Mic sending sound through earpiece

[Chris3D]

Can someone verify this - that the phone sends sound picked up by the mic back through the earpiece?

The simplest way I've found to test it is when you're on a call, run your finger back and forth over the mic on the bottom. When I do it, the rubbing sound is very clearly being transmitted by the earpiece.

Do I have a defective phone, or is this intentional? If the latter, does anyone know if it's a software issue or an inherent part of the functioning of the phone? And if so, what could possible be the reason for this? (admittedly a rhetorical question).

Hearing my own voice repeated back to me as I talk is incredibly distracting and annoying. There's no reason a phone should be designed to re-transmit what it's own mic picks up through it's own earpiece. I have another ear to pick up ambient sounds, thank you very much. Does this still happen with a bluetooth headset?

So far, my experience with this phone has really been abysmal - from the poor antennae strength, to the poor battery life to Verizon's bloatware and meddling and now this. I'm really trying to like this phone, but as it stands now, there's a 80% chance it's going to be returned.

 

[TripSixes]

I believe what you are not liking is a very important feature in the world of phones.. both landline and cell phones.. it's called SideTone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidetone.

I believe that with the cell phone generation, some manufacturer's Sidetone is just not as noticeable as others. some probably totally non existent. which may be the reason why you're finding the fascinate more distracting than previous phones.

the other issues you mention seem to mostly be addressable.. bloat ware can be removed.. .. I personally think the hardware/specs for this phone are off the charts.. so, I'm willing to manually fix some of these annoyances myself to create the phone this should have been out of the box.

as for signal strength... I haven't had any issues myself. of course, I live in one off vzw's bigger coverage areas..

and for battery, .. I do agree.. would be great to be a bit more. I guess I'll just resort to "docking" my phone throughout the day at work...



via android tapatalk

 

[egg_head]

Trip, thanks for sharing the knowledge on sidetone!

[tapatalk on android]

 

[Chris3D]

I believe what you are not liking is a very important feature in the world of phones.. both landline and cell phones.. it's called SideTone Sidetone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I believe that with the cell phone generation, some manufacturer's Sidetone is just not as noticeable as others. some probably totally non existent. which may be the reason why you're finding the fascinate more distracting than previous phones.

Wow, thanks for that info... that's almost definitely what it is. Now, the big question, I wonder if this is something that can be changed within the OS (probably not), or if it might vary from one phone to another and I might be able to get one with less on an exchange (possible?).

Personally, I find the level distractingly high, when I first got the phone, my wife kept asking what was wrong when we'd talk over the phone. She said I was talking different, quieter.

I completely agree with you that the hardware of the phone is outstanding (save for the battery life). The bloatware is unfortunate, but like you say, mostly addressable. It just leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth since the biggest reason I left the iPhone was because so much of the experience was dictated and I was forced to void my warranty (by jailbreaking) just to configure the phone to my liking.

 

[Chris3D]

Upon further investigation, it seems like it could be configurable through the OS. I found this post by someone with a Captivate. They got into the service menu on their phone, and there was a menu with one of the entries being "Sidetone".

I tried to access the service menu of my phone, but the only codes I could find bring up some type of diagnostic terminal, not any kind of menu.

Really hope I can configure this to be about 1/2 the volume it currently is.

 

[Ivisi]

Instructions on gaining access to the service menu on the Fascinate:

http://forum.androidcentral.com/fascinate-roms-hacks/36421-access-hidden-menu-dialer.html

I don't have my Fascinate yet to see what is in this menu (it should be in early this week, YAY), but it's worth a look to see if this menu allows you to adjust Sidetone similar to how it's adjusted on the Captivate mentioned earlier.

 

[egg_head]

Ivisi, That service menu is for manual programming the phone.

In regards to an advanced menu for the sidetone adjustment, I found an .apk .HWCodec while adding a custom activity through ADWLauncher.

Within .HWCodec there was a .HWCodec.Sidetone.

I'm trying to figure out how to gain access.

I also went into system/app and found the .apk but its already installed.

I'm no pro with this, so many someone else can step in..

