Help Droid X Speaker - Design Flaw? Fixable?

[_Aardvark]

DROID X Volume Issue Will Be Fixed in “Upcoming” Software Release | Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

 

[Paycer]

I was JUST about to link to that. Looks like the suspicions about Froyo fixing this issue were correct.

 

[kwest12]

Gareee, I can appreciate some of the points you made, but I do think you're missing the point.

This device is easily capable of louder volumes without a problem. Motorola should have given us the capability to use that volume right out of the box. It should be up to the user whether or not they want to be an "@$$hat" and use it very loudly in public (personally, I exercise discretion, but I should be able to make that decision for myself).

I understand that the media volume for you may be acceptable in a quiet environment: I would suggest that you now try it outside, or in a car. Even better, try showing your buddies a few youtube videos that you thought were funny. Unless you want to be shushing all of them (including those 2 friends talking 10 feet away who aren't listening to the video) you probably won't be able to hear the videos. Now go try the same thing with the Droid (if you have one): you'll have little to no problem. Guess what, the DX's speaker is almost certainly capable of similar volume levels.

I realize there is always the option to use headphones, and if you're going to be going somewhere that you can plan ahead for, great. However, part of the reason a lot of people own a smartphone is for the convenience factor: you don't have to plan ahead to be entertained! (woo hoo! ....lol) By crippling the speaker, Motorola has stripped us of part of that experience.

As I said earlier, it comes down to this: the hardware is there: it isn't enabled right now, but it should be. You don't have to pay money to Verizon to call and complain, and it may actually make a difference, so why not do it? The reality of the situation, is that your DX is easily capable of more than what Motorola has currently allowed it to do: you are being shortchanged right now whether you feel that way or not.

The arguing in this really makes very little sense to me: we acknowledge that the volume is lacking b/c we agree that we need to ramp up the volume of the ringtones that we put on the phone. If you've used youtube, I absolutely defy you to tell me it plays at acceptable volume levels. If you've put videos on the phone, you probably have realized that it's very similar to the music and ringtone volumes. Heck if you know what you're doing you can even strip the audio and then add it back in to the video: it's the same as the ringtone volume. It's obvious that the DX can handle much, much louder volumes with ease, but it currently is crippled by the software. Defending your device is all well and good, but wouldn't you rather say it's the best instead of just "good enough"?

 

[Gareee]

The arguing in this really makes very little sense to me: we acknowledge that the volume is lacking b/c we agree that we need to ramp up the volume of the ringtones that we put on the phone. If you've used youtube, I absolutely defy you to tell me it plays at acceptable volume levels.

Actually I never agreed that the hardware settings were the issue. Its the volume of the sound files that is the issue. I know, becuase if I load a sound file onto my phone that has a maximized volume, its 5 times louder then the stock sounds.

That means they need to modify the sound files themselves, NOT the firmware volume control in the phone.

Someone confirmed in a forum post that a verizon store actually just replaced the sound files on his Dx with new louder ones, and that cured his issue.

Both my wife and myself have no issues at all with the stock sounds or speaker on the dx. She can put an alarm on her phone and have to three rooms away in our home, and we can hear it quite well when it goes off.

As a matter of fact, I had it wake me up two days in a row, even though it was clear across our house.

When I mix down video files for playback on my phone, I always increase volume levels at the same time. I did that with my env2 as well. I usually increase volume about 800% for both devices.

Your view is that it is a firmware issue that needs an update to be corrected.

My view is that it is a simple software issue that can easily be corrected by any user right now, this minute.

I have a feeling that the froyo update was delayed because of many perceived "issues", that are in fact actually erronius user perceptions, or simply eople unfamiliar with using a smart phone.

I've made more then my share of mistakes on my Dx, but I'm also learning, and have not found any issue (other then the gps on sticking issue) that I couldn't work around.

As in everything else, YMMV.

 

[TheXFactor]

The fact of the matter is if you are in a very quiet environment, the ringer may sound sufficient. Granted, some notification sounds are louder than others. Regardless if you use a louder ringtone, if there is any background noise, say like driving with the window down or music playing, the speaker is pathetic.

Whether it's an issue with the design of the speaker, the size of the opening in the back, the way the phone rests or the software, it needs to fixed. That's if the speaker can handle the volume.

I don't know anyone who leaves their phone screen side down so they can hear it ringing. Screen side up on any surface, with any background noise = impossible to hear.

Hey Moto, can you hear me now?

 

[john0821]

Looks like Motorola will have to give DX customers for free bumpers so the speaker isn't muffled when laid down.

 

[kwest12]

@Gareee
Ok, I understand your opinion. Have you tried using youtube, pandora, grooveshark, etc to any extent? I personally have used youtube, pandora and grooveshark and all of them produce very sub-par sound on my DX. Each of these is much louder on the Droid by comparison and this isn't something the user can modify like a sound file. I have also loaded tv scene torrents (aka tv shows ripped by the most reliable and standardized encoders out there) onto my DX: they too play with sub-par volume (same as the streaming apps). I have not tried mp3s on the phone yet but I will when I get home. I fully expect to find that they are similar in volume.

While I have no problem with amplifying the sound on my custom ringtones, I do take issue with having to modify videos just to have them reach an acceptable volume (it shouldn't be necessary). I also do not have the time or the patience to amp up the volume of my entire music library for the DX. The biggest issue is the streaming programs that don't even give me a choice: they will forever be quiet unless something with the firmware is changed.

If it was clear that the speaker couldn't handle the louder volume levels, I'd shut my mouth and you wouldn't hear about it from me. This happens to be the very reason I haven't mentioned anything about the DX's vibration mode: it's so weak that is may as well not even exist tbh. Nothing has led me to believe that it's a firmware problem, so I doubt anything can be done about it: thus it's not worth mentioning (expect in a review). Based on my observations the speaker is definitely worth mentioning b/c it does seem to be a firmware limitation on the hardware.

PS: If it woke you up from across the house, I gotta assume that either you're a very light sleeper, have a very small house, have a large house that allows sound to permeate excessively well (hard wood floor everywhere perhaps?) or you have extremely good hearing (aka an extreme audiophile type). I mean even with a seriously amped up volume ringtone my phone wouldn't do that from across the house...

 

[hsuede]

I think people are focusing too much on notification loudness, while that is an issue as well, all volumes are too low. You can watch a youtube video and you can hear a youtube video but you can't do both at the same time.

 

[cashX3r0]

the DI is way louder than the DX (its one of the 2 things i miss from my switch--volume and sense). pandora, gmaps, youtube, notifications are very weak in comparison. maybe i just need a bigger volume rocker.