[jfenton]

Still broken for me. Absolutely will not work in the car with it running or even outside if there is any background noise at all. I continue to get the SPEAK LOUDER notification. Has anyone found a fix for this or has anyone actually seen the problem corrected with the latest maintenance release?

[ryankirby1]

SAME HERE!!! Please fix this!!! Or get a root so I can go back to froyo!! Someone help!!

[etnpnys]

Me too. Sign me up for this thread subscription.

[jlewis]

I have done a bit of research on this issue, and I thought some others might find it informative. Sorry in advance for the long post. (Actually, I am breaking this into 2 posts to make it easier to read)

The Google Voice Search function is the one that stopped working (long press the magnifying glass search button). Strangely, the Voice Dial function still works. That is the one that allows you to speak a contact name or "dial ####" and have the phone carry out the instruction. It still works with background noise, just as well as it always has.

I downloaded an app from the Market called Audalyzer. It measures incoming sound levels on the phone's microphone. (NOTE: sound levels are measured in NEGATIVE db's, so a level of -20 db is LOUDER than a level of -40 db). It may or may not be accurate as a measurement tool, but that does not really matter. I just needed something to give me a readout for relative sound levels.

With this app running, I sat in my car with the stereo set to an FM frequency with no local station. So, I basically had static coming out of the speakers. I kept adjusting the volume to test the Voice Search function with different levels of static in the background. What I found was that when Audalyzer showed a sound level quieter than about -20 db, the Voice Search worked fine. Once the sound got loud enough to reach -20 db or more, Voice Search failed. I can pretty well replicate this result anytime.

I also tried the Voice Dialer app, and it worked just fine at much higher background sound levels. So, the problem is definitely related to the Google Voice Search function. It is not controlling the microphone levels properly.

As one last experiment, I tried holding the phone up to my face like I was making a call. I wondered if the proximity sensor might have some effect on the mic sensitivity. It did not. It made no difference whether I held the phone up to my face, or away in speaker-phone fashion.

So, my very amateur research leads me to believe that something in the Gingerbread update changed the way Google Voice Search controls the phone's microphone level. So far, they have not fixed that issue.

(for an interesting follow up story involving Sprint tech support, see my next post.

[jlewis]

After my research (see prior post) I decided to bite the bullet and call Sprint tech support. First, let me give kudos where due -- they were very polite and professional, and admitted right away that they had a bunch of issues with Gingerbread. There was no beating around the bush, or silly suggestions like "did you turn your phone off and on?"

The first person I talked to said they could make the phone roll back to the 2.2 Froyo software. I questioned him, and said I thought it was not possible. He insisted they could do it. Basically, he walked me through steps to remove my SD card to preserve data, and do a Factory Reset of the phone (menu > settings > SD & phone storage > Factory data reset). After the phone ran through all the reset steps, he asked me to check the software version in "Settings". When I told him it was still version 2.3, not the old 2.2, he seemed very surprised. After a few minutes on hold, he apologized and transferred me to a higher level tech.

The next tech had me do a more thorough reset of the phone. It involved bringing up the stock dial pad, and entering the code ##786#. Then there was an option to reset all settings in the phone. Once we did that, it was supposed to revert back to "out-of-the-box" status. However, this tech said up front it would NOT rollback to Froyo 2.2. He said it was impossible to go backwards. He wanted to try this massive reset to see if it resolved the problem, so I tried it. It didn't help. The Voice Search still did not work, and of course I now had to reload all my apps, configuration settings, etc. Kind of a pain, but I understand that they are trying.

Now here is the surprising part . . . when the Voice Search issue was not resolved, they offered to ship me a whole new phone. I asked what good that would do, and he said he wasn't really sure except that he had nothing else to offer me. I asked if the new phone would come with 2.2 or 2.3 software. He THOUGHT it would come with Froyo 2.2, and I could just say "no" to the OTA update when I unloaded it. He also said that they were working on yet another GB maintenance release, but it would be days or weeks before it was ready. I elected to wait a while and see if another release showed up soon. I suppose if it does not, I can go back and try the new phone route. It just seems like a waste to get a whole new phone shipped out (not to mention all the setup I would need to do).

