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Razr MAXX speakerphone full- or half-duplex?
- Thread starter P2R
- Start date
MysticalDreams
Active Member
BroidDrionic
Member
I don't think any speakerphone has been half duplex since about 1996.
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Hey, thank you for the reply. To test whether the speakerphone is full or half-duplex, do a test conversation and see if you can interrupt *continuous* sound/noise/speaking coming from the other end of the call.
Thanks again!
You'd think so, right? But no, the majority of speakerphones to date have been half-duplex. Even some 4G smartphones have half-duplex speakerphones, for example the HTC Droid Incredible / Incredible 2.
By the way, according to at least the following source, your own phone's speakerphone is half-duplex:
Motorola Droid Bionic Specs, Features (Phone Scoop)
Maybe they got it wrong, but Googling also brings a number of other sources stating the Bionic speakerphone is half-duplex.
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Not knowing the differences certainly doesn't make someone stupid. Here's a good overview:
The Difference Between Half and Full Duplex Explained
I'll add that half-duplex speakerphones are a real pain-in-the-you-know-what. If there's sound on the other end (such as speaking, but background noise is sometimes enough), the other side doesn't hear you when you speak. It has to be quiet on the far-side for your phone to transmit what you're saying.
You can't talk over or interrupt anything. That's especially problematic when you're dialed into a conference call. On unmoderated conference calls (the majority of them), there's almost always some sound going on, so you frequently can't get a word in if you're on a half-duplex speakerphone. A major drawback for business use.
Bear in mind, sometimes you *don't know* that you haven't been heard! You *think* the person on the other end heard you, but actually because of sound on the other side, your phone's speakerphone never transmitted what you said. Misunderstanding, anyone?
A half-duplex speakerphone is a feature deficit most people don't know to consider when choosing a phone, and the above is one reason for that. Since you're not on the other end of a call, you don't realize what you said never went through. So even though you're affected by it, you might not know the feature deficit is there.
Hope that helps!
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aaah.. kinda like a walkie talkie.... "release the button moron"...
Exactly. If your speakerphone is half-duplex, it's like the button on the other side is being held down whenever there's sound!
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I did get an answer to this question since I asked did myself about a year ago or so. A level 2 technician gave me this explanation. The speaker phones on these portable phones are neither a full duplex in the true sense of the word nor are they half duplex in the true sense of the word. They're whats describe to me as modified full duplex, Where the volume level of 1 side will cause a slight muting of the microphone on the other side and vice versa.
The technician explained that this is done to prevent feedback looping up audio through the microphone from the speaker, although he said it can also be done by a slight delay in the time between when the sound that enters the microphone comes back out of the speaker again.
He further explain that this is done on both directions since when you speak into the microphone when you're on speakerphone you don't hear your voice come back out of your own speaker. This he said is done on the opposite end of the communication or the phone of the person you're speaking to, since their microphone is then partially muted.
This was brought up by me since I had trouble having someone hear me on the other side when they were in a room that had a lot of background noise just like described by the previous posters.
True half duplex would be a full muting of the microphone on 1 side when there is sound on the other and that is not the case with these phones, otherwise there would be hard interruptions for either side and sound would cut off completely when you start talking.
The best test would be to have 2 people on phones in speaker phone mode and have them hold the speaker up to their ear while making sounds, and seeing if they can hear the other person making sound while they're making sound themselves. If the technician was correct while making sounds on both ends 1 person would hear the other person loud and the other person would hear the first person quietly. Then when the sound from the person who is being heard loudly is interrupted on 1 side the person who still making sound will become the louder 1 on the other side and vice versa.
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