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Old 11-23-2005, 09:34 PM   #1
kwilkins
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Default Reality check on 8700 as a phone!!

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I am one of those who want the 8700 to function as my primary phone. After testing it for a few hours today I have some good news and bad news.

The Good News:

The speaker phone is the best I have ever heard on a cellular phone. It can be heard from across the room and is very clear and loud. It’s exceptional.

The ergonomics of the phone are going to work for me. It is slightly smaller and thinner than the 7290, but that makes a real difference. Obliviously it’s not as comfortable as a regular cell phone, and ergonomically when held to your ear it’s not quite as nice as the Treo 650. However, I would feel comfortable having extended conversations without feeling the “I’m holding a wallet to my head” sensation that I had with the 7290.


The Bad News, and for me it’s really bad.

The volume of the phone (when held to your ear in normal mode) is only slightly better than the 7290. I am surprised to read posts with people saying it is acceptable and works fine. If I’m in a quite room with the volume nearly at full volume I have no problems. However, I am not going to be able to hear well, even at full volume, in a noisy or even slightly noisy environment.

Has anyone that is posting positive news on the phone volume actually used it in an environment that wasn’t quite? I am desperately hoping I have a defective unit that can be replaced.

Now I’m sorry to say there is more bad news. The sound quality is poor! I read one review a week ago where the reviewer complained that the sound was tinny and words were a bit clipped. This is exactly my experience and it’s really disappointing. The people I’m speaking to seem to have their words shortened by a millisecond and the sound is a bit synthetic and pitched in a way that makes it slightly difficult to hear. The louder I set the volume (which is required in all settings except very quite ones) the worse this problem becomes.

I have my fingers and toes crossed that I have a bad unit. For those who have spent some time using the phone please chime in with your experiences. I’m especially interested to know if you have used the phone in a noisy environment, and what your experience was. Also, are others having the same sound quality issues I’ve described?

I really wish I had better news to report on the 8700 as a primary phone. I can’t wait to dump my Treo 650 for numerous reasons and was hoping the 8700 was going to be the answer.
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Old 11-23-2005, 09:46 PM   #2
johnsonk2
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does anyone know that if used with a bluetooth earpiece, does the sound quality improve at all? I too would be using it as my primary business phone but also plan on acquiring an earpiece as well for hands free.
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Old 11-23-2005, 10:23 PM   #3
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When using with by Bluespoon digital the earpiece sound is much louder than when I use it without the headset.
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Old 11-23-2005, 10:23 PM   #4
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Have you tried the wired earpiece that is included? I'm interested to know if the quality problems you are speaking about are with the integrated speaker or the phone itself.

Having used my 7100g for about a year, I've become accustomed to using a bluetooth headset when I'm in a noisy environment. I sometimes work in a computer data center with thousands of wizzing fans and found that the newish Plantronics 640 works very well. I generally have to turn it down.

I was hoping BB fixed this issue. Wired and bluetooth headsets are fine and all, but you still need to put it up to you noggin from time to time.
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Old 11-23-2005, 10:26 PM   #5
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It could be my device. Many here have stated that the phone is plenty loud. As compared to my 7250 I feel is not as loud. Could be I have a defective device. I will try the headset tomorrow and let you know.
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Old 11-24-2005, 01:28 AM   #6
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I've generally noticed CDMA phones to be louder than GSM--and I'm not just talking about Blackberries....to some extent I'm sure the type of network you're using factors into the audio characteristics....

What you're reporting regarding sound quality (or lack thereof) sounds to me like a DSP (digital sound processing) effect. DSP on the 8700 is dynamic--meaning it goes into effect when the device detects significant background noise, etc. Do you notice this effect change depending on where you're using the device?
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Old 11-24-2005, 02:32 AM   #7
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Have the exact same problems when using it as a phone, will drop calls, lot of static sometimes even when I have full service...
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Old 11-24-2005, 09:08 AM   #8
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Not sure why you are not so happy. I have been using the 8700 for only a day but have found that the phone is fairly good. Of course i am comparing it to the 7100r. It got to the point on the 7100 that I would not even answer the phone if i did not have an earpiece handy because the persion on the other end could only hear me if I was yelling really slow.. Even after many rogers replacements the problem persisted so i just gave up and waited.
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Old 11-24-2005, 09:21 AM   #9
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I got my 8700c yesterday, just finished posting about it.

To be honest, I haven't tried using it much as a phone withOUT my jabra250 bluetooth. Come to think of it, I haven't tried it at all.

However, with the jabra250, I was just posting it was nearly perfect audio. It's hard to be sure I'm judging something "real", and not just giddy with new device happiness, though.

On my 7100 with the bluetooth, a few of my friends would tell me the connection didn't sound all that hot. I called all of my them with the 8700c and the jabra, and they said it sounded like a remarkable improvement. I did these test calls from my call, doing about 60, with both the windows closed/radio off .. and the radio up and window down

I'll try it out today with the "calculator the face" method.

Now .. how about ringtones? ;)
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Old 11-24-2005, 09:34 AM   #10
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Default Your ringtone question.

I just got done posting this too.

http://www.mptrim.com/

Make your own. Is my suggestion

Quote:
Originally Posted by simkin9999
I
Now .. how about ringtones? ;)
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Old 11-24-2005, 09:56 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stinsonddog
Service Temporarily Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

--------- Wow, talk about temporary, it's up now I'll try using mpedit to email myself some self-cut clips. If that fails, I'll host them on my website. I'll let you know how it goes.

Last edited by simkin9999; 11-24-2005 at 09:58 AM..
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Old 11-25-2005, 11:50 AM   #12
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Phone is definitely not as good as 7290. Louder yes, but quality is worse, even with a hard wired headset.
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Old 11-25-2005, 12:28 PM   #13
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I am not having the same experience. I am making test recordings for future posting on my web site and hope to have a preliminary review up this weekend.
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Old 11-25-2005, 12:31 PM   #14
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Wirelessly posted (7290: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7290/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

The problem is not the hardware the problem is that ¤. is "Deep Space One-ing" there aproach to wireless , more to come ....
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Old 11-25-2005, 12:35 PM   #15
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XDS, I have no clue what you are talking about. Can you explain?

Here is a sound clip of the 8700c recoding my voice on a call to my voice mail:

http://www.barjohn.com/Public_downlo...c Baseline.wav
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Last edited by barjohn; 11-25-2005 at 01:04 PM..
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Old 11-25-2005, 01:50 PM   #16
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Maybe it is just mine but the phone is just fine. This has really been the best device i have ever owned. Ive had the treo 650, samsung i600 and the kyrocera pda. This is the best!
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Old 11-25-2005, 02:32 PM   #17
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Wirelessly posted (7290: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7290/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

There doing what Nasa has done with the DS1 comet probe , Well build it then EDM the software later , This is good on some respects but usualy breaks down if they hit any glitches , ¤ (Cingular) (And other child owned apendincies of them) are taking A huge risk .

Now that's all well and nice but there doing it with our money.

Now here is your bottle neck, new server side AMR codecs can't keep up with the ciphers on the client side.



Regards,
~

The wireless industry is so messed up they don't know if they are coming or going.

I'll tell you one thing tho , the positives outway the negitives if you have A 8700x at this point in time.
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Old 11-25-2005, 02:38 PM   #18
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If I understand you correctly, you are saying that Cingular is changing or has changed their CODECS on the receiving equipment and that these new CODECS can't keep up with the 8700c's client side encipher/decipher software. Is this correct? Might it have to do with the upgrade to UMTS/HSDPA taking place?
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Old 11-25-2005, 02:42 PM   #19
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Wirelessly posted (7290: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7290/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

... What we all need to do is get someone who is good in PR to talk to RiM about launching A developers version of the 4.0 software early to people who want to beta test .

We need someone neautral , someone who has been around A while and can speak for every soul on this BBS and other BlackBerry BBS's .

I apreciate what Mark R... has been doing lately. But we need someone complately neautral who knows there shit.

I'm no good with PR that rules me out.

And for pete sakes when is BlackBerryForums.com / BBClub going to allow WAP users to start topics ?

Regards,
~
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Old 11-25-2005, 07:58 PM   #20
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Default Barjohn sounds great

Disregard my last PM. I am really impressed with the sound of that recording. Sounds really clean without clipping. If the phone is that good, I am all set here if it ever comes.
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