HTC Surround Review: A Pocket Boombox
by Brian Klug on November 13, 2010 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Windows Phone 7
- HTC Surround
- Mobile
So what about the speaker but in the context of actually placing calls? Strangely, the loudness story is completely opposite when you're making a call and want speakerphone. The first time I placed a call and turned speakerphone on, I was confused. Audio was muffled and muted, and given the grating on the back, I expected audio be coming out of the back of the device. Then it occurred to me - the speakerphone for calls is the slide out speaker itself.
The problem with this is that every time you want the speakerphone to actually be loud enough to hear, you need to slide it out. Alright, not that big of a deal if it's loud, right?
The problem? It isn’t that loud. In fact, it’s among the quietest I've laid hands on.
I’m at a loss for why the HTC Surround is so quiet in actual calls, considering how loud it is at music and video playback, especially given the fact that we’re using the same speakers. Volume was at maximum, the slider was open, and we were on 3G UMTS for the call like always. The device is just that quiet. Interestingly, none of the audio enhancements do anything when you’re using the speaker in speakerphone mode. Pressing the button results in the same vibration feedback that it always does, but the event does nothing to change the sound output.
Clearly, HTC or WP7 isn’t setting the gain correctly, and the result is the Surround is simply too quiet to be acceptable for speakerphone calls. It's a bitter irony that the smartphone which packs a gigantic speaker that tops our charts for music loudness is so clearly deficient when it comes to actually making speakerphone calls.
Using the handset normally, I found the volume to be just about typical in terms of dynamic range. Call audio quality is subjectively where I’m used to it being - UMTS 3G voice calls honestly sound very good to me, and the Surround didn’t disappoint. I placed some calls on GSM in EDGE territory on AT&T (which is unsurprisingly easy to find, I drove on the I-8 to San Diego and spent the whole time on EDGE) and they sounded good as well. I experienced the same kind of volume level disparity between GSM (2G) and UMTS (3G) calls that I mentioned iOS still has - more dynamic range at work. Again, I’m still working on devising a subjective call quality test - for now all I can say is that calls to all the usual subjects sounded lik they do on numerous other devices I've popped a SIM in.
Antenna
We’ve made a point of testing each and every device for signal attenuation problems, and thus far have been consistent about it. Unfortunately, we’re somewhat reliant on there being a way to read raw signal strength from the baseband to run our tests, and haven’t found a way to do that on WP7 quite yet. It’s still early, and we haven’t done a lot of poking around for dialer codes which will expose a field test program, if WP7 even has one. That said, the HTC Surround does seem to be on par with the vast majority of smartphones in being relatively grip insensitive.
The antenna on the Surround appears to be at the very top, and there's possibly another at the bottom. With the back over off, you can clearly see a black ribbon cable coming from a notch in the plastic cover. Inside are clear outlines from the radiative surface inside the flex cable. There’s a piece of black tape holding the middle in place, and another antenna flex cable on the far right potentially for WiFi or Bluetooth 2.4 GHz radios.
The Surround is only available on AT&T, and as such we see support for AT&T's UMTS bands. The HTC Surround is a tri-band UMTS device, but you do get GSM/EDGE support for other bands as shown below.
| HTC Surround Network Support | |||||
| UMTS | 850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz | ||||
| GSM/EDGE | 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz | ||||
| HSDPA/HSUPA | 7.2Mbps / 384Kbps | ||||
WiFi Speed
WiFi transfer speeds I’ve measured are decent at 15.026 megabits/s using our 100 MB test PDF loaded through the browser. I’ve seen sustained connection rates of up to 24 megabits/s when the device is performing wireless sync with Zune, however, which seems more representative. Wireless range on the Surround is actually quite impressive - I can make it all the way to the curb without dropping connection, which is just as far as the best smartphones I’ve tested can go. Similarly, hand-on and hand-off happen without issue. Oh, and WPA2 Enterprise works fine on the HTC Surround, I tested on a WPA2 Enterprise network with all Cisco APs running full 802.1x PEAP with certificates and never experienced a hitch - bravo to WP7 for getting this perfect on the first attempt.
We've also been paying attention to GPS closely ever since the Galaxy S GPS situation - the Surround gets fixes fast and accurately. Whatever Microsoft is using for its location services does a good job getting a rough position indoors, and GPS takes it the rest of the way outdoors just as quickly as I'm used to on other devices.
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banvetor - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
Really? Wow, the US cellphone companies are really screwed... But anyway, I'm from Brazil and currently I live in Italy, and in both places you can have the plan you want with whatever cell phone you have...Since I believe that many Anandtech readers do not live in the US, the "offline" analysis should still be valid... and also, maybe this screwed behavior is only at AT&T?
strikeback03 - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
No, common on the major US carriers at least. And while it is an added expense, IMO data on the go is the reason to have a smartphone. I almost never use mine on WiFi, as places I have WiFi I usually have a computer as well. If they did offer pay-as-you-go Data, it would likely be at high enough prices to encourage getting a plan anyway.Nataku - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
really? they did that without telling you and that's legal?im amazed... now i need to think about whether or not I should even be getting one... I hope the rules aren't the same in Canada lol
Brian Klug - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
Hey Leo,That's actually a very valid point - I realize we have a large international audience and am pushing to get a lot more international devices into our coverage. I realize so far it's been a bit myopic with this tunnel-vision like focus on devices for US carriers, but we're working hard to mix it up with everything from abroad as well. I've actually got the LG Optimus One here (which is UK/Orange bound, if I'm not mistaken), which will be our first international device.
Anyhow, I digress. Yeah, I'll definitely include some discussion about what you can do with data off. Thankfully WP7 does let you turn cellular data off entirely - then you're basically limited to text and voice when out and about. I know with WP7 everything is required to be cached, so apps should work, they just won't serve much purpose if they require a data connection. Obviously WiFi will work whenever you're connected as well.
Honestly these smartphones are of marginal use without cellular data. I think Vivek rolls without a data plan most of the time, and he manages to get by just fine with the G2 and a bunch of others.
Thanks again (sorry about the delayed response),
Brian
QueBert - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
So basically this is the loudest speaker on a cell phone, yet it's still close to 10db quieter than the Sunchip bag. Apple, Samsung, Moto, some cell phone manufacture obviously needs to incorporate the same technology Frito-Lay used to make the Sunchip biodegradable bag so damn loud.JimmiG - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
I can see this as becoming something very annoying in schools, on trains and buses etc. I think the world would have been a better place without this phone.DaveGirard - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
those photos are awful. It's all filter and no camera.Tros - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
Maybe the phone needs to be in boombox-aspect to expose the microphone properly.Brian Klug - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
This is a very interesting suggestion - if I get time, I'll test it out. That actually might end up being the case.-Brian
rackley - Sunday, November 14, 2010 - link
Nice review - I'm looking forward to seeing the review of the Focus, especially since you mentioned the PenTile display.Personally I think the Focus's display of text looks pretty bad with PenTile next to a Surround or LG, but I'd love to hear your always-detailed analysis of the issue.