Feature request - A slightly better speaker/microphone

[halcek]

I do absolutely love what the PinePhone is. But if I had some feedback to improve for when the next hardware edition comes around, it would be, for the PinePhone to come equipped with just a slightly better, more clear speaker, and/or microphone.

I think it is even worth it to have such an improvement in the hardware, if it were to raise the price of the whole phone by some $10, maybe $20 if need be. Because even if the PinePine were to increase in price slightly to say $159, it would still have that psychological effect of a cheap phone very much going for it, but if that could decrease the buzzing that I now constantly get in the background (and the people I call with hear it too rather loudly, no matter which OS am using) uring phone calls, personally I do think it would make the final product that much more usable, and thus appealing.

What do others think about this?

[wibble]

Buzzing is probably down to quality of analog design rather than the mic or speaker involved. if this is the case an improved design might be practical, or it might already be at the limit. A more phone-oriented cpu would allow the use of mics with digital interfaces, sidestepping that issue, but then we probably wouldn't be able to have an open OS without binary blobs. A speaker connection is noted in the braveheart issues list so it may be improved in v1.2 boards already.

[halcek]

Buzzing is probably down to quality of analog design rather than the mic or speaker involved. if this is the case an improved design might be practical, or it might already be at the limit. A more phone-oriented cpu would allow the use of mics with digital interfaces, sidestepping that issue, but then we probably wouldn't be able to have an open OS without binary blobs. A speaker connection is noted in the braveheart issues list so it may be improved in v1.2 boards already.

It’s not a huge issue, and I certainly wouldn’t want at all any such components, that could result in the phone being less open as a consequence.

[SuperMonkey]

Could it be that this is a problem of calling/the modem? Using the normal speaker I don't have any rustling/buzzing when for example playing music (of course this is not the speaker used in calls, but in Mobian you can put a call on the normal speaker, and then it's also pretty rustling and buzzing). On the other side sound quality is also really bad.
But the recoding app in Mobian is giving me pretty good results (a litte bit of noise, but I think that's acceptable), so I think the microphone should be fine. It's just when calling people that things get noisy, rustling and buzzing on my pinephone. And I also hear some buzzing for a short time when booting some systems (mobian for example).

[bcnaz]

It's just when calling people that things get noisy, rustling and buzzing on my pinephone. And I also hear some buzzing for a short time when booting some systems (mobian for example).

Just a "comment"

   I am thinking most of the audio problems are in the "infancy" of the software,  I really appreciate the "overdrive" feature of my Linux distro's playing on my laptops....  I can turn up the volume an extra 50%+  which I sometimes really need.
  Perhaps that feature can be added to the Pine phone software..... eventually  ?

I am running the latest Mobian at the moment (July 13 nightly ) on my Brave Heart edition phone.

On normal phone I have not had any complaints myself,   or from the persons on the phones I am calling,
 >  On speaker phone it sounds pretty good to me,  but the other end then does hear an echo.  ( I have not heard the other end myself )
 
>I also have NOT heard these "rustling and buzzing" noises on my phone  ?   ( nothing even if I put my ear to the handset )

It is not perfect, but it is improving on a daily basis.

That is my 2 cent comment.

BC

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If there is a hardware fault, I do not yet see it.