How's it working as a PHONE?

[morbidz]

and an added bonus is the auto speaker option when you're on a call and place it face down.

sweet! thanks for the tip

 

[Rem]

I don't like the way the contacts display - very confusing/not easy to just pull up a name in my list. Both BB and apple make it SOOO much easier to use.

How have you been trying to pull up names? I've found this to be pretty simple - no more difficult than on a BB, I don't think, though in all honesty I've tried to block out most memories of my BB experience. :-\

If you tap Phone and open the dialer you can just start typing a name with the number pad and it narrows down to the person you're looking for. Or, from the People app, you can tap the search button and start doing the same with the standard keyboard. Maybe I'm just used to it?

 

[Slapnpop826]

All my calls have been crystal clear using the handset, speaker and bluetooth.

 

[dajogejr]

If you tap Phone and open the dialer you can just start typing a name with the number pad

Yep, once leehblanc told me this I had a "duh" moment.
Simple....and it works!

 

[anonymous239411]

How have you been trying to pull up names? I've found this to be pretty simple - no more difficult than on a BB, I don't think, though in all honesty I've tried to block out most memories of my BB experience. :-\

If you tap Phone and open the dialer you can just start typing a name with the number pad and it narrows down to the person you're looking for. Or, from the People app, you can tap the search button and start doing the same with the standard keyboard. Maybe I'm just used to it?

Where exactly is the search button when using the people app? I'm having to go into the menu click more then search people. I usually just use the dial pad its easy.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Where exactly is the search button when using the people app? I'm having to go into the menu click more then search people. I usually just use the dial pad its easy.

Search People is under the more section of the menu while you are in the People app, but you can also just hit the magnifying glass (search) button while you are in the People app.

 

[anonymous239411]

Search People is under the more section of the menu while you are in the People app, but you can also just hit the magnifying glass (search) button while you are in the People app.

for some reason I dont have that magnifying glass.

edit** OOO000 I got ya now..you mean the non physical button on the bottom of the phone. Thanks!!

Was just wondering if HTC sent out different versions of these phones lol. I plan on going into a verizon store today after, just to see how the sound quality is on the display phones.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

for some reason I dont have that magnifying glass.

The one of the 4 soft buttons at the bottom, where the Home button, Menu button, and Back buttons are.

 

[mo-bile#AC]

coming from an iphone 4, I can hear other callers clearer and no one has complained on quality from my end. Plus, no dropped calls yet.

 

[jpvybes]

Only complaint I have is with the earpiece sounding like their is a hissing sound in the background. Second phone now, same problem. I see this complaint is already out there.

 

[flashpiti]

Only complaint I have is with the earpiece sounding like their is a hissing sound in the background. Second phone now, same problem. I see this complaint is already out there.

I and quite a few others have this issue as well, the sound sounds "tinny". This is the second TB that I've had with the same problem. It's also interesting that some professional reviews rave about the call quality while others like bgr and phonearena say the sound has the hiss and tinny like ours. So far I'd say the sound quality is below average.

From phonearena:
The one area that we are not thrilled about with the HTC ThunderBolt is with the call quality. The sound is decent for the most part, however there's a bit of buzzing if we turn the call volume all the way up with someone talking. At this point we’re not sure if all ThunderBolts have this problem, or maybe this is just a bad batch, but it is something to look for and try out if you are thinking about purchasing one. Aside from that, we could also hear a continual background “hiss".

From BGR:
Voice quaily is decent on the ThunderBolt, but not great. As far as the ear speaker is concerned, I’m not a fan of what HTC delivered on its handsets in this regard recently, and that includes the EVO 4G. These phones are always uncomfortable to talk with, and some even sound like you’re talking on a tin can. Unfortunately, the ThunderBolt falls into that category for me. I would have loved the ear speaker to be a tad lounder in certain environments, and additionally, calls just didn’t sound that clear to me. Callers on the other end weren’t overly impressed with the quality of voice calls either, and some went as far as to use particularly colorful language to describe the audio quality. I’ll spare you the details.

