How big a deal is speaker issue?

[Carraser23]

The speaker blows the pants off of the Note 7 so that's all I care about.

 

[andrew_ackley]

The contract on my Samsung 5 is about to expire, and I was thinking about switching to a Pixel. I am worried about what I hear about the weak speaker, though. I often listen to audio on my Samsung without headphones....

I really like the pixel speaker. Seriously. Don't even worry about it.

 

[davidnc]

I have no issues with the speaker, its loud and pretty clear to me.I think it sounds pretty good.
It was no deal breaker just because it lacked front facing speakers.
If just having the physical front facing speakers was one of my top priorities in a phone . Then I would have looked at other phones that did have them.

 

[Momof9Blessings]

It definitely is LOUD - It was almost too loud (all the way up) when testing out the phone... but we also used speaker phone... my husband walked back and forth and no distortion etc...

 

[I800C0LLECT]

I didn't realize how loud it was until I tried to watch football quietly with volume ticked up just one from silent... The wife gave me a look

 

[Dan L2]

My biggest concern is it doesn't go quiet enough

 

[shamdawg]

Speaker is very good.

 

[diver110]

Well, I can now answer my own question. I took a chance on the Pixel XL today. The speaker at max is both louder and of higher quality than that of the Galaxy S5. Since I found the S5 acceptable, obviously I am okay with the XL speaker. That said, at max the XL is not super loud. I could see the speaker being an issue for some people, just happily not me.

 

[scuz]

Its not louder than the S6 .. Was the S6 louder than both the Note 5 and S5? The sound quality is fine. Its just not that loud.

Edit: I barely use the speakers.. So its really not a huge issue. Just that I compared it next to my S6 and the S6 was clearly louder

edit 2: Just compared it to the iphone 6.. Even that is louder than the Pixel
edit 3: Its pretty close between this and the iphone 6.. Pixel sounds louder is another video.

 

[andrew_ackley]

Yup. Always an issue with downward-firing speakers. Get covered up by your finger or palm when holding.

That's true but better than those back side speakers on some phones. Those suck!