[JeddClampet]

So I picked up an Atomic LE from BestBuy the other day and I am absolutely loving this phone. Except for this one issue. I can barely hear a caller when I hold the phone to my ear. I move it all around and the volume is at max, but it's absolutely horrible trying to hear the caller. Not sure if I have defective device, or if it's just how it is with this phone. I came from a PRIV and never had this issue on that phone.

Anyone else experiencing this with the LE?

[ElGorgon]

Defective unit for sure.

[the_boon]

Exchange it. My slate LE earpiece is perfect

[gnirkatto]

my LE's earpiece has a metallic undertone - which is a little annoying, but does not affect its functionality. I can hear the other person perfectly well, and vice versa.

[tubularbell]

Return it. My personal experience (HD calls with KPN Netherlands) is the best I've ever had. At my work everyone is on KPN, loads of iPhones, Galaxy S9's etcetera and they are all blown away when they hear my KEY2LE.

[JeddClampet]

my LE's earpiece has a metallic undertone - which is a little annoying, but does not affect its functionality. I can hear the other person perfectly well, and vice versa.

Yeah. I hear the metallic tone as well, but it's a volume issue for me. I am constantly moving it on my ear trying to get it to a spot where I can hear it loud and clear, but that spot just doesn't exist on my unit.

From the few responses I see here, it sounds like it's not normal. I think I will do an exchange.

Thanks for the input!

[mrsimon]

right. not normal if set up correctly ! send it back.

[Rick-TJR]

Yup! My Atomic Key2 LE does the same thing. It is just not as loud as my PRIV or any of my other BB phones when listening with the built in ear piece. Even with ear buds, the phone isn't as loud as the PRIV. Yes, you can hear what their saying fine, but it is just a notch lower than most phones I have. I will check my wife's phone tomorrow to see if her is just lower. Oh, speaker mic wise, it is right up the with the PRIV

[Livermore]

It's defective, the earpiece works fine on my slate LE

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[tnewton3]

Mine sounds a little metallic as well but I'm usually on an earpiece, speakerphone, or my car so doesn't bother me a ton.

[Rick-TJR]

I just checked with my wife and it has the same output as mine. So the odds of the ear piece speaker being defective is out of the questions, especially since using wired ear buds exhibit the same slightly lower results compared to my other phones. Hopefully TCL/BB will listening and do slight tweet in the next update or two to address this. Disappointing Yes, but not a deal breaking knowing we got the phone for $350, which is why we have two. So OP, I don't think it is worth your time to exchange it, but you can if it make you feel better. Enjoy your new phone. I'm sure liking mine and there was no reason to switch from my PRIV as it was and still is awesome.

[the_boon]

I just checked with my wife and it has the same output as mine. So the odds of the ear piece speaker being defective is out of the questions, especially since using wired ear buds exhibit the same slightly lower results compared to my other phones. Hopefully TCL/BB will listening and do slight tweet in the next update or two to address this. Disappointing Yes, but not a deal breaking knowing we got the phone for $350, which is why we have two. So OP, I don't think it is worth your time to exchange it, but you can if it make you feel better. Enjoy your new phone. I'm sure liking mine and there was no reason to switch from my PRIV as it was and still is awesome.

Weird, my Slate LE is plenty loud enough.
It completely demolishes my iPhone SE's earpiece volume

[JeddClampet]

I tried to exchange my phone at BestBuy, but the guy tried it and said it seemed fine to him and he therefore couldn't sign off on it as being a "defective" device. So he wanted to charge me the $35 restocking fee if I wanted to exchange it.

The ear piece is definitely a lot quiter than what I'm used to with the PRIV, but it may be that's just the nature of the beast. I'm not paying the $35 so I'll just learn to adapt I guess.

[Rick-TJR]

Yup. That is the same conclusion I came to. I'll get used to it and I'm mostly a speaker mic user, so it is close enough to the PRIV that I will be ok with it too. But nothing come close to the Passport no matter which way you use that, but that is another story that I had to get over with once I got the PRIV. Enjoy your phone. It is otherwise an awesome phone. I just wondering if someone with the KEY2 can compare it with the LE in the audio dept when concerning the phone use. That alone may make me consider switching just for that. Then the capacitive keyboard would just be a bonus. Oh, thanks for letting us know what they did with you at the store.

[the_boon]

I tried to exchange my phone at BestBuy, but the guy tried it and said it seemed fine to him and he therefore couldn't sign off on it as being a "defective" device. So he wanted to charge me the $35 restocking fee if I wanted to exchange it.

The ear piece is definitely a lot quiter than what I'm used to with the PRIV, but it may be that's just the nature of the beast. I'm not paying the $35 so I'll just learn to adapt I guess.

