Want better in-call audio? / How-To Change Voice Codec

[xliderider]

Saw this tip over at HoFo:

Get into the programming menu, from the call screen, enter ##PROGRAM and press send. Enter code 000000.

In option 04, you can change the vocode option to EVRC-B, it made my in-call audio sound better. Your phone will reset after you exit and apply the new setting.

Warning: Be careful what options you change in the programming menu, you could potentially brick your phone.

Also, be aware that there is a noise cancelling microphone on the back of your Droid. Look for a small rectangular slit/hole near your headphone jack on the middle, back edge of the case. If you cover this mic with a case or your hand/finger when talking, it could cause audio problems.

[blackngray70]

Thanks for the tip

[wsbsteven]

Do we know what the default is? I found this information about those two codecs:

"The newer, mode widely-used CDMA codec, is EVRC. VZW seems to use it now as well, though I think sometimes they still use 13k. On my Mogul (Sprint) it used EVRC for home calls and 13K for roam calls, and you can tell the difference; since roaming generally means I'm out in the boonies with a generally weaker signal, 13K usually sounds a bit more muffled than EVRC. But it may not be the signal, since the Mogul has very good reception so I don't really get signal artifacts (on 13K voice distortion, on EVRC dropouts) ever."

[xliderider]

The default on the Droid is EVRC

[dajakal]

On my moto razr, I used the same programming type menu to disable 3G or EVDO which really helped the battery life. Even though it defeats the purpose of the smartphone aspect, is there a setting on the Droid that can do that for last-ditch battery saving?

[dezymond]

Nothing wrong with call audio here.

Excellent tip though.

[xliderider]

Originally Posted by dajakal On my moto razr, I used the same programming type menu to disable 3G or EVDO which really helped the battery life. Even though it defeats the purpose of the smartphone aspect, is there a setting on the Droid that can do that for last-ditch battery saving?

There is a Test Mode option in the Programming screen. Once Test Mode is enabled, it might be the same process as the previous Moto phones to change the HDR PREFERENCE to CDMA. However, I am not going to try this on my brand new Droid.

[xliderider]

Someone posted this link in Android Central:

Enhanced Variable Rate Codec B - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So I guess EVRC-B is a little more advanced codec than the default EVRC codec.

[forkup]

Has anyone tested to see if they thought one was better than the other?

[xliderider]

Originally Posted by forkup Has anyone tested to see if they thought one was better than the other?

I am using the EVRC-B codec now, but TBH I wasn't really having problems on the default setting.