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[TRACKED, WORKAROUND FOUND] Active Noise Cancellation faulty / microphone problem?

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:22 am
by Neville
MICROPHONE ISSUE

We are getting customer complaints that microphones are muffling speech and the other caller cannot hear them properly. Reviews are also appearing on Kimovil and elsewhere, so this is a reputational issue for Blackview which you need to address given the higher prices now being sought for handsets pitched at the premium market.

We see the phone has "active noise cancellation" - is this inadvertently interfering with speech into the phone? Please can engineers test some phones and advise. The BV9500 does not currently allow engineering mode to be accessed so outside tech support cannot currently assist your company in diagnosis and tweaking.

Blackberry had a similar problem with their early attempts at noise cancelling microphones:
https://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-storm-f86/any-way-turn-off-noise-cancellation-134921/

Motorola have same issues this year:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Moto-X4/Voice-quality-issue-Microphone-Issue-Active-Noise-cancellation/m-p/4081739#M3625



ADMIN EDIT:

Found the problem...it is definitely the coding for the Active Noise Cancellation system (Accessible through Phone App, three dots menu/Settings/Accessibility).


When you turn that system OFF, the problem appears to go away, but the phone does NOT save the setting when it is turned off - it reverts back to a default of Noise Reduction turned ON.

So you have to remember to turn Noise Cancellation off every time you restart the phone. Which is not a good solution.

This explains why people who turn Noise Reduction off are reporting the return of the problem later on. It comes back when you restart the phone.

Re: Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 9:39 pm
by blackview_admin
Hi there!
I'll ask tech team about how to enter into engineering mode.
I'll also ask them to check if active noise cancellation is working as it should or not.

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 9:59 pm
by Neville
Just ran a call test on the first customer unit returned to us.

Methodology: rang 9500 from landline, put landline mic on mute, held landline earpiece to right ear and listened to call quality while speaking into 9500.

Result: muffled voice quality on standard call setting, lacked volume and clarity and at times dropped out entirely.

Retested after changing call setting to Speaker mode: massive improvement in call volume and clarity, no dropouts.

Conclusion: either the ANC system on standard call setting is cannibalising sound, or the microphone for standard calls is dodgy, or the engineering settings for standard voice calls need adjusting.

REPEAT EXPERIMENT USING MY OWN 9500

Standard voice call setting found to be excellent.

HOWEVER: when switched to speaker mode on this second phone voice quality became appalling the exact reverse of customer problem.

Conclusion: ANC or settings?

How many microphones are on this device and do standard voice and speaker voice work through separate mics? If they work through the same mic then clearly microphone hardware is OK and this is a software/firmware problem.

I used Sound recorder to record an HD voice file, sounded great on both phones, if that helps in diagnosis.

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 11:44 pm
by phoenixkk
i have the same issue with my phone too.
when i turn speaker mode on.

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:21 pm
by blackview_admin
To enter engineering menu, please try #*#33#*#

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 1:40 pm
by phoenixkk
blackview_admin wrote:
To enter engineering menu, please try #*#33#*#

It doesn't works.

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:32 pm
by fszyankee
Try *#*#33#*#*

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:37 pm
by Neville
No, unfortunately that does not open engineering mode.

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:11 am
by isak
#*#33#*# results in popup message "Connection problem or invalid MMI code."

Re: [TRACKED] Active Noise Cancellation faulty?

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:26 pm
by blackview_admin
I'm waiting for the tech team to answer about that. Don't worry.