Hmm, maybe if they had an open box returned device somewhere, you could have tried it out and see if there’s any difference

[JeddClampet]

Hmm, maybe if they had an open box returned device somewhere, you could have tried it out and see if there’s any difference

Hahaha "Open box". You a funny guy! 😂😂 I'm probably the only nerd that bought one! 😉

[JeddClampet]

Yup. That is the same conclusion I came to. I'll get used to it and I'm mostly a speaker mic user, so it is close enough to the PRIV that I will be ok with it too. But nothing come close to the Passport no matter which way you use that, but that is another story that I had to get over with once I got the PRIV. Enjoy your phone. It is otherwise an awesome phone. I just wondering if someone with the KEY2 can compare it with the LE in the audio dept when concerning the phone use. That alone may make me consider switching just for that. Then the capacitive keyboard would just be a bonus. Oh, thanks for letting us know what they did with you at the store.

Yeah. I love the phone otherwise. So this only a minor annoyance that I can adapt to. Who knows, if it turns out the KEY 2 does have a better earpiece, I may pick one up and give it a try. Now that I have this LE set up with VZW, just swapping the SIM to a KEY 2 should work without a hitch.

[bqik]

Yup! My Atomic Key2 LE does the same thing. It is just not as loud as my PRIV or any of my other BB phones when listening with the built in ear piece. Even with ear buds, the phone isn't as loud as the PRIV. Yes, you can hear what their saying fine, but it is just a notch lower than most phones I have. I will check my wife's phone tomorrow to see if her is just lower. Oh, speaker mic wise, it is right up the with the PRIV

This is the main reason why I keep going back to the Priv.

Priv oh lord what a clear sound and volume when calling

[JeddClampet]

So here's the strange thing, calls are actually normal sounding now. Loud and clear. I think maybe doing a factory reset before I took it back in may have actually fixed the issue. Under the same conditions at work, where I had previously been unable to hear callers comfortably, it's just completely normal now. That's why it worked fine when the guy at BestBuy tried it.

True, it's not nearly quite as clear or loud as my PRIV was, but totally acceptable. So problem solved - guess? Strange, I wouldn't have expected resetting the phone would fix what seemed to be a hardware problem.

[Rick-TJR]

Oh, wow! Yours must have been a little worse than the two of mine. It was never hard to hear, just not as loud as the PRIV or my many other phones. It still isn't, but it is usable and I'm OK with it. I keep thinking at times that it is just the same till I fire up the PRIV and realize; nope (the PRIV is still louder). But what I did do that seemed to help was to go into the phone app, settings, and adjust the audio for Boost Trebile. This helped and made it easier to hear the caller clearer. You might want to give it a try and see what you think.

[JeddClampet]

Oh, wow! Yours must have been a little worse than the two of mine. It was never hard to hear, just not as loud as the PRIV or my many other phones. It still isn't, but it is usable and I'm OK with it. I keep thinking at times that it is just the same till I fire up the PRIV and realize; nope (the PRIV is still louder). But what I did do that seemed to help was to go into the phone app, settings, and adjust the audio for Boost Trebile. This helped and made it easier to hear the caller clearer. You might want to give it a try and see what you think.

Thanks for the suggestion. Although it is pretty good now, I'll go in and tweak those settings a bit and see if I can make it even better. You're right though, definitely less robust than the PRIV was.

[Rick-TJR]

I really hope TCL/BB is listening and will fix this slightly lower audio output on the next update or two. I was just on a long phone call using the same wired buds I always use and it was hard to hear that person with all the road noise in the background. I really like this phone, but this weakness of the phone is killing me. I'm about to fire up the PRIV because of this. What a shame.

[the_boon]

I really hope TCL/BB is listening and will fix this slightly lower audio output on the next update or two. I was just on a long phone call using the same wired buds I always use and it was hard to hear that person with all the road noise in the background. I really like this phone, but this weakness of the phone is killing me. I'm about to fire up the PRIV because of this. What a shame.

Try a factory reset if it's software related ?

[JeddClampet]

I really hope TCL/BB is listening and will fix this slightly lower audio output on the next update or two. I was just on a long phone call using the same wired buds I always use and it was hard to hear that person with all the road noise in the background. I really like this phone, but this weakness of the phone is killing me. I'm about to fire up the PRIV because of this. What a shame.

As the_boon say, try a factory reset. It definitely made a difference on mine. I was left sheepish at the BestBuy store when I tried to exchange it. True, the tonal quality and volume is not quite to the level of my PRIV, but had I done the reset before, I would not of even thought about exchanging.

[Rick-TJR]

Ok. I'm not sure that a reset will help, but what do I got to lose. I'll give it a try in the next day or two. I'll report back after to let everyone know.