Will microphone still work if I have powered speakers pluged into headphone jack?

[yeto]

If I am on a phone call will the phone's built-in microphone still work if I have powered speakers plugged into the headphone jack? I have a Nokia 822 cell phone and the in-call volume is not good. I was thinking about using some powered speakers to help with the volume but will the phone's built-in microphone still work if I have powered speakers plugged into the headphone jack?

Thanks,
yeto

 

[Muessig]

This is really something you can only find out by trying it but I would personally bet on no. Modern devices use a headphone standard called CTIA (the old standard was OMTP) where the contacts you 'activate' when you insert headphones are left and right channels, microphone and ground. So even if your headphones don't have a microphone on them, by putting the earphones in the device you're still going to be 'activating' the microphone as far as the device is concerned.

Like I say you can't really lose anything or damage your device by trying, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[hopmedic]

My own experience was that no, it didn't work, but I have seen posts from others that suggest that their experience is different than mine. I don't know what their hardware setup was, so I don't know what will work, but I know that using aux cable to plug into my 2007 Camry caused the mic to not work unless I unplugged. Now I use a Logitech BT receiver to stream audio to the car, as it only has the streaming protocol, and the hands free BT profile links to the car stereo. Yes, it does connect to both at the same time.

Basically, as Muessig said, try it and see.

 

[yeto]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will give it a try and report back.

yeto

 

[crav4speed]

I have a RF transmitter that plugs into the headphone jack and transmits sound to my radio. When it's plugged in and I receive a call, the sound comes through over the radio and the phone's mic still works. I know this because the transmitter doesn't have a mic and I can converse just fine.

Look at the speaker's plug. If it has 2 black lines, it will transmit left and right stereo sound only. If it has 3 black lines, then it will probably trigger the mic and not work properly. For example, look at a wired headset. They all have 3 black lines. Now look at regular headphones. They only have 2.

 

[hopmedic]

I have a RF transmitter that plugs into the headphone jack and transmits sound to my radio. When it's plugged in and I receive a call, the sound comes through over the radio and the phone's mic still works. I know this because the transmitter doesn't have a mic and I can converse just fine.

Look at the speaker's plug. If it has 2 black lines, it will transmit left and right stereo sound only. If it has 3 black lines, then it will probably trigger the mic and not work properly. For example, look at a wired headset. They all have 3 black lines. Now look at regular headphones. They only have 2.

While this would make perfect sense, the aux cable that I used in my car is only a stereo audio, carrying two channels (two "black lines" not three), it didn't work. I think each accessory needs to be tested on its own, until we figure out what the difference is.

 

[Martin Y]

The mic on my 520 still works if I take a call while listening on ordinary headphones. So the phone can detect the difference between the 4-contact connector of a headset with a mic and the 3-contact connector of plain stereo headphones. I'd be surprised if plugging in external speakers (with a conventional 3.5mm stereo plug) was any different to using headphones.

 

[hopmedic]

Like I said... Experiences vary. In my car, using an aux cable with only 3 conductors to plug it into the stereo's aux input, no joy. Mic doesn't work.

 

[foxbat121]

While this would make perfect sense, the aux cable that I used in my car is only a stereo audio, carrying two channels (two "black lines" not three), it didn't work. I think each accessory needs to be tested on its own, until we figure out what the difference is.

It is the other way around. It depends on how your phone's hardware is designed. Some may be able to detect if the external mic is plugged in or not. Some don't. Has nothing to do with accessories. The plug itself should have enough information (stereo vs stereo+mic).

 

[hopmedic]

It is the other way around. It depends on how your phone's hardware is designed. Some may be able to detect if the external mic is plugged in or not. Some don't. Has nothing to do with accessories. The plug itself should have enough information (stereo vs stereo+mic).

This would make sense if we didn't have people with the same phone having different experiences.

 

[Guzzler3]

Lumia 810, I use a stereo patch from the phone to my head unit for music. When a call/text comes in, audio out is over the car stereo, the phone's mic works as expected. I use it for hands free text and phone calls no issue.

