Xperia S handsfree mode onboard speaker extremely soft.

[Sean3]

Hi,

As music, ringtones and all the rest play very audibly on my Xperia S through the external speaker why are phonecalls via this speaker in handsfree mode so soft?

My old K810I was louder, even my old nokia talk radio did better than this.

Obviously a software issue as all other sounds are fine.

Is there a workaround or solution to this?

I have played with Xloud on and off as well as clear phase on and off but it makes no difference.

Please help.

[Samuel1]

It's hard to say if there is something wrong with your device or not. Have you tried comparing it to other Xperia S? If not, I'd recommend that you visit a store that sells these and compare. If you suspect something is wrong with your unit, you can try repairing the software via PC Companion:

http://www.sonymobile.com/update

What are your thoughts about this forum? Let us know by doing this short survey.

[Sean3]

Hi,

As can be seen by several similar threads on this forum as well as the fact that I have tried the same thing on 3 different Xperia S phones, this is either a universal problem or a South African software version problem.

I have no problem with the volume of movies/music/ringtones and such, they are all quite loud but actual voice calls using hands free mode through the same speaker are extremely soft.

I can sit in a quiet room with no backround noise (I live on a farm) and still not hear it.

The same goes for any other location I have tried to use it in (cities, towns, in the car, my office at work, different countries and such).

Please check it for yourself on an xperia S and you will get the same result.

[jetdog91]

Sony is doing a very poor job of taking ownership on this issue, which has affected many if not all of the Xperia Android devices.  SONY, WE THE USERS ARE NOT STUPID.  We know what part of the sound is working, what part is failing.  MULTIPLE PEOPLE ARE REPORTING THIS ON MULTIPLE PRODUCTS!  Get ONE SINGLE COMPETENT QA TESTER TO CHECK THE ISSUE AND LOG A BUG ON IT!

Ridiculous.  EVERY TIME somebody brings this up, the Sony reponse is along the lines of "it's working how it's supposed to or maybe it's your bluetooth speaker, not us".  Then the thread is always marked "Answered". Unacceptable. 

Here's a detail of how I'm experiencing the issue:

http://talk.sonymobile.com/message/501733#501733

[Sean3]

Yep, not even slightly answered and marked as "assumed answered".

Anyway, I have an idea they are aware of the problem but have decided it's simply not worth fixing as there would be little profit in it.

[skip0pot2mus]

I noticed this recently after the update from ICS to Jelly Bean, the speaker was quieter, and also, once I noticed the sound was very distorted, and I figured the speaker had blown, but after a day or two it sounded OK, then after a few days sound blown again.  Another bunk issue.

[jetdog91]

Sean wrote:

"Yep, not even slightly answered and marked as "assumed answered".

Anyway, I have an idea they are aware of the problem but have decided it's simply not worth fixing as there would be little profit in it."

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They are fools if they don't think this affects their bottom line.  At its heart, a smartphone is still a PHONE... and if they can't get Bluetooth volume right, it's a huge issue for customers that will result in either returns or shying away from buying in the first place.  The word will get out bigtime about this issue at some point. 

This hurts productivity for business users, safety for users used to talking on the phone in the car... unbelievable.

[Sean3]

I very almost bought an xperia z recently.

It was this and a few other minor irritations that changed my mind.

I will be keeping my Xperia S till it dies and then decide, sadly it seems the working solution will end up being a samsung or htc 😕

Pity because I really love the shape and look of the xperia range.

[Sean3]

Still no answer or information from Sony?