Question regarding microphones & quality

[Dannyh2290]

Hi, 

I have had ongoing issues with my Xperia 1 II phone since purchase. 

Basically, the call quality is really poor, especially over third-party apps like Discord, Skype & Whatsapp. However, I recently noticed something about the phone which struck me as odd and wondered if anyone had any information which would help me. 

Basically, I can see there are two tiny holes at the top and bottom of the phone, which I believe are microphones. My question is - Should both of these microphones be working when using speaker mode or recording video? 

I know for a fact from testing on my phone, that when recording video or during video calls only the bottom microphone is picking up sound and the quality isn't all that great overall. My voice also isn't picked up very well from the front of the phone when I put it sideways for a video call, meaning I need to speak loudly toward to the bottom end of the phone to be heard. I'm pretty sure on my old Sony model, there was a mic on both sides picking up audio.

If anyone else could just do some kind of test for me, speaking into either end of the phone during a video recording and confirm whether or not both mics work, this would be really helpful. I don't know whether to send it off under warranty until I know.

[EMS_MO72]

Hi there,

So you are facing this issue during video calls only?

Is the quality of normal calls good?

And as per the manual of the device, there are 2 microphones, one at the top and one at the bottom, you can see it Here

[Dannyh2290]

Hi, 

Thanks for your reply. 

It's only happening during video calls, yes. 

I have made some recordings and both mics definitely work, however, during video calls only the main microphone (number 12 on your link) is working. The top one doesn't respond at all and there are no settings I can find which would affect this. 

[EMS_MO72]

Which app did you use for the video calls? or did you try with more than one app ?

[Dannyh2290]

Skype, Discord, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger are the ones I have tested.

I have multiple accounts so I am able to call myself on the PC and listen to mic pickup from my phone. The top microphone isn't being used when I use these apps. I tested it more accurately by scratching the microphone hole which makes the loudest and most obvious noise when mic is turned on.

[Strampke]

Try Signal, your video calls quality will improve dramatically.

[EMS_MO72]

Can you try to test the video call with Facebook Messenger and during the call, try to turn off the loud speaker and check if that will change anything.

By other meaning, check if the respond of the top microphone will change or not when you turn the loudspeakers on and off , and let us know the updates.

[Dannyh2290]

Hi, sorry for delayed response to this. 

I have tested in Facebook messenger and the microphone at the top of the phone doesn't work. If I put my finger over the hole of the microphone at the bottom of the phone, no audio is heard. 

I also did the same thing in the mic testing function on the phone. During the microphone and speaker test, when I talk the blue graph clearly shows my voice. But when I put my finger over the mic hole at the bottom of the phone and run the test, there is only the 1 moving frequency shown on the graph. 

Does this mean that the microphone on the top of my phone is broken?

[Dannyh2290]

If you are able to let me know your thoughts on this, I will likely make a decision on whether to send in for repair or not in the next week or so. 

[EMS_MO72]

Sorry for the late reply

I believe one of the microphones is activated when the call is through the earphones of the device

And the other when gets activated when the call is on speakers.