Ever since HTC added the Dual Speaker BoomSound Stereo speakers on their HTC One M7 last year, smartphone buyers have been putting more of an emphasis on the speaker sound of their new devices. What was once a means only to handle the occasional job of a speakerphone, has now suddenly turn into a ‘big deal’ when comparing devices. I guess you really cannot blame them, after all, the way we use our smartphones today has certainly changed from a few years ago. Back in the day, most people held their little flip phone up to their ear to have a phone conversation – the voice quality was bad enough you needed that speaker as closer to your ear as possible…and the devices back then were smaller. As the screens became larger and the smartphones more useful, we began taking them everywhere with us. It was less convenient to hold up to your ear to talk, so speakerphones became more important, not to mention we started to play more games on them and watching videos and movies…and all of a sudden the speaker became more important.
I like a great sounding speaker as much as the next guy, but I would NOT base my entire decision on which smartphone I would buy because of the speaker sound – for me, if I want great sound, I plug-in ear-buds or Bluetooth my device to my car sound system or a BT Speaker. I use my speakerphone all of the time for phone conversations, but any flagship provides good enough sound for that purpose. Would I like all smartphones to have a better speaker – heck yeah – and I am surprised more of the other flagships out this year did not step up to the plate to try to match the HTC One’s great sound. Our friends over at ePrice have done a speaker comparison of the new HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G Pro 2, and the Sony Xperia Z2, and there were really no surprises in their findings.
They used Lady GaGa’s Bad Romance in their sound comparisons and in the first test they measured the volume decibels – how loud the speaker can go – and higher is better. The HTC One M8’s went to 85.6db and won for outstanding performance. The LG G Pro 2 scored 85db and was ranked second. The Sony Xperia Z2 came in at 82db and the Samsung Galaxy S5 came in last at 81.1db.
Next, they tested for sound clarity and the Galaxy S5 and G Pro 2 were flipped so their speaker was facing up. Again, the HTC One M8’s SoundBoom easily beat out all of the other speakers. The Xperia Z2 ranked second, G Pro 2 sounded better this time and ranked third, and the Galaxy S5 sounded better, but does not have the needed volume and placed fourth.
The HTC One M8 was the clear winner – like I said at the beginning, it was no surprise. The remaining three are very close to each other with the Sony Xperia Z2 slightly clearer than the LG G Pro 2, with the speaker turned face up. The Samsung Galaxy S5, with the speaker turned face up, sounds okay, but it lacks in volume.
Please shout out to us on our Google+ Page and let us know what you think of the speaker situation with the new smartphones, and does that weigh heavily on your decision when you purchase a new device.