Nexus 5 owners all over the internet have probably already come across this by now – it looks like the Nexus 5’s speaker is suffering from some problems. Namely, the speaker not sounding like it should it certain apps. Android Central’s Phil Nickinson discovered as much yesterday and I’ll admit when I first got my Nexus 5 at the beginning of the week I did notice that the speaker didn’t sound that great but, I chalked that up to it costing just $349. Phil posed the question that different apps sound different, one better from another and just as Phil suggests I did my own unscientific test.
I fired up the above song in Google Play Music, ‘The Mother We Share’ by CHVRCHES and sure enough, it didn’t sound great. Then, I wait on over to YouTube and fired up the official video for the track and things were noticeably better. Instead of the speaker sounding like it was under duress, things sounded more distinct and clear. The track from CHVRCHES is one of those songs that either sounds good or really horrible and in Google Play Music it sounded pretty awful but, in YouTube it was more than serviceable for a phone of this price.
So, if the same song sounds good in one app and then not-so-good in another, this has to be a software issue, right? That’s what we’re thinking and Google have reached out to Android Central to tell them that a fix is indeed coming. With a Google Now update said be hitting November 13th, it looks like the Android team will be busy right up until Christmas at this rate. Which is great, Android is often criticized for bugs in new versions but, Google is quick to squash them and acknowledge their existence, unlike another technology company we know. It’s a shame that their latest smartphone had to launch with this issue but, considering the changes they made to audio in Android 4.4 KitKat, it would have been pretty hard for them to get it right first time.