Help Either a phone OR a media player BUT NOT BOTH!

[generalyuehfei]

Either a phone OR a media player BUT NOT BOTH!


Ok... I have not taken the S2 in for warranty repair today as my backup plan during the repair of my Galaxy S2 was to carry the Galaxy Tab on my daily commute for entertainment. Today I discovered it has the identical problem with the audio sounding washed out, echos and very low levels of voice relative to background effects.


The Problem:
1) Galaxy S2 GT-i9000 (Build GINGERBREAD.XWKG1) used with Samsung supplied headset has diminished sound through the standard media player and supplied samsung headset
2) Galaxy Tab GT-P1000 (Build FROYO.XWJMI) with Samsung supplied headset has diminished sound through the standard media player and supplied samsung headset
3) Galaxy S GT-i9000 (Build FROYO.DTJP5) – See the last note coz this confuses the hell out of me



The Analysis:
Now the units work perfectly in the following scenarios
A) playing media files without the headset connected.
B) playing media files after pulling the jack of the samsung supplied headset out a few millimeters
C) engaging in phone calls with the samsung supplied headset

Researching this a little further it seems that the Samsung supplied headset has a 4 stage connector to it. Normal audio headphones have 3 stage. This prompted me to consider that when pulling the jack out a few mm's it creates the 3 stage connection. I tried my ipod headphones (3 stage) and whalla! these work just perfectly with the jack fully plugged in.

So back to #3 above, my wifes 3) Galaxy S GT-i9000 (Build FROYO.DTJP5) WORKS just perfectly with either Samsung supplied headset OR ipod headphones - ie. no problem whatsoever.

The Results: Unfortunately the phone turns into just a phone OR just a media player since the supplied Samsung headset can only do phone calls and the ipod headphones can only do media files.

If you are scrunching up your face thinking this guy is a noob - welcome to the club coz it makes no sense. I was a massive fan of these Samsung devices - until right now - 2 out of 3 devices with an identical fault is pretty dodgy IMO.

Considering these are two different products and OS's released in different periods however sharing similar hardware components and possibly architectures, I cannot help but consider that this is an intended component of the design because the alternative is that Samsung have really really bad QA processes - unfortunately I figure the latter.

All units were bought from the same dealer on the same day in Sydney

I will send the TAB for warranty repair tomorrow and keep the phone to see the outcome of that first.

Regards

 

[Slug]

The extra (fourth) contact is required for the hands-free microphone, as you're probably aware. My own headset shows no difference in volume between the Samsung headset and other earphones, either Sennheissers with a standard stereo 3.5mm jack or an HTC headset originally from a Desire Z (another 4-way jack). I wonder if the jack sockets on the newer devices are slightly out-of-tolerance?

Regarding DivX playback, someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think you have to register to view DRM-protected media due to licensing. It's explained here.

HTH

 

[generalyuehfei]

The extra (fourth) contact is required for the hands-free microphone, as you're probably aware. My own headset shows no difference in volume between the Samsung headset and other earphones, either Sennheissers with a standard stereo 3.5mm jack or an HTC headset originally from a Desire Z (another 4-way jack). I wonder if the jack sockets on the newer devices are slightly out-of-tolerance?
HTH

Thanks for confirming that this is not necessarily an undocumented feature of these units

I have decided to send the units one by one for warranty repair.
Regards, Nick