[tapatalk on android]

 

[Chris3D]

Yea, the instructions in that thread show how to enable the service menu, but that code, **772 brings up the service *mode*, which I suspect is different from a service menu. The thread I found about the Captivate talks about a menu with options, one being sidetone.

I found the .HWCodec too, but I can't figure out any way to do anything with it. I made a custom shortcut to the sidetone activity, but when I click it, it just says "application not installed" or something like that.

 

[egg_head]

Yeah, Chris, I did the same thing..
There must be a way..

[tapatalk on android]

 

[TripSixes]

I was forced to void my warranty (by jailbreaking) just to configure the phone to my liking.

.. the great thing is, there is no Overmind controlling every aspect of the phones in the android world. sure, vzw wants to control what is shipped in the box, but that's not going to prevent me from customizing what I want..


via android tapatalk

 

[Chris3D]

.. the great thing is, there is no Overmind controlling every aspect of the phones in the android world. sure, vzw wants to control what is shipped in the box, but that's not going to prevent me from customizing what I want..

But there is an overriding control - decisions, such as search engines, are made for you, if you root, you void your warranty, if you change the OS, even just by removing/disabling bloatware, you reportedly loose OTA updates.

In this respect, there's really little material difference between Android (as provided by the carriers (or at least Verizon)) and the iPhone. We just have some faceless corporate department making decisions for us as opposed to a single flamboyant CEO like Steve Jobs.

I'm not criticizing the Android OS itself, but the reality is that the carriers (again, particularly Verizon) do strip much of the "openness" out of it and place roadblocks in the path to openness.

 

[egg_head]

Ok, so lets get back on track here..

According to Android platform code, secret codes are in the form of *#*#<code>#*#*

Using Root Explorer I decided to 'view' HwCodec.apk.

I opened 'AndroidManifest.xml' and found at the bottom this:

...
<intent-filter>
<action name="android.provider.Telephony.
SECRET_CODE">
<data scheme="android_secret_code"
host="0002*28346">
</data>
<data scheme="android_secret_code"
host="0002*28347">
</data>
...

So, I'm trying to dial *#*0002*28346#*#*
I tried *#*0002*28347#*#*

No luck.

So, I'm figuring either one of two things is going wrong.
1) I'm not getting the dialing code right, or out of order.
2) Secret Codes are in the different dialing form- not *#*#<code>#*#*

I will play with it some more..

 

[Chris3D]

Ok, so lets get back on track here..

According to Android platform code, secret codes are in the form of *#*#<code>#*#*

Using Root Explorer I decided to 'view' HwCodec.apk.

I opened 'AndroidManifest.xml' and found at the bottom this:

...
<intent-filter>
<action name="android.provider.Telephony.
SECRET_CODE">
<data scheme="android_secret_code"
host="0002*28346">
</data>
<data scheme="android_secret_code"
host="0002*28347">
</data>
...

So, I'm trying to dial *#*0002*28346#*#*
I tried *#*0002*28347#*#*

No luck.

So, I'm figuring either one of two things is going wrong.
1) I'm not getting the dialing code right, or out of order.
2) Secret Codes are in the different dialing form- not *#*#<code>#*#*

I will play with it some more..

I've tried all the codes listed on other forums, and it seems pretty certain that the Verizon version of the phone uses different codes or a different format for the codes.

I'll keep an eye on the forums for what people discover, but my phone is being returned. I made a few calls this morning and found the sound quality to be really lacking. The sidetone was just too loud for my liking, and there was an obvious buzz/distortion through the earpiece. On top of all other issues, I just can't live with that for the next 2 years.

If enough is fixed with an update, maybe I'll return, but for now, I'm going smart-phone-less for a while. I can still use my de-activated iPhone with Skype on wireless networks available almost everywhere.

 

[egg_head]

I have a feeling the android_secret_code dialing form is different from the usual *#*#<code>#*#* from other Android devices like the G1, D1, etc.

I'm determined to figure this out- just cause.

 

[-Deeter-]

any new info on this??? I would love to find a fix for this, as it is unbelievably annoying.