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Echo in calls with speaker

Issue details

Some Galaxy S7 users have complained of an echo at the call receiver’s end. The caller would not be aware of the issue unless the person on the other side of the call complains.

Some of these devices were purchased from the Murena Store.

Investigation

The development team did a detailed analysis of the issue and has arrived at the following conclusions.

  • The issue is due to incompatibility between the hardware and the software which assists in the noise cancellation.
  • This problem does not impact all users of this phone.
  • The Galaxy S7 devices in question are from 2016 and have stopped receiving firmware updates by the vendor since 2019… This effectively means there will be no vendor patches for the device any longer.

Solutions tried:

  • Debugging: No positive results to report despite exhaustive efforts.
  • OS upgrade: The S7 was released with Android 7 (also called Nougat) and thanks to the /e/OS developers was upgraded to /e/OS based on Android 10 (also called Q). Unfortunately, this has not resolved the echo issue.
  • Use different firmware version: no result
  • Play with audio configuration: no result

Action to be taken

  • Based on these findings, the development team has concluded that it would not be possible to resolve the echo related issue in the affected Galaxy S7 devices.
  • The echo issue related bugs in GitLab raised for this hardware will be closed with these findings.

Learning from this exercise

  • The Murena store has stopped sourcing and selling this model
  • Testing of builds and newer devices includes test cases to check for echo on receiver side.
  • Testing teams to include volunteers spread across different regions and service providers

Remedial Step(s)

Use of headphone has been reported by some users as a possible solution to this problem

Linked to the following community announcement: https://community.e.foundation/t/issue-with-echo-heard-by-call-receivers-on-some-galaxy-s7-devices/47965

Initial issue description If I use the speaker of the phone when making a call, the other person hears an echo of her voice.

Samsung Galaxy S7 sold by /e/ SM-G930F Version 0.7-2019062814891

Edited by Romain Hunault