Engadget says it sounds good for the most part:
Audio quality ranges from "good" to "great," with two caveats: one, the aforementioned problem with loudspeaker muffling when the kickstand is closed (not severe, but something to take note of), and two, the earpiece could use another level or two of volume. It's plenty clear, but in noisy environments, we found ourselves wishing we could eke a little more out of it on a couple occasions. Callers told us we sounded a little "staticky" but were still totally audible -- we were never asked to speak up or repeat something we'd said.

Question is how do you tell if the phone is going to sound good or not?

 

[mpf]

So far, no real issues.

On speaker-phone, when driving I'm getting occasional complaints about the background noise being picked up -- but I expect this behaviour.

In quieter locals when *NOT* in speaker-phone mode, the speaker volume tends to be so loud (and clear) that others nearby can hear both sides of the conversation -- even if I turn down the volume. (Hey I can hear them if I pull the phone 10 inches away, and this is the ear speaker, not the larger "rear" speaker). I think this is just an issue of adjusting things on my end.

 

[disconnect]

Good to hear some positive feedback on the speaker phone. I had complaints from everyone I talked to - on Friday - that they were echoing so bad they couldn't talk to me with it on. I tried various volume levels and nothing worked. I am in a business where I am on at least 15 hours of conference calls each week. A good quality speaker phone is an absolute must. Anyway I exchanged it yesterday and I'm hoping this one is better.

Any luck with speaker phone quality on the new one? I've gotten complaints from two people now on feedback/echoing when using the speaker phone...

 

[jaguarpaw]

main prob is hearing people when i put THEM on speaker. music and all media levels are great. what gives? is there an app for this?

 

[jpvybes]

Speaker sounds great, but not so much the earpiece. I tried logging a complaint to HTC regarding the "hissing" sound but they said not enough people have complained about it so it's not being looked at. :-/ I urge people to complain!

 

[mikednichols]

Your first sentence makes sense. I hadn't even considered that as being the culprit.

I originally suspected the noise-cancelling tech as well, since the background noise seems closely emulates the sound of noise-cancelling headphones (with noise cancelling on, no music playing). Except in the case of my TBolt, that sound is much more amplified and results in what is in my opinion a poor signal-to-noise ratio.

When I called customer service to get a replacement, they had no record of that issue plaguing the device and the person I spoke with (who seemed to know what he was talking about) said that it should not have anything to do with the noise-cancelling microphone. Something about that being for helping the audio quality of the person on the other end of the call.

I am crossing my fingers that my exchange phone doesn't have the same issue.

 

[disconnect]

Following up on the speakerphone issue, I tested it out with my home phone after my last post, calling the TB with it on speaker. When talking loudly it wasn't really an issue, but speaking more softly there was obvious echo. It seems more like a software thing than a hardware thing to me - every speakerphone will have to recognize that the sound from the other line is going to be part of the environment and need to be filtered out of the mic. Maybe there's more of a lag than expected, so it thinks it's a separate voice talking? I'm hoping it's a software issue that can be patched, because I really don't feel like playing HTC roulette swapping the phone out and hoping the new one don't have the same issue or some other flaw.

I also notice some hiss in the earpiece though it's nothing so bad as to make it unusable. Maybe I need to complain about that and the speakerphone echo to get these things on HTC's radar.

 

[jpvybes]

We definitely need to log these issues with HTC.

Click here

from disconnect

I also notice some hiss in the earpiece though it's nothing so bad as to make it unusable. Maybe I need to complain about that and the speakerphone echo to get these things on HTC's radar.

 

[Chance]

I don't think my phone has noise canceling. On speakerphone girlfriend hears all the noises when I'm driving. Hitting bumps on road, other cars passing by, and especially my exhaust in the truck.
On my og Droid never had these issues.
Wish I could fix it.

 

[menji]

no issues. I'm very happy the phone i got came out with no issues. I hadn't even tested the phone call quality until i got a call 2 days after i got it. Not much of a phone call type of guy.