Lucretius, have you try to contact OtterBox with the question ?

just sent a email regarding the "2"

No, I was just curious.

Good news though, I got my otter in the mail today and I didn't see any raised plastic areas. I got a nice little anti-scratch film to go with mine too, which would have prevented the aforementioned scuffing anyway.

So no Reply to the muffled cant hear a word I'm saying issue?

just got today a reply from OtterBox, here her message :

Update for Case #39457 - "what is the protection on a Bold"

The issue that we had with the 8350i case is not the issue with any of our other cases. The Bold case will not imprint a 2 on your device and the 8350i case has been fixed so that it will not do it to the 8350i anymore.

Thank you,
Natasha Meggenberg

Hate to bring up an old thread, but wondering what the latest news regarding muffled/echo sounds with the otterbox. I just bought the otterbox for 8350i with direct connect (telus) and aside form having a very poor factory mic, it just got worse withe the otterbox. I filed out the hole on the bottom of the box but little to no improvement, and my callersare hearing thier own echo. To say the least, this blows, perhaps the next software update will correct or improve the factory mic. Anyone else try anything different for sound quality? I primarily use this as a business phone and as nice as it is to have emails/text and web access but I would really prefer my old school phone that worked very well. Is it just me or are we taking a step back with this darn new technology? How can a new phone be crap?

What version os are you running? press Alt + (left) aA + H to find out most people are not having any problems anymore to my knowledge

I still get people telling me I sound muffled and the echo when I use my otterbox. I also enlarged the hole for the mic with little to no improvement.

I'm running OS .204

I am running .194.Looks to be the latest for my carrier Telus. I updated my BB desktop and checked for any os updates and nothing. I may take the phone back just to make sure the speaker is not bad, I was not happy since day one with the mic, its only wosre now.
I did make a call with the plastic film key cover off and it made a difference so I don't know if I should just leave the plastic off, but then I would lose the protection from dust which I work in all day long.

Both of you can try this it was working for some people when they were having echos inc...press the green talk button > blackberry(menu) button > go to options > General Options > then set the default call volume to 50% see if that helps

I have tried that also but all it does is decrease the ear piece volume down so than its hard to hear others, I can see it creating less echo but the mic still blows?

Hard for me to say much as far as help you iam on Nextel and our last update fixed mine

Thanks for the effort anyway, I wll keep trying.

I have read all the posts, and have the same problem of the echo driving people crazy. I had a previous otterbox on my older BB, and loved it. Hope I can get a fix for this as I like the case. Have emailed the customer service, will let everyone know what happens. Tried some of the posts attempts to fix problem along with other websites, and nothing has worked so far.

looks like it will be a software fix so we will have to wait.

Has anyone tried the new Otterbox Impact series case? Perhaps the echo problem has been remedied?

I have not tried it, but it looks pretty good. I would think there would not be an echo problem with this case because its not totally concealed, thats where the other box has problems, the voice echos within the case itself. For the $20 its worth a try.

What do you Otterbox defender users think about the protective screen? Do you use it or not? On one hand, I see the usefulness of extra protection for the screen and keyboard but on the other hand, I don't see the point of putting yet another layer of plastic between me and the screen/keyboard (seems a bit silly).

I actually like the plastic protector and I hated it when I first saw it. Looked at it as stupid, but it's quite nice and molded really well to fit the keys.
As for the echo and the "NobodyCanHearMe" issue, both of those are still huge for me and I'm waiting for OtterBox to reply to my email.
So far, good protection is not worth the tradeoff of lousy sound quality with no fix, especially on a business phone. Oh, and BB issuing software that limits the volume to 50% isn't a fix, it's a bandage.
As for Nextel service, two tin cans and a string are better quality than their phones and a street vendor in Calcutta provides better customer service....even on New Year's Day.....after a soccer riot. Nextel=NexFAIL

I hear what your saying! What good is a protector if nobody can bear to listen to you speak, its really anoying for others. My otterbox sits in the console of my truck! I can't afford to have customers hang up out of frustration! I am also dumping the useless MIKE sytem for a BB using the Telus pcs system, more and more collegues are dropping it, so I have less need for the two-way, I will miss some of the conveniance, but oh well