Microphone Problem

[Green15]

Hello,

i hope anybody can help me. I bought my Z5 compact last week and now i have problems with the microphone. When somebody call me, the other person cant hear me or hear me very feeble. It is like from a far distance speaking. When I turn to speaker, then the other person can hear me perfectly. I dont know what to do.

To start in Safe mode doesnt solve the problem. I dont have the possibility to turning off the microphone noise suppression.

What can I do? Who can help me?

My Android-Version is 5.1.1 .

Thanks for your help.

Green15

[netboysteve]

Well, I received my Z5C back after the THIRD trip to Sony repair center. I'm not holding my breath. It's the same phone, they didn't replace it with a new one (haha, hope springs eternal). As usual, the waybill lists nothing to indicate any mic specific testing, it just says, "phone reset to factory, all components test successful" kinda thing (I'm at work, so I'm paraphrasing).  Although there has been a software update recently, I believe, when I turned on the phone it said there was as system software update. Anyways, I repaired the phone upon receipt (crazy yes, to repair a phone that just came from Repair Center?, but that's what Support told me to do).

So, I'll make a few calls once the phone has restored itself and see what's up. Please take note that I was using my Galaxy Note 3 as my phone backup for the last two weeks while the Z5C was away, I made many phone calls (all on speakerphone) and never once did anyone say, "what's that echo?" or "you sound horrible, like you're under water", these statements coming hard and fast at me, whenever I use my Z5C speakerphone.

Will report back in a bit!  

[netboysteve]

Hey, this will be my last post on the subject. So even though my phone reported a maintenance software update, it's still at 6.0.1. Anyways, to test out my phone, I pulled a reverse: I phoned my friend while we were at the pub, put on speakerphone, then he took my phone and walked away a bit.... so over his phone, sure enough, I could barely hear him talking over the busy background noise of the pub (sure enough, seemingly overly amplified from the actual sound level). He walked to a quieter area and talked and... I didn't hear myself echoing back. So in one test, it didn't seem so bad.

To tell the truth, I've kinda moved on from this issue. I am really happy with the form factor size of the Z5C and how it feels in my hand, just love holding it. It's like a candy bar, all smooth (although unfortunately not 100% smooth as I've dropped it a couple times, on the pavement once, I couldn't believe it, the glass remained unbroken and unscratched!). ... I purchased a pair of bluetooth earbuds that are real easy to carry around.  If I'm going to have a long conversation, I can turn them on.  Or... I can use speakerphone and the other party can deal with their voice echoing if it happens.

One thing about this Z5C phone is the battery.  Wow, it is as advertised.  I usually have 50-60% still in the evening with light use.

[inspiration-nl]

Hi,

I had this problem suddenly as well. Which was weird as I was able to record voice messages in e.g. LINE.

But I was able to solve it. No soft resets or OK google switching off needed. For me it was the app "twilight" which was blocking the microphone. So if you are using any of such kind of apps (which run all the time in the background c.q. overlay mode), pause them and see if that works for you.

Regards, Inspiration-nl

[IkaMustika]

Wow, seeing how long this thread stay unsolved shows the lack of concern from Sony.

My wife's Z5 Dual had it's microphone dead back in november 2016 after an update, it simply doesn't work on any apps (including audio recorder and it's own diagnostics) except when calling using loudspeaker but then the echo it caused really terrible. Currently it's the fifth time on a Sony Service Centre. Four times they say it's fixed while it's not, I just have to open audio recorder to show them this. After the third time I have to change Service Centre because they didn't want to accept it anymore since it's already "FIXED", **bleep** no.

A few days ago, my Z5 Compact received an update, and guess what, now my phone's microphone also toasted, not working on any apps except when calling using loudspeaker. Restarting and then resetting didn't solve the issue. There's no way I'm bringing this to a Sony Service Centre, that is clearly useless.

Btw, talking about useless Service Centre, a few years back, my Z1 Compact got bricked after an update. The Service guy told me that they wouldn't receive it because water got inside and the white colour inside the flap has turned pink as proof. It was not pink. It still white. I even asked several other customer there and it is white. But the guy still insist that it was pink. F*** him. However since i really liked Sony phone, i bought another Z1 Compact. Funnily, the other Z1C somehow can be charged and turned on after over a year lying in a cupboard.

I have loved Sony since they were with ericsson and all my phones and tablets are of Sony product (I also have a Z3 Tablet) and really satisfied. Until today.

[Cymro_blin]

Well, here I am July 2017 and still having this problem. I really have been a Sony fan from the outset but the years that this thread goes back really shows a total lack of concern for the consumer from Sony. I can't wait to reach my contract update and get a new handset... ANY make but Sony! 

[Jorrit]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to drop a note here about this problem. I had the exact same issue but I used a toothpick to GENTLY clean my outbound/inbound speaker. This resolved the issue for me.

All those dead faceskin cells kinda get in the way when you want to speak

Good luck!

[fartarget82]

After twiddling with mic settings, restarting, disabling all google services, going to safe mode, repairing the phone, doing a clean install and eventually installing multiple alternative ROM-s (after learning how to do all that), THIS is what finally fixed the problem.

Just pull the gunk out of the bottom microphone and everything works fine.

Press your finger over the mic grill to reproduce the problem on a healthy phone.

Thanks Jorrit!

[green-gf]

exactly the same problem and solution with a well used phone (probably not the new ones I guess) - the tiniest bit of fluff lightly removed with a needle - sound back to full volume with phone to your head, louder than when on speaker! Try it! 

Geoff 

[Hejjou]

I had exactly the same issue with my z5 compact. I've tried most of the solutions described above. I've replaced both microphones (including vibra and volume/on/off switches) with no result. I was prepared to buy a new phone... 

Cleaning the mic hole in the housing from the outside with a toothpick miraculously fixed the problem...