Poor quality calls on android head unit

My friends can’t hear me properly on calls.

It is only when you make a call over bluetooth using your android headunit that the problem is known. The person you have called can’t hear you properly. The people you call ask you to speak up and you end up raising your voice just to be heard.

Go somewhere quieter

Finding a more quiet room or cupping your hand over the microphone, even just moving the microphone closer to your mouth can help with a phone. But your android head unit is in a fixed position in the dash and you are in a fixed position in the drivers seat. It is not possible to use the usual tricks to improve the microphone call volume that we can do with a phone.

Frustrating

Incoming callers can’t hear you speak clearly and ask you to repeat yourself, the people you can can’t understand you fully and ask you to speak up. Making calls on your android headunit can be frustrating.

The reason

The reason the calls are of such poor quality is the key component in the call is of terrible quality. A cheap, if not the cheapest parts are fitted for the microphone stages of and android head unit. Cost is a driving factor and cutting even the smallest corners in production costs can help keep the overall product cost down. Unfortunately the poor call quality won’t be found until it has already been fitted.

The solution

The solution to the terrible microphone used in the android headunit, leading to the poor quality calls is a simple one, but the possibility depends on one big factor when purchasing.

Fit an external microphone (eBay) to the microphone input on the rear of your android head unit. Place the other end of the microphone up by the sun visor.

This solution fixes two problems in one go. Firstly the rubbish microphone fitted to the android headunit in the factory has been bypassed by one costing just a little bit more, but is so much better. The second advantage of the solution is to bring the microphone up higher and closer to the drivers mouth. The shorter distance from the person speaking on the phone and the microphone recording that speech makes the volume for the listener that much louder.

Purchasing factors

There are many factors to consider the suitability of any android headunit for purchase. But one of the key factors in considering an android headunit, if you are planning to use it for calls, is: the option for external microphone fitting. Without this option to fit an external microphone, you will be stuck with the poor quality calls.

Other solutions

If the caller can’t hear you on the integrated microphone, ensure you have removed any protective film from the screen that may be covering the microphone hole on your new android headunit.