Mic volume low

[gerryex]

Hi ALL,

I know there has been a lot of talk about the tablet's mic and/or external mics but I didn't find a thread on it so I started this one.

I bought an inexpensive but pretty nice headset with mic a while ago and tried it with Skype and it seemed to work well on their talk back test. The voice was clear and at a reasonable volume. The only problem was a bug in Skype in that the speaker volume control did not work. But the headset mic worked much better then the tablet mike.

A day or two ago Skype was updated and the volume control bug was fixed. So I tried the talk back test and it was clear but very low. Someone posted (I think Icebike) that there was a change in Honeycomb that took away the user adjustable mic level and has it hard set but at a low level. Is this so and if so would it also affect a head set mic?

Gerry

 

[Icebike]

I,ve noticed the same thing, external mics used to work better, but they are pretty low volume now with this newer version of skype.

No clue how to fix this.
When you do your skype test call, hold the mic a little ways away from your mouth, because it uses that to adjust the mic volume
(to the extent it can do so at all). Making it sound weaker will cause skype to boost it before they send it. It actually seems to
play back better than when you talk directly into the mic.

But I agree, its worse then it was a release ago.

The speaker volume control does work.

 

[gerryex]

I,ve noticed the same thing, external mics used to work better, but they are pretty low volume now with this newer version of skype.

No clue how to fix this.
When you do your skype test call, hold the mic a little ways away from your mouth, because it uses that to adjust the mic volume
(to the extent it can do so at all). Making it sound weaker will cause skype to boost it before they send it. It actually seems to
play back better than when you talk directly into the mic.

But I agree, its worse then it was a release ago.

The speaker volume control does work.

Hi Icebike,

Do you think its a bug in Skype or is it that thing you were talking about in another post where the change in Honeycomb no longer lets the user change the mic volume and its set fairly low. Also, when I use the tablet mic its still quite low.

Gerry

 

[Trep01]

I noticed the same thing when I record video. The external mike/volume is very low. I can't hear much of anything anymore......

Sent from my A500 using Android Tablet Forum

 

[gerryex]

Hi ALL,

I just got the 3.2.1 double update a few days ago and the mic is now working much better than before. When I try the tablet mic with the Recorder, the meter moves much more than before and the playback is quite a bit louder. Still not very good quality but at least usable now. Then I tried Skype's voice test first with the tablet mic and again it was quite a bit louder than it was before 3.2.1. Still noisy but I have a vinyl case which is probably blocking the back noise canceling mic. Lastly I tried the Skype voice test with a headphone and mic plugged in and the results were very good. The playback was nice and clear and definitly louder then before 3.2.1. Before 3.2.1 the playpack was barely usable and now it is quite usable.

It still would be nicer for the user to control the mic's volume but at least something seems to have changed for the better with 3.2.1.

Can anyone else confirm this?

Gerry

 

[gerryex]

BUMP!

Anyone playing around with the built-in mic and/or and external mic after the 3.2.1 update?

Gerry

 

[gothge]

There is was change after the update. Internal mic is nearly muted (=unusable).
External mic (samsung headset) is working well.

I noticed no change from 3.1 to 3.2 and neither from 3.2 to 3.2.1

gt

 

[gerryex]

There is was change after the update. Internal mic is nearly muted (=unusable).
External mic (samsung headset) is working well.

I noticed no change from 3.1 to 3.2 and neither from 3.2 to 3.2.1

gt

I heard a big change going from 3.2 to 3.2.1. In 3.2 both mics, internal and external, were very low in volume. With 3.2.1 both are much better and the external is quite good now. Before they were both unusable, while now they both a are quite usable with the external being perfered.

Gerry