Help Call Quality of the Fascinate

[gregsbenedict]

Sorry to say that I'm not going to be any help to those with the issue who are committed to the fascinate...

I was initially 50/50 between this and the X and I decided that for me, the fascinate wasn't worth the risk of a straight swap.Even if the new one was fine right off the bat, I didn't want to be right back in the same situation a few months from now because of a little fumble onto the kitchen floor. $35 "restocking" fee later, and i'm now the proud owner of the X.

As said above, it's like the designers put the fact that this is a phone at it's core on the back burner. People who are light talkers and/or talk in quiet conditions may never experience any symptoms at all.

Good luck to those seeking the solution. I'm really interested in what's going to come of this whole thing...

 

[Lodingi]

Yeah I get that echo too. I'm hoping the devs will get us better radios once the custom roms arrive.

 

[Frisco]

Let me be the first to apologize,

I read the thread that is currently going about call quality and have seen people talking about the same issue...

/Thread

No apology necessary, Mike; I merged your query into the longest thread here about those issues.

 

[Nicgb]

I've had the same problem with my fascinate. Personally i was a little disappointed after deciding to leave my incredible behind for this newer phone. The call quality is horrible compared to the incredible, I hear a constant buzzing from my own talking while on calls. That added onto the repeated freezing of the phone has me wondering if I made the right choice. Hope 2.2 fixes some problems.

 

[gingergirl]

After reading all the call quality posts again... good and bad...
I figured I'd place a long over-due call to my folks... lol.. cause that will be a REALLY good indicator... it will be a l-o-n-g conversation...
and... it seemed fine. I kept asking them.... "how do I sound?? how do I sound?? lmao... of course just hearing from me once in a blue moon is music to their ears...

 

[Mikedroid89]

No apology necessary, Mike; I merged your query into the longest thread here about those issues.

Thanks!

 

[oneiztoomany]

when i speak into the phone on a phone call my voice will randomly distort in my ear piece.

this is happening to me also

 

[SirKronan]

this is happening to me also

Try disabling "Voice Privacy" in the options. That's helping some people improve their sound quality.

 

[oneiztoomany]

Try disabling "Voice Privacy" in the options. That's helping some people improve their sound quality.

will try, thanks!

 

[MortySnerd]

Add me to the list of people with the bad echo problem on three different units. It's unbearable and unfortunate because I love everything else about this phone. Neither Verizon nor Samsung have it listed as a known issue, so I don't hold much hope that it will get fixed. Meanwhile, I've counted no less than 25 unique posters across multiple forums with this problem. Here are some of the threads I've found:

Does Anyone Have Sound Issues?
call quality - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum
rattly echo?? - Android Forums
Reverb issue, can anyone replicate? - Verizon Wireless Community

 

[elementmaster]

Add me to the list of people with the bad echo problem on three different units. It's unbearable and unfortunate because I love everything else about this phone. Neither Verizon nor Samsung have it listed as a known issue, so I don't hold much hope that it will get fixed. Meanwhile, I've counted no less than 25 unique posters across multiple forums with this problem. Here are some of the threads I've found:

Does Anyone Have Sound Issues?
call quality - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum
rattly echo?? - Android Forums
Reverb issue, can anyone replicate? - Verizon Wireless Community

Got my Fascinate on Saturday & took it back one hour later to exchange it b/c of the issue. The new phone still has the issue, but now my gps is really slow! Dang...maybe I'll go exchange it one more time - this phone is really cool other than that, its so sad! Who knows, maybe the upcoming update will fix these issues.

 

[oneiztoomany]

my 30 day return window is coming up quickly. and i really dont want to let go of this phone because i love everything else about it. really sux...

 

[dlt123me]

Hi all... I am trying to decide between the HTC Incredible and the Samsung Fascinate.

I went to a Verizon store today to try each of the phones. I called a friend on both and was told the Incredible sounded great, but the Fascinate sounded like I was under water.

I should mention that I was in the store and there were a lot of people there so it may have played a role in the Samsung Fascinate having such poor sound quality and that it might not have noise cancelling.

I then had the salesman call me from both phones to my current cell phone. The Inc sounded the best with the SF sounding distant and tinny.

