GSMArena labs: Introducing our new smartphone speaker test
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- Anonymous
- t1{
- 05 Mar 2020
Chavis, 04 Mar 2020We've already retested all phones which are available to us... moreWho are you? Are you GSMArena member? Please tell us; I've other questions Regarding GSMArena..
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- Anonymous
- LQu
- 04 Mar 2020
People are mad because now they see iphone nor galaxy have best sound.
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- AnonD-908380
- nfy
- 04 Mar 2020
Abhi-Darth-Plagueis, 04 Mar 2020While conceptually I agree with you, and yes, 99% people mi... moreYeah you have a point but I think audio quality is too subjective and that's why they don't want to do it anymore. Plus there is the variance depending on the headphones they use (I think). The fact remains though that even 20 euro/dollar wired headphones have better audio quality with any phone than many bluetooth headphones (Galaxy Buds in my experience).
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- George
- pkW
- 04 Mar 2020
Wonderful. Thank you for always pushing the envelope of testing. Another thing you could really excel at would be "size compare" which is something Phonearena has had for a while now. It's in fact the only reason I go to their website instead of yours. It's not that hard to set up and I think you guys would benefit from having that. Think about it.
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- AnonD-558092
- 45}
- 04 Mar 2020
CompactPhones5ever, 04 Mar 2020Yeah it's a fair point. I'm not sure what's the budget ther... moreHow are you going to find second hand phones before they're released? The press gets phones ahead of release so that reviews are ready in time for the preorder session.
But yeah, I suppose they could do a limited trial and see how it goes.
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- KondriX
- 7@h
- 04 Mar 2020
Abhi-Darth-Plagueis, 04 Mar 2020Irony of the ironies!!! Haha Notice how GSMArena used... moreYou sir, are 100% right. The wired audio quality was one of the most important test for me on this site, listen to quality music is a pure pleasure.. I see the 3.5 mm jack returnig, Sony is bringing it back, so does Black Shark of Xiaomi, so if GSMArena is getting rid of it it's sad, I don't know another site that does a detailed review of the audio quality. Guess nowadays people are more interested in looks and quantity over utility and quality..
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- jamesschwarz987
- gG3
- 04 Mar 2020
Dear, GSMArena. Please add dynamic range comparison and ISO specific photo compare in the Photo and Video Compare Tool. Also, how about unprocessed photo comparison? So we could knew the real ability of each phone camera hardware.
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- Mykl.Pluto
- XIa
- 04 Mar 2020
Thank you GSMArena, for all the hardwork you put in to make our next smartphone choice way easier. Gracias!
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- Abhi-Darth-Plagueis
- YQZ
- 04 Mar 2020
CompactPhones5ever, 04 Mar 2020Fair enough, but I still strongly believe it would be at le... moreOh its definitely worth trying for. Nobody here would argue that. Especially with the water resistance rating shenanigans that happened (still happen) some time ago.
Drop test, I don't know, there's no way to measure it accurately. By its definition people drop phones in all sorts of manners from all sorts of heights. Getting their phones damaged in all sorts of ways. There's just too much variables here to put any sort of standard in function. But hey, it never hurts to hope!
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- CompactPhones5ever
- 8uS
- 04 Mar 2020
Abhi-Darth-Plagueis, 04 Mar 2020While certainly helpful, its a hell of an expensive venture... moreFair enough, but I still strongly believe it would be at least worth trying for the most popular budget devices... E.g. if the upcoming Redmi Note 9 costs ~200€ and they have to get 3 or 4 of them, it's not such a major investment and it could very well turn out to be quite big...
Or don't. The Indian Gupta guy is doing a solid job anyways, albeit not very scientific...
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- CompactPhones5ever
- 8uS
- 04 Mar 2020
AnonD-558092, 04 Mar 2020Most of their test units are loaners. This would either req... moreYeah it's a fair point. I'm not sure what's the budget there, but considering some older second-hand devices cost really just a couple of bucks on sites like ebay, I can't see it being such a major financial burden... E.g. you can probably get a used RN7 for like €40 or less and you'd realistically need 3-4 to make the whole test.
They could just try 2 or 3 tests and see if they get the clicks to make it worth it or not. If people showed interest they could expand to new devices as well (especially the budget phones that are extremelly popular like the Redmi Note series, so they get a lot of attention without spending a fortune). Various durability/water tests have combined millions of views, it could be also an opportunity to expand the youtube channel. There's an indian youtube channel called 'Gupta Information Systems' which exploded with their RN7 durability video (over 3.4m views at this point) even though they were virtually non-existent before it, simply because people WANT to know if their device can take some punches.
