Pin accidentally pushed into Nexus 7 lower microphone hole

[joncx]

I recently got a Nexus 7 with Mobile data and in the process of ejecting the SIM tray to put in the included SIM card I apparently wasn't paying close enough attention and pushed the included pin into the lower microphone hole located directly above the tray. I pushed at about the same strength as a SIM card tray might be expected to be released.

After I realized my mistake this has now got me worried I might have damaged that lower microphone. I have downloaded a couple voice recorder apps and it seems like it is still picking up sound (based on covering the other mic when talking). Are there any applications that can do a better job of selecting which mic you can use? Or is there a good way to check if it was damaged or not? Google Now appears to work fine for the most part. But would hate to have subpar experience in the long run.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[joncx]

Any thoughts?

 

[B. Diddy]

To test out your lower microphone, I would just use any app to record your voice or some music or any other test sound while physically covering the upper microphone. Then test the upper microphone, and compare both recordings to see if they're equal.

 

[joncx]

To test out your lower microphone, I would just use any app to record your voice or some music or any other test sound while physically covering the upper microphone. Then test the upper microphone, and compare both recordings to see if they're equal.

Thanks! Tried that previously and wasn't able to tell a major difference, except that maybe the lower one picked up audio at a slightly lower volume. But wasn't sure if the mic being covered was picking it up from through the case or something.

 

[MJKearney]

Some recording apps let you choose the mic to use. Go to settings in the app to see if it has that option. This option might be intended more for a phone, to choose between the mouthpiece mic and the camera mic, so it may not make such a distinction on the Nexus 7. I know that TapeMachine Lite (free) and Easy Voice Recorder (paid version) have mic input options.

 

[jonnightowl]

I've just done the same, I'm also not sure if the mic selection feature on the apps I've tried work on the nexus7, I'm also getting a intermittent buzz from recording now. As soon as I realised my mistake I thought that really there should be some indication(Red dot next to mic maybe) to help users avoid this.

 

[ddfall]

Yup, I just got my 3G Nexus 7 ... and did the exact same thing. On my iPad (3) the pin hole for the sim card is to the side, so I didn't think anything of it until I saw the other hole (like on the iPhone, within the sim tray itself)... The microphones seem to work alright but I'm wondering if I broke some seal / barrier covering the mic to protect it from, say, dust, etc. Has anyone got any better information on this? I agree, they should definitely label it at first at the very least. Plus moving the microphones means that none of my existing cases work properly unless I punch new holes in them...

 

[Jason Smith3]

same with the nexus 4. There are in fact 3 apertures on the N4 and if you were previously used to an iphone, the top 1 will be tried without thought. There should be some marker.

 

[mathelm]

I'm not sure how it's setup, but I think one or the pair of mics are used to cancel out ambient noise. So I would say the real test would be to ask google (tap the mic icon) and see how well it picks up what you say....

The side mic looks like it is part of the logic board, so I don't think one can be replaced without the other.

The "Fix it" article here shows how to replace the upper mic (with pics). It apparently plugs into a socket.

 

[rykellim]

There should be some differentiation between the holes... how can we know if the microphome is damaged and no longer perfect?