Is Cingular Aware Of The MPx220 Volume Problem?

[Kris Kumar]

Many of our readers who rushed out to the Best Buy stores and bought the new Motorola MPx220 have been disappointed with not only the camera, but also the earpiece and speaker-phone volume. When I got my MPx220, I thought I had figured out the problem.



Motorola has put a number of plastic cling-films all over the phone to protect it from scratches during shipping. And it is not easy to figure out where these cling-films have been applied because they are transparent. One such plastic cling-film was located right over the earpiece and one cannot easily makeout its presence. While I was peeling it off, I felt certain that I had uncovered the reason for the low volume; that the film was covering the earpiece holes. But I am sorry to say, my assumption was wrong and my MPx220 still has low volume compared to the MPx200. :-(

And now this mystery has deepened, Timback over at HowardForums has posted the following message:

"Went to a cingular corporate store today, talked with the manager for about 15 min. I asked him about the MPX 220 and he told me they have about 20 in the back. He recieved an internal memo from corporate NOT to sell any of these phones and to return all inventory. He said they know about the low volume , which is one of the phones problems, there are a few more, I asked what, he wouldnt tell me. He said, they were not going to sell the phone anyway before Nov. 10, but now, they might not until its 100%, and they fix all problems. He said they do not want another V 600 fiasco." 8O

[Kris Kumar]

Many of our readers who rushed out to the Best Buy stores and bought the new Motorola MPx220 have been disappointed with not only the camera, but also the earpiece and speaker-phone volume. When I got my MPx220, I thought I had figured out the problem.



Motorola has put a number of plastic cling-films all over the phone to protect it from scratches during shipping. And it is not easy to figure out where these cling-films have been applied because they are transparent. One such plastic cling-film was located right over the earpiece and one cannot easily makeout its presence. While I was peeling it off, I felt certain that I had uncovered the reason for the low volume; that the film was covering the earpiece holes. But I am sorry to say, my assumption was wrong and my MPx220 still has low volume compared to the MPx200. :-(

And now this mystery has deepened, Timback over at HowardForums has posted the following message:

"Went to a cingular corporate store today, talked with the manager for about 15 min. I asked him about the MPX 220 and he told me they have about 20 in the back. He recieved an internal memo from corporate NOT to sell any of these phones and to return all inventory. He said they know about the low volume , which is one of the phones problems, there are a few more, I asked what, he wouldnt tell me. He said, they were not going to sell the phone anyway before Nov. 10, but now, they might not until its 100%, and they fix all problems. He said they do not want another V 600 fiasco." 8O

[Mike Temporale]

Wait a second.... This was delayed month after month with this phone. And now they're admitting it still isn't right? So what have all the past delays been for?

I have to admit, I'm more than a little disappointed with Moto on this phone. They have had all this time, and they're still having problems.

:?

[Kris Kumar]

The Moto MPx220 is great when it comes to being a Smartphone. But that is thanks to the Windows Mobile 2003 SE and the bundled apps.

But when it comes to being a phone-first-device, the part that Moto should have contributed to, they have failed to deliver. The camera we all know the story. But I don't care about it because it is not the core phone functionality. But the volume and also the mic can really irritate the customer into not liking the phone.

:-(

[sclui56]

Kris,

On the second day I bought the 220 on 10/8, once I realized that the outside filem was blocking the speakerphone as well as ringer, I went through and peeled off every piece of film in hope that would "fix" the volume issues, but really didn't as you indicated.

What is worse is that I have a chain of email & voice calls with MOT since 10/10 and in everyone they denied problem with the volume and prompted me to exchange or return, even after I told them the issue is consistent on at least 5 different samples. Now I have finally been able to escalate the case on 10/15 after contacting their investors' relations (don't know where else to go), but sadly, there's no new or meaningful response yet.

I also don't really care about the camera and hope they really fix the volume issues, this phone is probably one of the better units available in NA that's not grey-market.