 

[hopmedic]

822 using a patch cable to my car stereo for music, but BT for hands free. Playing music works fine, but on a phone call or trying speech commands, the mic doesn't work if the cable is plugged into the phone.

I just realized I haven't tested this with my 928, because I bought the BT receiver and plugged it into the car's input before I got the 928. I was thinking the above was how both worked, but it just hit me that I haven't tried it with 928. Before I got the 928, I got sick of it not working with the 822, so I bought a BT receiver, stream music and podcasts to that, and hands free still through the car. Yes, it does connect to both BT devices at once, probably because they do not duplicate BT protocols (one is A2DP only, one is hands-free only).

 

[phirefly]

On my 920 the mic works fine when plugged into external speakers. I ran into an issue when I put a case on my phone the cable didn't seat all the way in and the speakers still worked but it was making contact with the mic portion of the jack thus disabling the in phone mic. I trimmed the plastic around the connector on the cable and it seats properly and the mic works again.

 

[hopmedic]

On my 920 the mic works fine when plugged into external speakers. I ran into an issue when I put a case on my phone the cable didn't seat all the way in and the speakers still worked but it was making contact with the mic portion of the jack thus disabling the in phone mic. I trimmed the plastic around the connector on the cable and it seats properly and the mic works again.

Interesting... I wonder if that's why mine acted the way it did... I had a Trident on my 822.

 

[foxbat121]

I tested my 920. When a stereo headset is plugged in, mic on the phone works only if it is not connected to Bluetooth system at my house (Hands free profile only). If it is connected BT, the phone mic is muted.

However, if it is connected to a stereo headset with mic, the external mic works regardless of the BT connection.

 

[hopmedic]

See, my 822 hooked to stereo input with aux cable for podcasts, and connected to the car stereo by BT for hands free, if I got a phone call while listening to a podcast (or music - same thing), the phone would switch to phone mode, the car stereo would switch to phone mode, and I could hear the phone through the car stereo, but if I wanted to talk I would have to unplug the aux cable. This led me to believe that anytime the aux cable was plugged into the phone, that's where it looked for the mic. It was strange.

 

[foxbat121]

WP8 BT stack is beyond worthless IMO. Even WP7 works much better. It is designed to work correctly only with BT system that support both hands free and A2DP stereo profiles at the same time. I never knows this before because it works fine on my aftermarket BT adapter for one of my car and couple rental cars. All of which support both profiles. I recently purchased a Miata and paid extra to get a built-in BT support. Little do I know that this system only supports hands free profile. As a result, I can no longer get SMS voice reading and composing features at all (that worked fine with my other systems).

 

[hopmedic]

WP8 BT stack is beyond worthless IMO. Even WP7 works much better. It is designed to work correctly only with BT system that support both hands free and A2DP stereo profiles at the same time. I never knows this before because it works fine on my aftermarket BT adapter for one of my car and couple rental cars. All of which support both profiles. I recently purchased a Miata and paid extra to get a built-in BT support. Little do I know that this system only supports hands free profile. As a result, I can no longer get SMS voice reading and composing features at all (that worked fine with my other systems).

That's weird.... Well, a couple of weirds... First that they still make a car with only the hands free profile. Second that you can't get SMS reading over yours. My car only has hands free (2007 Camry Hybrid), and I have gotten the voice SMS ever since the Mango developer preview on my Trophy back in 2011, and it has always worked with my 822 and now 928. I only added the BT receiver for streaming after I got the 822 and had the frustration with it and the aux cable. And just to be clear, my BT receiver only has the A2DP profile. So when I get in the car I connect to both the car and the BT receiver. Here's the one I have:
Amazon.com: Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter for Bluetooth Audio Devices (980-000540): Electronics
Note that it comes with an AC adapter, not a car adapter. I happened to have the right size/voltage car adapter, but with the wrong polarity, so I switched the polarity of the adapter.