Galaxy Nexus - Device Good...., Phone Bad....

[Bob Smugs]

The device is awesome and after reading numerous glowing reviews, I waited in line to be one of the first to own one. It is an outstanding device. Well... Mostly... I returned it 2 days later as it failed in one of the most important areas, -> being a *Phone*.

I am a business man first and a geek second and I actually use the phone to talk and receive calls. Simple voice communication on this device was almost impossible. I could not hear it ring at the loudest volume (.mp3 ring) and the vibrate is a joke. Absolutely imperceptible. Conversation sound quality was extremely poor. So bad I had an extremely difficult time trying to distinguish what the other party was saying. After multiple calls with almost identical results over 2 days I was getting frustrated. I was calling everyone I could to make sure it wasn't just that one call or that one person because I didn't want to not love this device.

I let a colleague use the phone to finish a conversation with a client that he needed to speak with, he also said that the call sounded like crap and he too was having difficulty making out the conversation. We were in a church hall having lunch and it was not that noisy. He then made a call on his Garmin phone and handed me the phone to sample the sound on his phone. It was night and day. The Garmin phone was crystal clear like a high end audio device compared to the Nexus calls I had been experiencing the past day. That was enough!

Can't hear it ring. Can't feel it vibrate. Can't have a conversation unless in a totally silent environment. Being in a car with the windows rolled up still wasn't quite enough and was enough noise to make conversation difficult. In a restaurant, forget about it. It was not a digital garble, It was like a cheap radio that had been turned to up way too much and was clipping out badly.

Speakerphone wasn't loud enough to be a speakerphone even in a quite office room. I might have had a lemon, but I don't think so. I think it is a Samsung issue. I don't thing the quality of the speaker in the ear piece is up to par with the rest of the device. Nor is the vibrate function and that is something a software update is not going to fix. About 5hrs of battery if I didn't mess with it too much. 3hr 20 if I am browsing.

How is your voice sound quality? Is it different with incoming calls than with outgoing calls?

 

[jafels]

my voice quality is as good or better than my og droid and several people have said i sound clearer on this phone than i did before.....im not having those same issues, but again im not reaaly having signal issues, my keyboard doesnt lag, my screen rotation is near instant etc etc. I think their is either a bad bunch of phones out their or they react to the network differently in different places.

 

[pprichar]

Yea my voice quality is amazing, in fact I love how the new "phone" looks

 

[nemov]

I haven't noticed problems while on the phone. The speaker volume on the speaker phone doesn't seem loud enough. I think that might get fixed in an update. The phone doesn't vibrate very hard. I wonder if that has something to do with how thin the phone is.

I haven't had an issue with the ringtone sound.

I don't talk in restaurants out of respect for others.

My car has bluetooth so I wouldn't know about driving around with the windows open. In the past that's been a struggle with other phones.

 

[iastonish]

It's a Nexus, you should have expected to put some development in it before getting it to where you want it. Did you try downloading Volume plus for the low volume issue? Also there are kernels, custom roms, etc. out that help with battery. I was having horrible battery as well until flashing the latest release of Revolution rom, with a new kernel and tweaking set cpu.

All in all, your complaints are valid, but the Nexus brand is followed mostly by enthusiasts. For a business phone, as a consumer, maybe you should look else where if you're not willing to take the time to harness all of the dev support that's coming out.

 

[Premium1]

I think you may have gotten a lemon. My voice quality is as clear if not clearer than other phones I have had( thunderbolt, fascinate, droid, droid x)

 

[zkSharks]

I have not had a single call where the conversation's sound quality was even close to poor. Did you not try exchanging it, or potentially trying a friend's Galaxy Nexus, before returning your own?

 

[Johnly]

5 Reasons to Buy the Verizon Galaxy Nexus
I like this one way more.

 

[kesnik]

I also think that the voice quality is outstanding. the part that is hard to deal with is the signal / connectivity issues. I have never had a dropped call with my GN but I have tried to make some calls and was unable to because the phone didn't have signal. I'm sure they will get this resolved soon, pretty major oversight. This is probably why they didn't want to release the phone on the previously proposed dates.

-Kesnik

 

[eth555]

Ring/speaker volume is an issue, my voice quality is exceptional though; probably the best I have had on a cell phone.

 

[Premium1]

I think it is funny people want this phone so bad but return it without even trying another one or trying to exchange it. These people seem best suited with an iphone...

 

[Johnly]

I think it is funny people want this phone so bad but return it without even trying another one or trying to exchange it. These people seem best suited with an iphone...

The iPhone works. It is boring and has nothing but limitation built into it to keep rad and cool features out. I agree with you......Every day with my nexus "retail version" is better than the last. nothing like a 800 dollar google phone with google character....

 

[Bob Smugs]

UPDATE: My wife just purchased a Samsung Stratosphere so I had to check out the phone features on that phone especially since it is same brand. Night and Day difference. Vibrate on the Stratosphere is exceptionally vigorous (good thing you can adjust intensity), ring is really really loud, voice quality is very good and speaker phone is exceptionally loud and clear. Why the heck couldn't it be this way for my Nexus?

It's like buying a high end luxury car with crank windows and a cheap AM radio.