[Jerry Raia]

I just hope there is some fix for those of us who have it already.

[Jason Dunn]

Crazy! I can't believe that Motorola would allow something like this to come to market. The MPx200 was a solid phone for me, and Motorola seemed to be able to bring that to the market quickly. There's been a very long lull, a full year, between the MPx200 and the MPx220....and they release a phone this buggy? Crazy!

[mbranscum]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Crazy! I can't believe that Motorola would allow something like this to come to market. The MPx200 was a solid phone for me, and Motorola seemed to be able to bring that to the market quickly. There's been a very long lull, a full year, between the MPx200 and the MPx220....and they release a phone this buggy? Crazy!

I'm on my SECOND MPX220. The first one had a Windows Media sound issue. On NEITHER phone is the volume too low. To low compared to what???? This issue simply perplexes me. I'm just not understanding what low volume means I guess. I have carried a V220, 610, 632, V600, Treo 600, Seimens S56, etc. This phone's volume is comparable to ALL of those phones. I went into AT&T today and talked on a working 5600. STILL, can't figure out what all the fuss is about. :?

EDIT: The plastic on the speaker ear receiver DOES NOT cover the slits where the volume comes out, so this point is moot.

[Kris Kumar]

Originally Posted by mbranscum

On NEITHER phone is the volume too low. To low compared to what????

I agree the volume is not too low. It's just low (maybe by a notch). In my case compared to its predecessor the MPx200, the MPx220 has low volume. On my MPx200 I had to lower the volume during some calls. In case of my MPx220, I had to keep it maximum always. And at times I have to use the Speakerphone.

Originally Posted by mbranscum

EDIT: The plastic on the speaker ear receiver DOES NOT cover the slits where the volume comes out, so this point is moot.

:lol: That was just a joke. I guess I didn't make it clear. (This what happens when I right a post late in the night and am tired.) Sorry.
You are right, I had noticed that film did not cover the ear-piece holes. But I must admit, the first time I saw the film I did get excited because I thought it might somehow solve the problem. :lol:

Also setting the phone to the Outdoor profile does not help.

[Beowulf]

I don't really have a problem with the volume... I suppose if I were at something like a loud train station I might need it louder. The bad camera drives me nuts, but I really like the phone otherwise. WM10 would be nice along with blue tooth voice commands. I got the extended warrenty at Best Buy, and I'll exchange it if they release a fixed version of the phone. I still have faith in a magic firmware update Right now there's just a bunch of rumors flying around. My local Cingular store basically says they don't know if they will ever get it in. They know literally nothing about it, other than that Best Buy is selling them.

The corporate word from Moto is "The phone is great, any updates will be provided through Cingular."

Cingular says "The phone isn't offically in our product line yet."

They have the following options.

1. Full Recall. The last resort; the nightmare for manufacturers.

2. "Magic" firmware update.

3. Quiet Recall, Release a "fixed" phone and appease the early birds with warrenty exchanges if they complain.

4. Stand by the crappy phone, and move on to the next model.

I'm not familiar with this big v600 problem when it was released. What happened and how was it resolved?

[Kris Kumar]

My feeling is that to optimize the battery life, they decided on lowering the volume by a notch. Not sure if that is a good assumption from electronics point of view, I mean whether or not it really affects battery life.

Did you guys notice that the external screen has a timeout. It blanks out, which is bad because I like to have the external clock to check the time and to see if there are any new mails etc. (Also the signal strength). Again the cost (on battery life) of having a color screen for external display forced Moto to have a timeout. :-( Has anyone seen a setting to keep it On always?

I am guessing Moto carried out some last minute tweaks to maximize the battery life. Now based on the public out-cry, Moto may release the fix. And who knows if the Best Buy one month exclusive is a part of smart beta testing. :wink: Sorry I don't want to start rumors or anything. Just tossing out the ideas I am getting.