So, that's my story . . . for whatever it's worth to others suffering through all the GB update headaches.

Wow - that was a lot of typing. I think I'll go get some lunch now..... no gingerbread or frozen yogurt involved!

[Double Tap]

I have done a bit of research on this issue, and I thought some others might find it informative. Sorry in advance for the long post. (Actually, I am breaking this into 2 posts to make it easier to read)

The Google Voice Search function is the one that stopped working (long press the magnifying glass search button). Strangely, the Voice Dial function still works. That is the one that allows you to speak a contact name or "dial ####" and have the phone carry out the instruction. It still works with background noise, just as well as it always has.

I downloaded an app from the Market called Audalyzer. It measures incoming sound levels on the phone's microphone. (NOTE: sound levels are measured in NEGATIVE db's, so a level of -20 db is LOUDER than a level of -40 db). It may or may not be accurate as a measurement tool, but that does not really matter. I just needed something to give me a readout for relative sound levels.

With this app running, I sat in my car with the stereo set to an FM frequency with no local station. So, I basically had static coming out of the speakers. I kept adjusting the volume to test the Voice Search function with different levels of static in the background. What I found was that when Audalyzer showed a sound level quieter than about -20 db, the Voice Search worked fine. Once the sound got loud enough to reach -20 db or more, Voice Search failed. I can pretty well replicate this result anytime.

I also tried the Voice Dialer app, and it worked just fine at much higher background sound levels. So, the problem is definitely related to the Google Voice Search function. It is not controlling the microphone levels properly.

As one last experiment, I tried holding the phone up to my face like I was making a call. I wondered if the proximity sensor might have some effect on the mic sensitivity. It did not. It made no difference whether I held the phone up to my face, or away in speaker-phone fashion.

So, my very amateur research leads me to believe that something in the Gingerbread update changed the way Google Voice Search controls the phone's microphone level. So far, they have not fixed that issue.

(for an interesting follow up story involving Sprint tech support, see my next post.

My problem is exactly the opposite of yours; Google Voice Search work fine. It is my Voice Dialer that stopped working. I need some help to get it working. Here in NY I have friends that received traffic tickets $150 and points on their license for using the phone while driving. I do think dialing or texting while driving is very dumb.

[deparson]

I have the same issue on my stock EVO with the most current software. Any background noise makes the voice app fail to hear any speech.

It is really a PITA as I used that a ton in the car to avoid typing while driving.

[etnpnys]

Ditto. Is there any fix for this? I have tried clearing the stored data and what-not already, to no avail.

[hdhuntr]

I have had it work sometimes while driving and sometimes not. I know this doesn't help a lot but it also doesn't really support that cut-off while moving thread either. That would be stupid since STT makes it a lot safer... I read they messed with volume levels in GB I wonder if that includes the mics as someone else suggested I think. Now I need to go find a thread for why wifi won't hold and maybe start one for why we even have the option to search only titles and then get not just titles.

[Nate79]

It is definitely something to do with the update to speech to text. I didn't update to GB, I'm still on 2.2, but my speech to text updated automatically and now it will not work in my car even when the radio is off. If I sit in my house with no background noise it works like a charm. It always worked before that update no matter where I was. I guess Google updated it to work with GB and even if you still have Froyo, it updates to the newest version.

[drdively]

It is definitely something to do with the update to speech to text. I didn't update to GB, I'm still on 2.2, but my speech to text updated automatically and now it will not work in my car even when the radio is off. If I sit in my house with no background noise it works like a charm. It always worked before that update no matter where I was. I guess Google updated it to work with GB and even if you still have Froyo, it updates to the newest version.

Anybody hearing anything on the resolution to this problem? Have a great day [otherwise].

[pteezay]

For whatever it is worth, I too am experiencing the same problem since the update. I thought it was just me. Makes me feel a bit better knowing others have the same problem. Hope there's a fix soon.