 

[p08757]

I agree the ringer can be hard to hear, but the voice quality is outstanding for me. One of the best "pones" I have ever had. I have not had the chance to use this as a speaker phone yet.

 

[mitra88]

The device is awesome and after reading numerous glowing reviews, I waited in line to be one of the first to own one. It is an outstanding device. Well... Mostly... I returned it 2 days later as it failed in one of the most important areas, -> being a *Phone*.

I am a business man first and a geek second and I actually use the phone to talk and receive calls. Simple voice communication on this device was almost impossible. I could not hear it ring at the loudest volume (.mp3 ring) and the vibrate is a joke. Absolutely imperceptible. Conversation sound quality was extremely poor. So bad I had an extremely difficult time trying to distinguish what the other party was saying. After multiple calls with almost identical results over 2 days I was getting frustrated. I was calling everyone I could to make sure it wasn't just that one call or that one person because I didn't want to not love this device.

I let a colleague use the phone to finish a conversation with a client that he needed to speak with, he also said that the call sounded like crap and he too was having difficulty making out the conversation. We were in a church hall having lunch and it was not that noisy. He then made a call on his Garmin phone and handed me the phone to sample the sound on his phone. It was night and day. The Garmin phone was crystal clear like a high end audio device compared to the Nexus calls I had been experiencing the past day. That was enough!

Can't hear it ring. Can't feel it vibrate. Can't have a conversation unless in a totally silent environment. Being in a car with the windows rolled up still wasn't quite enough and was enough noise to make conversation difficult. In a restaurant, forget about it. It was not a digital garble, It was like a cheap radio that had been turned to up way too much and was clipping out badly.

Speakerphone wasn't loud enough to be a speakerphone even in a quite office room. I might have had a lemon, but I don't think so. I think it is a Samsung issue. I don't thing the quality of the speaker in the ear piece is up to par with the rest of the device. Nor is the vibrate function and that is something a software update is not going to fix. About 5hrs of battery if I didn't mess with it too much. 3hr 20 if I am browsing.

How is your voice sound quality? Is it different with incoming calls than with outgoing calls?

Did you try using the app "Volume+ (Sound Boost)"?

Also, as other members have mentioned, I think you should have tried using other GNs, or replace your GN with a new one, before you completely return it. I personally never had an issue with voice quality. It could have been just your GN.

 

[st0ic_1]

Unfortunately I live in an area that gets crappy 3G service, but the phone still does a good job of handling calls and even more inside than my OG Droid. Whenever I'm in the area of a strong 3G/4G signal, they phone handles calls very well and sounds are great.

I do wish the vibrate was more intense, and the ringtone, video, etc volumes were a little louder without having to use volume+.

 

[booboolala2000]

The device is awesome and after reading numerous glowing reviews, I waited in line to be one of the first to own one. It is an outstanding device. Well... Mostly... I returned it 2 days later as it failed in one of the most important areas, -> being a *Phone*.

I am a business man first and a geek second and I actually use the phone to talk and receive calls. Simple voice communication on this device was almost impossible. I could not hear it ring at the loudest volume (.mp3 ring) and the vibrate is a joke. Absolutely imperceptible. Conversation sound quality was extremely poor. So bad I had an extremely difficult time trying to distinguish what the other party was saying. After multiple calls with almost identical results over 2 days I was getting frustrated. I was calling everyone I could to make sure it wasn't just that one call or that one person because I didn't want to not love this device.

I let a colleague use the phone to finish a conversation with a client that he needed to speak with, he also said that the call sounded like crap and he too was having difficulty making out the conversation. We were in a church hall having lunch and it was not that noisy. He then made a call on his Garmin phone and handed me the phone to sample the sound on his phone. It was night and day. The Garmin phone was crystal clear like a high end audio device compared to the Nexus calls I had been experiencing the past day. That was enough!

Can't hear it ring. Can't feel it vibrate. Can't have a conversation unless in a totally silent environment. Being in a car with the windows rolled up still wasn't quite enough and was enough noise to make conversation difficult. In a restaurant, forget about it. It was not a digital garble, It was like a cheap radio that had been turned to up way too much and was clipping out badly.

Speakerphone wasn't loud enough to be a speakerphone even in a quite office room. I might have had a lemon, but I don't think so. I think it is a Samsung issue. I don't thing the quality of the speaker in the ear piece is up to par with the rest of the device. Nor is the vibrate function and that is something a software update is not going to fix. About 5hrs of battery if I didn't mess with it too much. 3hr 20 if I am browsing.

How is your voice sound quality? Is it different with incoming calls than with outgoing calls?

My voice quality has been very clear. Only choppy with a bad signal. Usually super clear and plenty loud.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[bmderuosi]

anyone know how to get into the programmer menu like the Droid phones? If you are not familiar with the menu it allows you to change the "voice quality" settings. Changing the quality to EVRC-B or something like that...

 

[raremage]

I'd have tried another phone before giving up on the Nexus as a whole. For me the sound quality has been great, and I am on the phone a lot, as it's my primary business phone. No issues with ring volume, but haven't used vibrate enough to know if it's an issue or not.

The only issue I have so far is one I had with my OG Droid as well - when entering concall passcodes, it reads a single touch as a double sometimes, which is pretty frustrating to be honest.

 

[stabbedintheface]

*#*#4636#*#*

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk