App issues with Microphone

[SurreyUK]

I recently tried to use Shazam with my Cosmo and it kept failing reporting 'I could not quite hear that''. I tried on my Samsung Note and it worked perfectly. This got me thinking that there was something wrong with the microphone so I downloaded a recording App and it seemed to work fine.

I then tried to use Slack to call a buddy and he could not hear me at all, and actually I could not hear him either.

I then tried Skype,  similar problem except that the recipients aid they could just about hear me.

I then tried playing some music through Amazon music and it was fine, actually pretty loud.

I went back to the recording app and again it worked fine.

I'm kind of stumped as to what is going on. If I had to guess I would say that perhaps it's to do  with  which of the directional microphones is being invoked.

I tried to look for settings to increase the microphone gain but there does not seem to be any.

Anyone come across this or have  any ideas ?

[Zarhan]

This is "kinda" known issue:

https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=36132.0

https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=36288.0

As you can see, I was able to fix some part of the problem via the engineering menu by increasing gain. However, it's not really clear why recording app works fine but phone calls do not.

[SurreyUK]

I read those threads but not sure it is the same.

Some Apps like Slack seem to go a bit wonky. I think they use the wrong input Microphone. Slack in particular does not seem to function in speaker phone mode well unless you go into video mode. There is no speaker phone icon like on Slack.

You would also expect an App such as Shazam just to work. It is supposedly using the same Microphone as the recorder voice microphone yet it just does not function at all.

It makes the device fundamentally unusable as a primary device given its a struggle to make basic phone calls and you simply don't know which app is going to function and which is not.

I still think the device is a great device but its also a very frustrating one. Kind of on the edge of glory but not quite.

[Zarhan]

Just a thought. I'm not sure how to test this theory. Anyway, Planet has a new video on Astro Slide released on IndieGogo page and they specifically mention that speakers are now in proper phase. It's a known issue that on the Cosmo, the speakers were in reverse phase.

...could this problem with *only* the phone calls and similar apps be due to malfunctioning echo cancellation?

I wonder if there's a way to turn it off or tune it...

[TheNetEffect]

I tested Slack. The microphone does not work in Slack when the video is not on, but it does when the video is turned on. There is an audible click as the sound is re-routed  through the speakers. I wonder if a different directional microphone kicks in as at this point I think Slack is effectively in Speaker mode.