Audio comes out of the wrong speaker?

[Toyota4x4van]

Why is it that when playing a video/movie/etc., the sound for it comes out of the back speaker of the phone instead of the front speaker?  If I'm watching a video on my phone, "I" want to hear it, not the people around me/behind my phone.

The phone has a speaker on the front; why isn't it used for the audio of videos/movies?  Is there a setting or work around for this issue?

[crb79]

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Toyota4x4van wrote:

Why is it that when playing a video/movie/etc., the sound for it comes out of the back speaker of the phone instead of the front speaker?  If I'm watching a video on my phone, "I" want to hear it, not the people around me/behind my phone.

The phone has a speaker on the front; why isn't it used for the audio of videos/movies?  Is there a setting or work around for this issue?

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Do you watch videos on your phone with the phone up to your ear?  The front speaker is a low power speaker for phone calls.  The rear speaker is for music/movies and speaker phone. 

[Toyota4x4van]

Okay, I suppose...but it's still annoying for people who can't see the screen to be able to hear it better than the people who are watching the screen.  Seems to me that there is really no reason to have a speaker facing the back of the phone, other than possibly for the ringtone when the phone is in a holster.  Music/movies, speakerphone...all of those should be directed towards the front, not rear.  JMO.

[crb79]

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Toyota4x4van wrote:

Okay, I suppose...but it's still annoying for people who can't see the screen to be able to hear it better than the people who are watching the screen.  Seems to me that there is really no reason to have a speaker facing the back of the phone, other than possibly for the ringtone when the phone is in a holster.  Music/movies, speakerphone...all of those should be directed towards the front, not rear.  JMO.

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With a 4.3 inch screen just where would you expect them to place this larger speaker?  I understand what you are saying but it simply would make a massive device otherwise.  

if you don't want others to hear what you are watching you can use headphones, or hold the phone so that your hand muffles the sound back towards you.

[Wildman]

As long as I can recall, all smartphone devices seem to have the sound come out the rear speaker on the device, like crb79 stated that with the devices design it would be a bit difficult to place speaker any where else also the location can have a acoustics advantage on the back because if you place the device against something to hold it in a viewing angle for watching moves like most users do, it usually create a small pocket of sound that will project out better than you think... 

Here is a example cup your hand and place it over speaker area in the back, I am sure you will notice the audio appears to project towards the front instead of the back.

[Ann154]

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Wildman wrote:

As long as I can recall, all smartphone devices seem to have the sound come out the rear speaker on the device, like crb79 stated that with the devices design it would be a bit difficult to place speaker any where else also the location can have a acoustics advantage on the back because if you place the device against something to hold it in a viewing angle for watching moves like most users do, it usually create a small pocket of sound that will project out better than you think... 

Here is a example cup your hand and place it over speaker area in the back, I am sure you will notice the audio appears to project towards the front instead of the back.

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Heck! My old Motorola W385 flip phone had the main sound and ringtones coming out of the speaker on the outside of the phone.  It just happened to be on the top of the phone when it was closed.

[Wildman]

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Ann154 wrote:

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Heck! My old Motorola W385 flip phone had the main sound and ringtones coming out of the speaker on the outside of the phone.  It just happened to be on the top of the phone when it was closed.

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Yes but we identified a while back that the flip phones speakers was designed to reproduce polyphonic ringers and not have to reproduce  the full complex sound spectrum that users are requiring from their devices these days.  The speaker design determine the audios level of direction.

Even your home speakers project sound by using the enclosed acrostics of the  speaker box.

[Toyota4x4van]

Fair enough.  I must respectfully disagree, however, on the idea that there is no room for the speaker's sound to come out on front.  First, the speaker is not that large to begin with, second, the "outlet" for the speaker is no larger than the front speaker at the top for calls, and third, the speaker doesn't necessarily need to be mounted exactly in the spot facing forward; it could be set up similar to a BOSE compact system, in which the sound is "directed" towards the front.

You are right; cupping my hand behind the speaker to direct the sound forward (similar to the above mentioned BOSE system) works well.  So that type of "direction" could have been incorporated into the phone to begin with.  I have yet to hear anyone make a good argument as to why any of the sound should be directed "away" from the user.

But that's the way it is.  Overall, a great phone.  It really is amazing what capabilities we all have in the palm of our hands in this day & age!  Mind-boggling when you think of it.  I'm old enough to remeber the days before handheld calculators, zerox machines, and even pagers.  Cell phones?  No such thing.  Growing up, my family had a "party line".  That means that our "rotary-dial" land-line phone was actually shared by several houses on our street!  You'd pick up the phone to make a call and someone else (in a different house) was already on the line so you had to wait till they were done!

[Wildman]

I get you point Toyota4x4van but comparing a phone to a Bose system is like comparing apples with watermelons, these are no way simular and should be in the same compatition , as for space for speaker, do you realize that the Droid X until recently has be one of the thinnest devices on the market in the smart phone world..  Bose is a $1000.00 or more unit and the Droid X goes for a few hundred dollars, if the developers can get Bose to market to mobile devices then I would see you analogy but I just do not see this happening any time soon.

As for the speaker in earpeice being the same size as speaker phone speaker, they may be the same size but diffrent technology, the ear speaker is a directional configuration where the speakerphone and audio speaker is a omni-directional speaker which means it is intended to project the audio in all direction instead of to one location like the ear speaker is designed for, so placing it into the earplace location would give you a speaker phone effect all the time.

I havent had any issues with hearing my device over others.

[4x4van]

Honestly, I'm not trying to compare the Droid to a BOSE system, I'm simply using the analogy to show that a speaker does not necessarily need to be positioned so that it faces a specific direction. 

Yes, the Droid is extremely thin.  Yes, the Speaker can obviously fit in that thin space (since that's exactly where it already is).  Yes, it could have been turned around in that same space (if it fits facing backward, it would fit facing forward).  And doing so would have used up only 1/4" of screen space at the bottom of the phone, at most.  It still would have been one of the thinnest phones with one of the largest screens on the market.

Shouldn't the "speakerphone" feature direct sound towards the user?  Shouldn't the audio/.video feature direct the sound towards the user?  Let's look at this another way:  Who turns their stereo speakers at home around facing away from them?  Does your TV have the speakers on the back?  I can think of no other piece of equipment that intentionally directs the "user-wanted" audio away from the user, can you?  Just saying.

[droidsw]

It's a phone, not a boom box. Ear plugs, bluetooth headphones.........plenty of ways to get quality sound.

[droidsw]

I think you want to hear that you are right. Yeah, you're right, the speaker should face forward.

It is what it is and anymore conversation about what it's "not" and what it "should be" might get Gerio typing in red text and no one wants that.

[Ann154]

That last paragraph, droidsw, well... LOL.