I often got complains from peers, that they could not hear me, because of all the noise. I thougt the connction to be the reason (since I have a lot of trouble with that as well). But today I noticed something else when my girlfriend and I switched phones.
The microphone pics up every tiny sound that originates on the surfice of the phone. I run my finger realy gently down the side of the phone and there is a shuffleling sound like i am right next to the mic. Also every little tap or anything. The lether case might be even worse. If I shake it right next to my ear I can hear a faint sound of one the buttens jittering. It sounds like a faint ticking of a wrist watch. Over the phone it sounds like a rattlesnake.
It is not like the mic is oversensitive. My voice is not to loud and it seems like it’s not picking up an unusual amount of surrounding noice. But every movement of a finger sounds like you just shoved the phone into a pocket.
Is that normal?
You are using a leather case. Does it cover one or both of the microphones? That would explain why the regulation opens that much and you hear any sound like you describe.
Give it a try without the case.
No, its one of these covers that are glued to the back of the case. So I can’t take it of. But it doesn’t cover any of the microphones. Yesterday I had the back cover removed and so the case along with it - the problem was still there.
UPDATE:
Just tried it again without the back of the case just to be shure. I would say it is less dramatic. By far not as good as my girlfriends phone - I can preety much do anything with that without a sound as long as I don’t slap my fingernail directly onto the microphone. But it might in a range that would not cause that much complaint. The back seems to sit tight where its supposed to be, but could it be the cause? It doesn’t seem to cover anything and how would the mic know it’s covered?
The microphone is adjusted (in software) to the volume of your speech. If you are speaking through a layer of leather or any other material, it has to adjust more to make you heard and as a result the noise is also amplified. But if you aren’t covering the USB port area, it should be fine - the microphone used during calls is next to the USB port.
No, my speech is clear. But every movement of a finger is beeing picked up. Changing the phone from one ear to the other sounds like shuffeling directly over the mic.
I run lineage os on it. Yesterday I put the original os back on, just to see if there would be a difference. But it was the same.
I have read many reports before buying it. Nothing like this was reported.
No, I also have not heard anyone about this and nobody complained about my speech in phonecalls so far after nearly 3 years of Fairphone. The bottom modules containing the microphone sometimes break; if your phone is less than 2 years old and the module is broken you can usually exchange it under warranty by contacting support. What you can also try is unscrewing the module, cleaning the contacts and then placing it back.
Last weekend I finaly found time to take out the microphone module. I cleaned every contact in sight with alcohol and put it back in. No difference.
I noticed something else. My father has a similar issue with his cheap-as-dirt-normal-cellphone. But we always complain about how bad the quality is when we talk to him. Maybe his microphone is broken. Maybe they both are.
But the thing is, that my speechquality - as far as I know - is not affected by it.
I had a faint hope, that maybe the microphone is just broken and investing in a new one could fix the problem, but…I found an app that allows to make recordings and decide which microphon to use. So I tried both an they both have the same problem. Currently I’m searching for a good method to record it so I can show how bad it is.
The thing is - it is a app for voice recording a dictation. So it is to assume that there would be more sensible to touching and shuffeling sounds because the mic pics up more of the surounding sound. I compared it with my girlfriends phone and it seems to be similar within reasonable range. BUT: When you make a call it’s actually WORSE. But what can it be? I have a hard time to hold on to my theory of a broken mic.
What I can’t do is test the top-mic while making a call. Or does someone have a way how to do that?
Did you already check the microphones with the FP checkup tool?
No, I didn’t know that app. I’ll try.
I can’t find the Maintenance option. I’m i safe mode but there’s nothing.
I use LineageOS 16. Is it somewhere else?
Ok, it’s LineageOS. The tool is hidden in some way.
That helped:
I used the “Activity Launcher” app.
Well, that topic is quite old… You can find an FP2 Checkup fork in F-Droid.
I tried that. The rear speaker check has a really bad feedback loop.
The bottom mic sounds okish, not a bad like when i make a phone call.
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