• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help LOW ringer / speaker volume

This is a serious problem for me... Might be a deal breaker :/
I took one of our Epic Touch's to VZW, downloaded a podcast at home b4 leaving (ET is WiFi only for us as Sprint is horrible in our area, canceled trial, they let us keep the phones - love the ET, wish Verizon offered a GS2 model!)...

Anyway, took the ET to VZW and on the GNex downloaded the same podcast (via the browser, an mp3 file) , compared the two and the GNex was super low compared to the Epic Touch (which is just "ok" enough to me , next to my Orig Droid , the only phone i've found with a decent level of volume is the Epic Touch, Bionic, Rezound at BBuy seemed really low month ago but at VZW tonight the Rezound was quite loud)....

anyway, the Gnex , while i don't have to have a super loud speaker - it's way too low, watching YouTube vids, listening to podcasts - you'd have to be right up to it and in a very quiet area.

The speaker combined with the poor camera (compared to the Epic Touch) - can't see being stuck with the low volume and camera (video perf was not to good either taking sample videos in the store, took pics and vids with the Epic Touch for a comparison)....

Camera, speaker - can't see 2 years with that even if the price was $99 for the phone (the real price is the $$$$ you pay for service and giving up TWO years of decent pictures / vids and ability to listen to Android Central across the room, he-he).

What's not funny? No GS2 on VZW, the RAZR is ok as is Rezound but i really love the larger screen on the Epic Touch - no such phone on VZW but the Gnex which to me doesn't hold up to the ET.

So maybe will have to activate the ET and deal with super slow Sprint speeds in this area - that's not gonna work either.

Really bites.

Why couldn't Samsung / Google have at least a decent speaker and the same or better camera as the GS2 ? Or VZW offer a GS2?
 
  • Like
Reactions: spmwilson
Upvote 0
I took one of our Epic Touch's to VZW, downloaded a podcast at home b4 leaving (ET is WiFi only for us as Sprint is horrible in our area, canceled trial, they let us keep the phones - love the ET, wish Verizon offered a GS2 model!)...

Anyway, took the ET to VZW and on the GNex downloaded the same podcast (via the browser, an mp3 file) , compared the two and the GNex was super low compared to the Epic Touch (which is just "ok" enough to me , next to my Orig Droid , the only phone i've found with a decent level of volume is the Epic Touch, Bionic, Rezound at BBuy seemed really low month ago but at VZW tonight the Rezound was quite loud)....

anyway, the Gnex , while i don't have to have a super loud speaker - it's way too low, watching YouTube vids, listening to podcasts - you'd have to be right up to it and in a very quiet area.

The speaker combined with the poor camera (compared to the Epic Touch) - can't see being stuck with the low volume and camera (video perf was not to good either taking sample videos in the store, took pics and vids with the Epic Touch for a comparison)....

Camera, speaker - can't see 2 years with that even if the price was $99 for the phone (the real price is the $$$$ you pay for service and giving up TWO years of decent pictures / vids and ability to listen to Android Central across the room, he-he).

What's not funny? No GS2 on VZW, the RAZR is ok as is Rezound but i really love the larger screen on the Epic Touch - no such phone on VZW but the Gnex which to me doesn't hold up to the ET.

So maybe will have to activate the ET and deal with super slow Sprint speeds in this area - that's not gonna work either.

Really bites.

Why couldn't Samsung / Google have at least a decent speaker and the same or better camera as the GS2 ? Or VZW offer a GS2?

Well, im going to wait a week and see if anything comes out to help it. If not, if i can bear it, ill keep it... if not, ill check out the rezound, razr, or go back to the droid x til the bext big thing comes out. Really loving the phone tho...
 
Upvote 0
Haven't really noticed it to be a problem honestly, but then again I don't take many calls either. The alarms I've used on it were all well more than loud enough to wake me up which is no easy feat. Sorry that you guys are having such a rough time of it.
What phone did you have b4? Can you just play an MP3 or any sound file on the GNex and your previous phone (if any Android device) ?

