AT&T Tilt Cell Phone Review - Audio Quality
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Mark Brezinski Published on October 25, 2007 Comment on this |
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We test audio quality with the same equipment used by manufacturers. As for hardware, we use a head and torso simulator, or HATS. We use the HATS to simulate the human mouth and ear. Our software is an electro-acoustic analysis program called SoundCheck. With HATS and SoundCheck, we can determine the quality of the audio your phones receive and send out. If you'd like to know more about our testing methods, click here.
Sound Receive Frequency Response (8.71)
The Tilt tends to do well with the frequencies it receives. As you can see in the graph, the blue line that represents the Tilt's performance falls between the red limits at all times. The dip in the middle means the Tilt tends to underemphasize mid-range tones. This is well within the limits, however, so it shouldn't be too noticeable.
| Cell Phone | AT&T Tilt | Nokia E90(Unlocked) | BlackBerry Curve 8320(on T-Mobile) |
| Score | 8.71 | 6.09 | 8.30 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | HTC Mogul(on Sprint) | Palm Treo 750(on AT&T) | Apple iPhone(on AT&T) |
| Score | 7.33 | 8.24 | 7.58 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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Sound Send Frequency Response (6.80)
As is evident in the graph, the Tilt doesn't handle its user's voice as well as those in incoming calls. Though the frequency response does not show any big peaks, it does overemphasize the lower frequencies (on the left of the graph), meaning that voices may sound overly bassy and boomy. The frequency response also drops off a bit quickly, meaning that some high frequencies aren't properly reproduced. This could make voices sound slightly clipped. But the result is definitely acceptable, if not great.
| Cell Phone | AT&T Tilt | Nokia E90(Unlocked) | BlackBerry Curve 8320(on T-Mobile) |
| Score | 6.80 | 5.74 | 7.51 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | HTC Mogul(on Sprint) | Palm Treo 750(on AT&T) | Apple iPhone(on AT&T) |
| Score | 7.68 | 7.89 | 7.58 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) | |
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Handset Side Tone (9.42)
Side tone refers to the amount of your own voice the phone plays back to you. Subconsciously, if you can't hear your voice over the phone, you assume the person you're talking to can't hear it, either. The ideal side tone measurement is 18 decibels. The Tilt measured 17.42 decibels, which is very close to this ideal. Less than one decibel is a virtually imperceptible difference. You won't feel the need to yell or whisper on the Tilt.
| Cell Phone | Sidetone Measurement | Score |
| AT&T Tilt | 17.42 | 9.42 |
| Nokia E90 | 21.23 | 6.77 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 17.88 | 9.88 |
| HTC Mogul | 17.12 | 9.12 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 22.2 | 5.80 |
| Apple iPhone | 8.8 | 0.80 |
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