach to text as well. i have had many HTC devices and will never purchase another. I'm not sue if its the microphones or some noise cancelling software. if it were the radio I would say the issue would be in the transmitter. let me know if anyone finds a fix .