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Comment by zenocon | Hacker News Reader

"Why can't I just turn up the volume on my iPhone?" is something I ask myself everyday and shake my fist toward Cupertino. Seriously, the gain on the phone is severely limited. Try listening to a voice call on speakerphone in even a moderately quiet environment with just a twee bit of ambient noise. It is maddening that I can't get any more volume out of this device without jailbreaking it.

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If you're looking for someone to blame, I highly recommend the guy that sued Apple because the iPod could be loud enough to cause hearing damage:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/7bf03be0-94de-11da-9f39-00007...

Apple eventually won and the case was dismissed, but the lower maximum value followed from that lawsuit.

wow, thanks for the info. lawyers - gah. still, no excuse for apple to limit the speakerphone...no one is at risk of hearing damage from a cell phone's speakerphone...you hear me apple?

until they put the speakerphone next to their ear, perhaps

And, if you're in Europe, you can thank the EU, who limited portable audio players to 150 mV max output at the phone jack and 100 dB (A) peak level with the included headphones.

This renders my iPhone almost useless as an iPod replacement when travelling with big headphones, it's just not enough juice for a train or bus ride (not to mention a flight).

I actually have the opposite problem: the minimum volume on my iPod is too loud. In some contexts (late at night, listening to something while falling asleep) it's slightly too loud, but they don't give you any more gradations between "off" and "slightly too loud".

I find it especially bothersome because on older, non-digital radios, I was able to lightly tune the volume to somewhere just on the threshold of audible, which is the perfect level for falling asleep to.

Could you get some higher impedance headphones? They would be quieter as the iPod wouldn't be able to drive them so well.

I had this with my Moto X too, I downloaded a EQ app and lowered all of the dials by an equal amount and that seems to have worked.

I'm not trying to pull your leg here, but ..

why would you try to use the speaker if there's noise around you? I mean, why wouldn't you - like - put it up against your ear instead?

I do it all the time in mildly noisy environments:

- Impromptu "conference call" with a colleague physically next to you and another one remote. - Need to be typing to take minutes, retrieve information relevant to the call, etc. - Too many calls already and arm is tired of holding the phone and listening.

Any scenario where you'd want to use the speaker phone has little to do with noise. Sometimes I want it while driving because I don't have a headset (and don't plan on getting one, since I don't own a car and drive rarely). Or in the shop while drilling, soldering, or whatever. Or outside working on something. It's about using the phone while doing something else, often something that you couldn't do with something blocking one ear or dangling anything from your head. Then of course there's the case where multiple people are listening/speaking through the same phone.

Seriously.. just don't talk while driving. It's dangerous for everyone.

If you can't multitask enough to talk while driving, you should not be driving in the first place.

All research I've seen finds that talking while driving, even if it's just to a passenger increases accidents by a large amount. Other studies show that people tend to vastly overestimate their multitasking abilities.

So in short: very few people can actually talk safely while driving, and the people that think they can probably can't.

Most interestingly, it seems that people who think they're good multi-taskers are actually the worst at it[1]. They are more likely to be impulsive and more likely to indulge in risk-taking.

1: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/01/24/170160105/if-you-...

Maybe. The study does show that people that multi-task a lot are bad at multi-tasking. But it says that they didn't find a significant correlation between perceived and actual ability, while also assuming a negative correlation in part of their write-up. They also found that most people rate themselves 'above average', but that's not surprising.

I would love to not talk while driving. I would also like to not listen while driving. In fact, I would like to not drive while driving! That being said, I'm much less concerned about spending a minute talking to a dispatcher than the guy/gal flying down I-95 while breaking up with someone over the phone. (Speaking of which, at least with a phone you can hang up... but some passengers, man...)

Edit: I would also posit that in some cases, a short phone call can actually do a great deal to remove distraction if it is a settleable matter. The conversation you have in your head while driving may be just as bad as the one you'd have on the phone, except that it may dwell longer.

Very true about the conversation in your head. You can sometimes drive great distances and not remember any part of the journey, which is worrying in case you missed dangerous road conditions etc.

This is particularly true if you have a "lot on your plate".

Perhaps putting on an irritating radio station would help?

leg pulled. maybe because i'm not the only one on this end of the convo?

I've had to call 911 to report a traffic accident, and can attest that the iPhone cannot be heard over adjacent traffic whizzing by. It just doesn't go loud enough. My current Nokia doesn't either. Since the phone knows you're making an emergency call, I don't see why the volume limiter can't be removed in that case.

> It is maddening that I can't get any more volume out of this device without jailbreaking it.

Use a pocket battery-powered amp and a small portable loudpeaker? That'll get you both more gain and better sound than the tinny built-in speaker.

this is kind of like suggesting that an old phone booth is convenient for noise isolation.

I think I actually miss old phone booths, particularly the bright red BT ones you used to get here in the UK. Nice booths, although they always got beat up for no good reason.

thanks for the suggestion. i still lament the fact that my phone can't do this out of the box. this is a silly limitation, IMO.

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