Speaker Quality - HTC One X+

Just got my One X+ today on AT&T. Does anyone notice how bad music sounds from the speaker when the phone is face up on a desk or flat surface?
Flipping it over produces a much cleaner sound, but it is unrealistic to have the phone screen down while playing music (screen can get easily scratched). What's the deal here - design flaw?
Also, music and videos from the default player play silently even with the volume up. Anyone else have this issue? I had to use another media player to get sound output - default htc sense music app did NOT output any volume on my mp3s!

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ashamir said:
Just got my One X+ today on AT&T. Does anyone notice how bad music sounds from the speaker when the phone is face up on a desk or flat surface?
Flipping it over produces a much cleaner sound, but it is unrealistic to have the phone screen down while playing music (screen can get easily scratched). What's the deal here - design flaw?
Also, music and videos from the default player play silently even with the volume up. Anyone else have this issue? I had to use another media player to get sound output - default htc sense music app did NOT output any volume on my mp3s!
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Click to collapse
The answer is incredibly simply, when it is face up the speaker is blocked/covered by the surface and moreover the sound reverberates off of that surface. What do you want speakers on the front?

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ashamir said:
Just got my One X+ today on AT&T. Does anyone notice how bad music sounds from the speaker when the phone is face up on a desk or flat surface?
Flipping it over produces a much cleaner sound, but it is unrealistic to have the phone screen down while playing music (screen can get easily scratched). What's the deal here - design flaw?
Also, music and videos from the default player play silently even with the volume up. Anyone else have this issue? I had to use another media player to get sound output - default htc sense music app did NOT output any volume on my mp3s!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen cases out there with kickstands.. that might help you

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mfpreach said:
The answer is incredibly simply, when it is face up the speaker is blocked/covered by the surface and moreover the sound reverberates off of that surface. What do you want speakers on the front?
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Click to collapse
Don't be silly, I know that. I am saying that many phones account for this in the design, and project the sound accordingly. This thing sounds like a tin can when face down. Do they expect us to lay the phone screen-down to play music?

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ashamir said:
Don't be silly, I know that. I am saying that many phones account for this in the design, and project the sound accordingly. This thing sounds like a tin can when face down. Do they expect us to lay the phone screen-down to play music?
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Click to collapse
I'd venture a guess that they don't assume people are going to play music through the tiny ass speaker on the back of a phone in general. I mean it's got BEATS!
This is one area that Apple got it right...stick the speakers on the side or bottom of the phone so they aren't covered when the phone is on a table/couch/lap whatever. It just makes sense. Even if they used the earpiece cut out and stuck two speakers in there (one for calls and one for tones) that would work. Anything but flat on the back.
Moral of the story...don't listen to music on the crappy built in speaker. It's going to sound bad regardless of how the phone is held/set down.

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dbdynsty25 said:
I'd venture a guess that they don't assume people are going to play music through the tiny ass speaker on the back of a phone in general. I mean it's got BEATS!
This is one area that Apple got it right...stick the speakers on the side or bottom of the phone so they aren't covered when the phone is on a table/couch/lap whatever. It just makes sense. Even if they used the earpiece cut out and stuck two speakers in there (one for calls and one for tones) that would work. Anything but flat on the back.
Moral of the story...don't listen to music on the crappy built in speaker. It's going to sound bad regardless of how the phone is held/set down.
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Click to collapse
Would never think to use a smartphone as a boom box, lol!

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dbdynsty25 said:
This is one area that Apple got it right...stick the speakers on the side or bottom of the phone so they aren't covered when the phone is on a table/couch/lap whatever. It just makes sense. Even if they used the earpiece cut out and stuck two speakers in there (one for calls and one for tones) that would work. Anything but flat on the back.
Moral of the story...don't listen to music on the crappy built in speaker. It's going to sound bad regardless of how the phone is held/set down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair, Nokia was placing the speakers on the side of the phone, in their N-Series smartphones, long before there was an iPhone. (I know you didn't mean it this way, but I get a little tired of Apple getting credit for so many things that they did not invent.)
Anyway, it's true that a lot of phones position the speaker on the back so that the curvature of the phone creates a small megaphone effect. My Nexus One is actually louder and clearer with the back (and therefore speaker) facing down. At least this works on hard surfaces.
I don't like to listen to music this way. But for podcasts and news I do it all the time. I'm planning to get a One X+, so I hope I can do the same. I suppose I don't really need to see the screen when I'm listening to something like that. But the scratching issue, with the phone sitting on the screen, seems real. (Despite claims to the contrary, Gorilla Glass 2 does scratch.)

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cb474 said:
To be fair, Nokia was placing the speakers on the side of the phone, in their N-Series smartphones, long before there was an iPhone. (I know you didn't mean it this way, but I get a little tired of Apple getting credit for so many things that they did not invent.)
Anyway, it's true that a lot of phones position the speaker on the back so that the curvature of the phone creates a small megaphone effect. My Nexus One is actually louder and clearer with the back (and therefore speaker) facing down. At least this works on hard surfaces.
I don't like to listen to music this way. But for podcasts and news I do it all the time. I'm planning to get a One X+, so I hope I can do the same. I suppose I don't really need to see the screen when I'm listening to something like that. But the scratching issue, with the phone sitting on the screen, seems real. (Despite claims to the contrary, Gorilla Glass 2 does scratch.)
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I just see nit picking here. If listening to music or whatever u listen to and u CHOOSE to use the rear speaker, invest $10 in a screen protector and another $15 on a slim case that allows u to place the phone screen down and it will sit on the case, not the screen. Now if ur too OCD for a case then the screen protector will still he just fine. Again, why people aren't using Bluetooth headsets or even a Bluetooth device in one ear to listen to whatever they're listening too is beyond me. To be honest I think this device has a great rear speaker at high volumes and the whole idea behind a speaker is for SPEAKERPHONE, which it serves very well and crisp.

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deeznuts said:
I just see nit picking here. If listening to music or whatever u listen to and u CHOOSE to use the rear speaker, invest $10 in a screen protector and another $15 on a slim case that allows u to place the phone screen down and it will sit on the case, not the screen. Now if ur too OCD for a case then the screen protector will still he just fine. Again, why people aren't using Bluetooth headsets or even a Bluetooth device in one ear to listen to whatever they're listening too is beyond me. To be honest I think this device has a great rear speaker at high volumes and the whole idea behind a speaker is for SPEAKERPHONE, which it serves very well and crisp.
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Gee, thanks for the gratuitous critique of how I like to use my phone. What happened to if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all? I really don't need to be told, unsolicited, how to use my phone or what sort of case to get, if any. People have different prefences. And no one wants to be preached to by someone else about how their way is better.
Anyway, I find the built in speaker on phones (like my Nexus One) useful for some purposes other than speakerphone. I'm thinking about getting a One X+, so why shouldn't I be concerned about how well it's speaker phone works, comparatively? I don't want to take step backwards. It's a reasonable discussion to have, to learn more about the One X+.

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Nah nothing wrong with the speaker sound, it doesn't sound tinny in any way and in fact all my previous smart phones in my Sig haven't sounded tinny either.
My Nokia brick before my n95 had what I would call a "tinny" speaker some 8/9 or so yrs ago.
The hox+ has a rear amp so try higher quality bitrate music, a 128kb to 256kb mp3 doesn't cut it any more for eg.
Also a gnex would be a step back in all categories as well as software imho to be sure, no need to squabble just do the side by side test before u buy.
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda premium