Sometimes, being of the nerdy bunch, you try to look for a technical answer to life’s tech problems when a simpler approach might be needed.
Yesterday I proved this to myself. I have been experiencing very low earpiece volume on my iPhone 4 for the past few months. I am one of these people who rarely uses their phone for calling purposes – mainly music, messaging, and internet. I have a set of earphones that double as handsfree kits, which makes it easy to listen to music and being able to take a phone call on the same headset. So most of the time I take a call using the handsfree.
Do I have a faulty earpiece? Is it on its way out? I hoped not, because replacing isn’t in expensive and is a tricky job.
I also have an original iPhone and tested the volume on that. It was very loud, and I don’t remember my 3GS (which I had before my iPhone 4) being so quiet either.
Before I went down the route of taking my beloved iPhone apart, I decided to give it a quick clean – after all, it is pressed up against your ear or shoved in your pocket amongst all the fluff.
Cleaning It
With a magnifying glass and a small pin I started gently scraping the earpiece grill. Surprisingly, a lot of gunk came off. With every scrape, more dirt was sticking to the pin. A quick blow, and I repeated the procedure.
Finally, I grabbed my toothbrush – not mine but one I use for cleaning – and gave the grill a further scrub, paying particular attention to the corners where the grill goes underneath the oblong opening.
I spent about 15 minutes cleaning, wiping, and recleaning. I wasn’t holding out much hope, but I thought what harm could it do?
Did It Work?
I called my voicemail, and to my surprise I could hear the message without even having to put the phone to my ear. On listening to it close to my ear, the volume had easily doubled.
I road tested it today. Whereas before if I was out and about – especially on a busy street – I could barely hear the caller, sometimes making answering a call very difficult – today I had no issues at all. The person speaking could be heard loud and clear.
Of course I am very pleased with the results. It has given me an instant and free solution and means my phone isn’t faulty.
So if you have a problem with a quiet iPhone, firstly give it a clean. This should also work for the speaker on the bottom.
Of course it goes without saying, proceed with caution. Overly vigorous cleaning could damage your iPhone.
Follow Simon Royal on Twitter or send him an Email.
Like what you have read? Send Simon a donation via Tip Jar.
keywords: #iphone #earpiece #quiet #clean #techspectrum #simonroyal
short link: http://goo.gl/MCVgvt
searchword: quietiphoneearpiece
