European Titan owners... some help for us AT&T users please

[MikeF74]

Are there many European Titan owners on this board? If so, what is your impression of the mic quality? Do the people you call complain about you sounding muddled?

If not, could you take some photos of the inside of your case (both whole case and a close up near the mic hole), and also take a phone of the mic on the phone body itself (with cover removed). I'm curious to see if the non-AT&T versions of the Titan have extra sound dampening.

And to the folks who run this site and reviewed the European Titan, do you still have that unit? Can you compare the two, and perhaps swap back covers to see if there are any differences in audio recording quality?

 

[Blacklac]

They have also received software updates too.

 

[MikeF74]

I doubt this can be fixed with software. And if it were, we'd have reports of the recent updated solving audio issues.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

[HeyCori]

I doubt this can be fixed with software. And if it were, we'd have reports of the recent updated solving audio issues.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

Nothing I've seen suggests that any of the recent updates had anything to do with audio quality.

Here are two comment posts about the updates.

http://www.windowscentral.com/international-htc-titan-getting-new-software-update

By suhanonyil on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 5:41 am EST

Sound quality have not been improved. Actually I realised that if the one I am talking to is at a noisy place (like city traffic or underground) then the sound quality gets really bad. I had a Nokia before and sound quality was always superb. Hopefully Htc will fix that...

By kjettern on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 7:51 pm EST

Country: Norway
Carrier: Telenor
Finally! This update fixed the terrible bug with dial tone coming out of the rear speaker when dialing to other carriers than Telenor. This one also fixed another bug in the music player and removed the popping sound when changing songs. Thank you HTC, for making the Titan bugfree and the best phone in the world

 

[TheWeeBear]

Are there many European Titan owners on this board? If so, what is your impression of the mic quality? Do the people you call complain about you sounding muddled?

If not, could you take some photos of the inside of your case (both whole case and a close up near the mic hole), and also take a phone of the mic on the phone body itself (with cover removed). I'm curious to see if the non-AT&T versions of the Titan have extra sound dampening.

No issues with muffled sound quality here MikeF74, that's the best I can do taking the piccies, it's really difficult getting right in to the curved edge.

Here's what the latest update provided.

OS: 7.10.7740.16
Firmware: 1600.2200.20104.401
Hardware: 0002
Radio Software: 16.23.03.17_16.27.00.23U
Radio Hardware: 2.122.0.D4
Bootloader: 2.1.160015.3(133962)
Chip SOC: 1.6.00

Hope they are of some use to you.

 

[palandri]

Is the microphone hole on the bottom of your Titan WeeBear? Like in this picture: http://forums.windowscentral.com/attachments/titan/19635d1323824229-2011-12-13-19-45-06.728.jpg Maybe I am missing it it the photos. I might see it but I am not sure.

 

[HeyCori]

I opened up my case and compared the two but I'm not seeing much of a difference.

 

[MikeF74]

Thank you WeeBear. Any possibility of seeing a photo of the microphone itself? I realize it would require a second camera.

I'm wondering if it all has to do with the mounting of the microphone onto the PCB. As many can see, the microphone has a little bit of a tube extending from it. I wonder if some of us have the mic mounted into the phone too far, and this little mic tube isn't nestled against the hole in the cover.

 

[TheWeeBear]

Is the microphone hole on the bottom of your Titan WeeBear? Like in this picture: http://forums.windowscentral.com/attachments/titan/19635d1323824229-2011-12-13-19-45-06.728.jpg Maybe I am missing it it the photos. I might see it but I am not sure.

My hole is much smaller than that palandri (why am i sniggering?)
That looks as if it's been drilled larger.

 

[TheWeeBear]

Im not sure if this is what you wanted, but it's a little rubber grommet type of thing round the mic.

It's definately rubber as felt it.

 

[kevm14]

I tried to look at alignment on mine and it seemed like it MIGHT not be properly aligned. Audio quality in video IS better with no case, but, audio quality in video, even with the case, is quite clear and seems like the on-call audio should at least be substantially better.

You know what also bothers me...you know the "case is a microphone" thing? Well, I worry that they reduced the sensitivity of the mic during a call specifically because of interference/distortion from the rear cover.

 

[MikeF74]

I'm tempted to loosen the torx bits on the back of the phone, and try to shimmy the PCB towards the bottom of the phone just a fraction of a millimeter or so. I think this would put that rubber piece closer to the hole in the case, thus perhaps providing a little more sound isolation. My worry though is that one of the TORX screws might be under that little VOID sticker.

It could very well be the alignment of the PCB that is the difference between good mic quality and poor mic quality.

Also, I see that the casing has a tiny bit of foam between the mic hole and where it contacts the mic enclosure. I'm going to take a needle and try to widen the hole in that foam. If there's any misalignment, my mic could very well be pressed up against the foam, causing muffling.

 

[klocker2]

I'm tempted to loosen the torx bits on the back of the phone, and try to shimmy the PCB towards the bottom of the phone just a fraction of a millimeter or so. I think this would put that rubber piece closer to the hole in the case, thus perhaps providing a little more sound isolation. My worry though is that one of the TORX screws might be under that little VOID sticker.

It could very well be the alignment of the PCB that is the difference between good mic quality and poor mic quality.

Also, I see that the casing has a tiny bit of foam between the mic hole and where it contacts the mic enclosure. I'm going to take a needle and try to widen the hole in that foam. If there's any misalignment, my mic could very well be pressed up against the foam, causing muffling.

I pulled my foam out completely and it improved ever so slightly (so hard to tell where connection quality ends and mic quality begins).

EDIT:**but rereading your sound isolation theory, I may have made a mistake there. As some have said, if the mic quality is fine in other applications and other phones with the same physical components and layout WHAT could be causing this?

Is the video recording using more than just the bottom mic? Do EU handsets have an aluminum case and US ones have plastic causing the sound distoryion? Mine sure feels like plastic.

*** TEN DAYS left and counting until return deadline

 

[Ruslan.al]

I pulled my foam out completely and it improved ever so slightly (so hard to tell where connection quality ends and mic quality begins).

EDIT:**but rereading your sound isolation theory, I may have made a mistake there. As some have said, if the mic quality is fine in other applications and other phones with the same physical components and layout WHAT could be causing this?

Is the video recording using more than just the bottom mic? Do EU handsets have an aluminum case and US ones have plastic causing the sound distoryion? Mine sure feels like plastic.

*** TEN DAYS left and counting until return deadline

Most probably when we are using a regular dialer (during the phone calls) noise cancellation software is involved and trying to make our voice "better" by removing noise. Here is where problem starts. When you using TANGO or camera or any other apps, then no noise cancellation working in background. and we getting clear sound. So in my opinion it's a 'noise cancellation' software problem. It's catch part of our voice as a noise.

 

[Fiann]

Most probably when we are using a regular dialer (during the phone calls) noise cancellation software is involved and trying to make our voice "better" by removing noise. Here is where problem starts. When you using TANGO or camera or any other apps, then no noise cancellation working in background. and we getting clear sound. So in my opinion it's a 'noise cancellation' software problem. It's catch part of our voice as a noise.

Yes, I just tested this. In a moderately noisy environment no background noise could be heard during the voice call but it was noticeable on a Tango call. Also, in one test in a quiet environment when the mic was further away, VERY severe noise reduction was quite apparent as the phone must have decided that my fellow tester's voice was background noise.