Also, one more thing... the salesman said that since the FS has only been out for such a short time, I may want to wait to see if another phone comes out... i.e. like the Iphone fiasco... He said this is the first generation and subsequent generations may sound better.

With this thinking, I may not be getting a phone till middle of 2011 or later. Decisions... decisions... or I may just wait till all this smooths out or there is a replacement Samsung Fascinate that addresses the so called poor call quality.

Thanks for the feedback from everyone... hopefully a software upgrade fixes this or a recall occurs. No... I guess not.
Dennis

 

[SirKronan]

Hi all... I am trying to decide between the HTC Incredible and the Samsung Fascinate.

I went to a Verizon store today to try each of the phones. I called a friend on both and was told the Incredible sounded great, but the Fascinate sounded like I was under water.

I should mention that I was in the store and there were a lot of people there so it may have played a role in the Samsung Fascinate having such poor sound quality and that it might not have noise cancelling.

I then had the salesman call me from both phones to my current cell phone. The Inc sounded the best with the SF sounding distant and tinny.

Also, one more thing... the salesman said that since the FS has only been out for such a short time, I may want to wait to see if another phone comes out... i.e. like the Iphone fiasco... He said this is the first generation and subsequent generations may sound better.

With this thinking, I may not be getting a phone till middle of 2011 or later. Decisions... decisions... or I may just wait till all this smooths out or there is a replacement Samsung Fascinate that addresses the so called poor call quality.

Thanks for the feedback from everyone... hopefully a software upgrade fixes this or a recall occurs. No... I guess not.
Dennis

I've placed calls on both ends of my fascinate, my brother's fascinate, and my sister's fascinate, and also tested calls using my wife's Eris (we're a happy android family! ) None of our phones sound like we're under water, but I know the sound quality on the Fascinate is not as good as the Droid X I used to have. I compared those two radios side by side. The DX is superior. If that's your number one consideration then you should go with the Droid X. In my testing, I didn't think the Incredible was that much different sound quality wise than the Fascinate. But the Droid X beats them both. Battery life on the Incredible is also not as good as battery life on the Fascinate or the DX, and I prefer the screens on both the Fascinate and the DX to the screen on the Incredible. The Incredible sports a first gen AMOLED screen. The LCD on the DX is one of the best you can get right now, and SuperAMOLED on the Fascinate still continues to blow people's minds when they look at it for the first time. If you put your browser and eReader apps into night mode, the Fascinate actually starts to pull away from the DX in terms of battery life while ready and browsing.

I wouldn't get the incredible. If the Fascinate and DX are too large (the DX was too large and not quite ergonomic enough for my hands) then the Incredible is still a good device, but the Fascinate and DX are both more powerful, have better screens, better battery life, and are just a little further ahead tech wise.

If I thought I sounded like I was underwater (or other people thought I sounded that way) I would certainly return the Fascinate. Turn off the "Voice Privacy" - that helped a little on mine. Most of the time it sounds good, just like any good phone I've ever had. The Droid X is the only phone I've ever had that really stood out above the crowd. The review that said the DX sounds like a good land line is not exaggerating one bit, though.

 

[andonakis]

"If you put your browser and eReader apps into night mode"

Never seen this before, how do you go about doing this?

 

[dlt123me]

...

If I thought I sounded like I was underwater (or other people thought I sounded that way) I would certainly return the Fascinate. Turn off the "Voice Privacy" - that helped a little on mine. Most of the time it sounds good, just like any good phone I've ever had. The Droid X is the only phone I've ever had that really stood out above the crowd. The review that said the DX sounds like a good land line is not exaggerating one bit, though.

Thanks for the feedback SirKronan... I was pretty saddened by the sound quality of the Fascinate. The Incredible did sound "Much" better than the Fascinate.

I am going to another Verizon store today and will look for the "Voice Privacy" setting. Where is this at?

The disparity in ppls experience with the Fascinate has me concerned. It looks like getting a good phone is a crap shoot. I really want this phone and if I can find a Fascinate that sounded as good as the Incredible I tried, I would be happy.

The jury is still out for me on this phone. I might just wait till the dust settles or when the 2.2 or 2.3 is released and hear the feedback from current owners of the Fascinate.

Thanks again,
Dennis