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- Abhi-Darth-Plagueis
- YQZ
- 04 Mar 2020
CompactPhones5ever, 04 Mar 2020@GSMarena - have you though about making some sort of "dura... moreWhile certainly helpful, its a hell of an expensive venture man!
And phones aren't getting any cheaper. Don't get me wrong, I'd also like to see such tests, but lets face it, money matters. Even for reviewers. and like another guy said, long-term review would require a new device.
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- Abhi-Darth-Plagueis
- YQZ
- 04 Mar 2020
AnonD-908380, 04 Mar 2020Lg G8 ThinQ for example has a lower quality audio output th... moreWhile conceptually I agree with you, and yes, 99% people might really listen to only MP3s. But that's like saying most people are fine with phone cameras hence DSLRs don't matter. Indistinguishable difference can become distinguishable with higher quality sources. The best is what you have on you at any given time.
But main points were only 4:
1.) when smartphone innovation has ground to a halt these days, these kinds of custom HW additions should be tested. since that could be one of the USPs. it's certianly better than a notch.
2.) If there are fewer phones with 3.5 mm jacks, there would be fewer exceptions.
3.) They already had a hardware testing setup for 3.5 mm jacks.
4.) 'spec-wise' you said. But how would we know for sure if there wasn't any test?
P.S. I had already mentioned these in a comment to an imbecile who had zero tolerance for civil argument and that reply was deleted by mods along with his own comment.
anyway peace out
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- Anonymous
- KZK
- 04 Mar 2020
It's a shame GSMArena have removed the headphone test. Even on bluetooth earphones, there's actually a noticeable difference across different devices.
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- Anonymous
- KZK
- 04 Mar 2020
AnonD-762416, 04 Mar 2020This isn't accurate:
"The headphones audio quality test,... moreA $100 headphones will sound better than a $50 headphones regardless of whatever device you use and dirt cheap earphones still sound bad even with the best audio equipment which is common sense.
Yes, USB C does support analogue audio. The only problem is...not all phones support it, for example the HTC U11. An active adapter is required (which is bundled with the U11) and those will make any device sound the same.
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- AnonD-558092
- 45}
- 04 Mar 2020
CompactPhones5ever, 04 Mar 2020@GSMarena - have you though about making some sort of "dura... moreMost of their test units are loaners. This would either require them to spend much more money on phones (2x if they want to do a long term review) or convincing OEMs of the benefit of making such review and letting them own a phone and loan another.
There are other sites that do such thing but with uncertain benefits. I doubt how such a massive investment would benefit GSMArena, except for clickbait and lost of credibility.
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- AnonD-908380
- Twq
- 04 Mar 2020
Abhi-Darth-Plagueis, 04 Mar 2020Oh don't know, perhaps the likes of Quad ESS Sabre 9218 DAC... moreLg G8 ThinQ for example has a lower quality audio output than the S10+ (spec wise) so I don't know if those "special" DAC's make much of a difference. Of course you wouldn't be able to distinguish the sound quality between both phones at some point. That's why further testing doesn't make much sense. Audiophiles don't rely on their smartphones anyway and 99% of users listen to mp3's instead of lossless audio.
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- CompactPhones5ever
- 8uS
- 04 Mar 2020
@GSMarena - have you though about making some sort of "durability" test, at least for older phones that are couple of bucks? The ""durability"" test that JerryRigEverything does is basically just scratch-test with quite inaccurate bend test. E.g. used Redmi Note 7 is like 50€ or less on ebay and it would be quite fascinating to see how certain brand compares to others in controlled testing environment.
Here're just few ideas:
- Controlled drop test (each phone would be dropped from same height and same side on the same surface; tests "until crack" and "until complete failure")
- Controlled bend test (either specialized pressure testing device or just a set of weights, again "until screen crack" and "until complete failure")
- Water test (just take every phone to same container with same ammount of liquid and test how long until they stop working)
- Dust test (put the phones in a box with some extremelly fine dust, have it shaken /preferably by some device to make it more objective/ and watch for dust getting under screen/camera lenses)
- This one is a bit useless (I can't imagine many people caring) and it would be mostly just for fun, but an extreme temperatures test would be nice, too (doesn't have to be some special testing devices; for cold - simple freezer and let the phones in there and see how many days /hours/ can it last before it breaks; for heat - good old frying pan and roast it on both sides until the battery pops! /don't breathe in tho/)
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- Abhi-Darth-Plagueis
- YQZ
- 04 Mar 2020
AnonD-908380, 04 Mar 2020What would that special hardware be?Oh don't know, perhaps the likes of Quad ESS Sabre 9218 DAC inside LG flagships, or the dual NXP TFA9874 amplifiers inside RoG Phone II.
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- Anonymous
- gwe
- 04 Mar 2020
Great