Thanks
 
Upvote 0
My problem with increasing the volume with an app is that we have no way of knowing right now whether that will cause the speaker to wear down prematurely. In other words, we don't know whether the hardware will stand up to being pushed above the out of the box limit. Just because the speakers may sound fine with these kinds of apps right now doesn't mean the speakers will hold up. I don't want to have blown out, muffled speakers down the line. I'll wait until others have more experience with this with the GN.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jkc120 and Ninjak
Upvote 0
My problem with increasing the volume with an app is that we have no way of knowing right now whether that will cause the speaker to wear down prematurely. In other words, we don't know whether the hardware will stand up to being pushed above the out of the box limit. Just because the speakers may sound fine with these kinds of apps right now doesn't mean the speakers will hold up. I don't want to have blown out, muffled speakers down the line. I'll wait until others have more experience with this with the GN.

I'm gaining experience as we speak (and I listen)... I'll let ya know ;)
 
Upvote 0
My problem with increasing the volume with an app is that we have no way of knowing right now whether that will cause the speaker to wear down prematurely. In other words, we don't know whether the hardware will stand up to being pushed above the out of the box limit. Just because the speakers may sound fine with these kinds of apps right now doesn't mean the speakers will hold up. I don't want to have blown out, muffled speakers down the line. I'll wait until others have more experience with this with the GN.


The speaker used in the Nexus I would guess is the same speaker in the Charge and GS2 so if the speaker isn't loud enough I would attribute that to ICS software. Increasing the volume level by a software tweak should be safe as long as there isn't an ICS update that increases volume further.
 
Upvote 0
Following this thread intently. Speaker and earpiece volume are huge dealbreakers for me, like right up there with root. Can anybody comment on earpiece volume, when taking calls? Also, does using the volume+ app affect calls on speaker phone? I don't talk on the phone much, but when I do it's usually on speakerphone in my car or at home, so this matters very much to me. I've lived through 20 months with low volume before and I've come to learn that there are lots of things to like about phones but at the end of the day, the basics that often go without thought are what matter the most.
 
Upvote 0
Following this thread intently. Speaker and earpiece volume are huge dealbreakers for me, like right up there with root. Can anybody comment on earpiece volume, when taking calls. Also, does using the volume+ app affect calls on speaker phone. I don't talk on the phone much, but when I do it's usually on speakerphone in my car or at home, so this matters very much to me. I've lived through 20 months with low volume and I've come to learn that there are lots of things to like about phones but at the end of the day, the basics that often go without thought are what matter the most.

I never use speakerphone so I can't comment on that but earpiece volume is the same as my OG Droid. Both are too loud for me on max so I have to turn them down some. The regular speaker is a little weak and volume+ app helped but it still isn't OG Droid loud
 
  • Like
Reactions: crankerchick
Upvote 0
I, too, am following this very closely. As I've reported elsewhere, this and the way the LED notifications work could be dealbreakers for me and send me back to the Rezound. I'm trying to exercise patience, but also need to be able to hear the phone ring while being in another room of my apt, which has never been an issue before. If it was shown that Volume+ could raise the speaker volume safely (that is, without detriment to the speaker) without distortion, then I'd have confidence a software patch could address this. As it is, the 4.0.2 build states that one of the fixes it applied was an increase in the navigation voice volume, which I've yet to test.
 
Upvote 0
I, too, am following this very closely. As I've reported elsewhere, this and the way the LED notifications work could be dealbreakers for me and send me back to the Rezound. I'm trying to exercise patience, but also need to be able to hear the phone ring while being in another room of my apt, which has never been an issue before. If it was shown that Volume+ could raise the speaker volume safely (that is, without detriment to the speaker) without distortion, then I'd have confidence a software patch could address this. As it is, the 4.0.2 build states that one of the fixes it applied was an increase in the navigation voice volume, which I've yet to test.

Light Flow app fixed the LED notification for me. You get complete control over everything. Sounds like volume+ should take care of the volume issue, as long as it doesn't blow the speaker.
 
Upvote 0
Light Flow app fixed the LED notification for me. You get complete control over everything. Sounds like volume+ should take care of the volume issue, as long as it doesn't blow the speaker.

Kind of OT re: the OP, but can you post your light flow settings? I grabbed it, but there are a slew of settings and I don't know if I need to enable that "extra detected" LED or what. If it's too OT, can you PM me your settings? Also curious if it has affected your battery life at all?
 
Upvote 0
Enabling the equalizer increased volume for ringtones and notifications for me albeit only slightly. Still helped. Go into your Google music app, play a song, make sure your on the large album art screen with the 3 settings dots in the top righthand corner, tap and go to sound effects. Just something temporary and might help some till we get a software update that addresses this. Hopefully ;)
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones