Verizon Motorola Droid Turbo Regarding Low Earpiece Volume

[Danny1Bears3]

I was in the same position as many of you. The earpiece had super low volume. It's very frustrsting, I know, but there is a simple solution. You see, the earpiece doesn't actually have low volume. It is the position that you're holding the phone at.

If you look at, for example, an iPhone 4, the earpiece is approximately an inch down from the top of the phone. On this phone, the earpiece is at the VERY TOP LIP of the phone. We are all holding our phones incorrectly. We have been trained through the years to put our ear canal a little bit down the screen of the phone. But the earpiece on this phone is literally along the very top edge.

Its slightly uncomfortable, but its not bad. Pull the phone down so that the top edge of the phone lays along the cartilage that juts out from your ear where it connects to your head. This way, the earpiece will be aligned with your ear canal.

It sounds stupid, I know, but this phone has a strange earpiece placement and that's where your phone must be to correctly hear the other person.

Turbo-Shot from my Ballistic Turbo

 

[jerryfuture]

Any chance this can be fixed with a software update?

 

[bizzyqu]

I generally never liked putting phone flush against my face and have usually just stuck the top of the phone to my ear anyway. There is plenty of noise coming out of this phone for calls, I was wearing ear plugs at a shooting range and was still able to carry on a conversation. More than anything just hold the speaker centered on the ear.

 

[flybub]

Any chance this can be fixed with a software update?

Lol

Posted via Android Central App

 

[brybelle22]

No software update planned, but I hear that a third party bezel extender is in the works that adds an extra 10 mm of bezel to the top and 37 mm of bezel to the right side of the phone thus properly placing the earpiece at a comfortable centered area 10 mm from the top of the phone.

 

[vzwuser76]

I did a test between my Turbo and my Maxx last Saturday. The difference was not a lot. I do agree that placement does make a difference. On the Maxx the grille was 1/2" wide in the center, where on the Turbo it runs nearly the width of the top of the phone. The actual speaker is on the left side of it's grille (opposite corner from where the time is shown in the status bar). If you adjust your ear position and place it over that side, there's maybe a 1 - 2dB difference. And since 6dB is twice as loud, it's noticeable but not night and day, at least compared to the Maxx. And I never had a complaint about the Maxx being too quiet.

 

[dungoyle]

Even though I already knew all of this, my sister called me at work today and I could barely understand what she was saying. It took a few seconds before it "clicked" in my head that I was holding the phone "naturally", which of course results in the speaker not being pointed to your ear canal. So I moved the top edge of the phone to the center of my ear, then moved it so the right side was in the correct location and viola. It's just a matter of re-training myself on how I use the phone for calls.

 

[RobinsonR810]

I'd like to agree that this is definatley the fix. I was very frustrated that I could barely hear anyone on the phone and then I did a google search and realized my ear wasn't in the right spot! So now I just move the phone a bit and I can actually hear the person on the other end.

 

[LaskoFan]

I see, we are holding the phone wrong, where have I heard this before? Look, I agree with you and to be honest, I am still awaiting to receive my phone. So I do not have any first-hand knowledge on how good or bad it is. With that said, I have read about this issue over and over again and in general this is a big area of concern. The phone gets a lot of high marks but no doubt the earpiece and/or its placement along with its camera are issues for many.

I await my phone to make my final judgement but find it funny to hear that you are holding the phone wrong when making a simple phone call.

 

[bizzyqu]

I see, we are holding the phone wrong, where have I heard this before? Look, I agree with you and to be honest, I am still awaiting to receive my phone. So I do not have any first-hand knowledge on how good or bad it is. With that said, I have read about this issue over and over again and in general this is a big area of concern. The phone gets a lot of high marks but no doubt the earpiece and/or its placement along with its camera are issues for many.

I await my phone to make my final judgement but find it funny to hear that you are holding the phone wrong when making a simple phone call.

once you get your phone you will see those complaints are a bunch of hot air

 

[Cajun_Mike]

once you get your phone you will see those complaints are a bunch of hot air

I have a feeling you will be right. I get my phone Thursday morning and I"m not worried about the ear speaker.

The only thing about the phone that concerns me in the camera and I'm really not that worried about it either. If the photos are as good as my Galaxy S3 then I will be happy as Ive always gotten a ton of compliments on my photos taken with it.

If i really need great photos, I will bring my Canon pocket S100 with me or my Canon 70D with assorted L lenses.

 

[Postoid]

Just saw this in Motorola's Droid Turbo chatroom:
Hope this helps...

Hello everyone,

To clarify, if you are on a call and holding the phone to your ear, you need to position your ear over the earpiece which is slightly right of center as shown in the image below.


Thank you,

Tom

Motorola Support

 

[Heath Mcmillan]

are there any volume booster apps for the turbo?tom or anyone else whom is reading this?ive downloaded10 apps from google play store abd not a single one works.plz help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bizzyqu]

are there any volume booster apps for the turbo?tom or anyone else whom is reading this?ive downloaded10 apps from google play store abd not a single one works.plz help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

put your ear on the speaker

 

[jerrykur]

Shouldn't the phone just work? The phone should be designed for the user, not visa verse.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[bizzyqu]

Shouldn't the phone just work? The phone should be designed for the user, not visa verse.

Posted via the Android Central App

it does work, you put your ear on the speaker, and you hear sound, I really don't understand these complaints. I'm not saying put it to the right either, just centered on the speaker grille, the sound is fine.

 

[jerryfuture]

I was at the Verizon store yesterday. Yes it is louder if you position the phone at your ear in an unnatural way. But just barely loud enough. Also took some pictures with the camera at the Verizon store. Almost every picture I took looked blurry to me.

 

[Danny1Bears3]

I was at the Verizon store yesterday. Yes it is louder if you position the phone at your ear in an unnatural way. But just barely loud enough. Also took some pictures with the camera at the Verizon store. Almost every picture I took looked blurry to me.

Probably looked blurry because the phone lacks OIS. A slight jerk of the hand at the time of photo capture will blur it.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Nreeldeep]

it does work, you put your ear on the speaker, and you hear sound, I really don't understand these complaints. I'm not saying put it to the right either, just centered on the speaker grille, the sound is fine.

So what are you going to say if you discover an issue with your device that's giving problems and you voice that problem on this board and everyone tells you're imagining it? Are you going to accept that and dismiss your problem as imagined? Because someone on the board says you have no problem will that make your problem go away? Or will the problem with your phone still exist?
Consider that before dismissing another poster's problem as imagined just because your device doesn't have the said problem or you've accepted it.

 

[bizzyqu]

So what are you going to say if you discover an issue with your device that's giving problems and you voice that problem on this board and everyone tells you're imagining it? Are you going to accept that and dismiss your problem as imagined? Because someone on the board says you have no problem will that make your problem go away? Or will the problem with your phone still exist?
Consider that before dismissing another poster's problem as imagined just because your device doesn't have the said problem or you've accepted it.

From what I have seen on this board most people fix this "problem" when they stop putting the screen to their ear and instead put their ear to the speaker.

What is happening is that this user error is being perceived by people considering this phone as some kind of problem with the device, when it really isn't.

Until someone can say they are centering their ear on the speaker grille and they still can't hear anything I refuse to accept it is a problem with the device, and I would suggest people considering this phone should ignore this complaint.

Posted via the Android Central App