LG enV2 Cell Phone Review - Audio Quality
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 09, 2008 Comment on this |
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We were not impressed by the LG enV2's performance in our audio tests. Both audio sent and received was slightly off while sidetone, the small amount of your own voice that is piped back into your ear, was much too low. |
The quality of the audio your phone sends and receives is one of its most important features. As such we use professional hardware and software to test it. To simulate the human head and ear we use a Head and Torso Simulator (HATS) and to analyze the sound produced we use Listen Inc's SoundCheck software. This is the same combination of hardware and software that many hardware manufacturers and carriers use. For more information on how we do our audio testing see this article
Sound Receive Frequency Response (7.63)
This test looks at the quality of the sound received by the LG enV2. Below you see a chart that outlines the quality of the sound. The blue line indicates the enV2's performance while the two red lines are the limits against which we test.
LG enV2 sound receive frequency response
You can see that the LG enV2's performance is a little off. It rises above our limits slightly at the lower frequencies and then drops off too quickly at the high end. This means that those with deeper voices may sound slightly exaggerated and those with higher voice may sound slightly clipped. Neither deviations are huge, however. You can see in the tables below that we've seen worse performance from phones like Samsung SLM and Sidekick LX.
| Cell Phone | LG enV2 |
HTC SMT5800 (on Verizon) | Samsung SLM (on AT&T) |
| Score | 7.63 | 7.92 | 7.49 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph |  |
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| Cell Phone | Sidekick LX (on T-Mobile) | LG Voyager (on Verizon) | Samsung M520 (on Sprint) |
| Score | 6.74 | 7.84 | 9.12 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph |  |
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Sound Send Frequency Response (7.47)
Here we look at the sound sent by the LG enV2, so this is how you will sound to others. As with our chart above the chart below indicates the enV2's performance with a blue line while the two red lines represent the limits against which we test.
LG enV2 sound send frequency response
As with our previous test the LG enV2's performance in this test has a few problems. You can see that the phone rises above our limits across low to mid range frequencies. It then drops off to quickly at the high frequencies. Once again the deviations are relatively minor, but because there are more of them the performance is hurt more. You can see in the table below that only the Sidekick LX performed worse in this test than the enV2. The practical impact is that your voice will sound exaggerated if it's lower and clipped if it's higher.
| Cell Phone | LG enV2 |
HTC SMT5800 (on Verizon) | Samsung SLM (on AT&T) |
| Score | 7.47 | 8.00 | 8.68 |
| Sound Sent Frequency Response Graph |  |
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| Cell Phone | Sidekick LX (on T-Mobile) | LG Voyager (on Verizon) | Samsung M520 (on Sprint) |
| Score | 5.35 | 8.51 | 8.21 |
| Sound Sent Frequency Response Graph |  |
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Handset Side Tone (4.79)
Side tone is the small amount of your own voice that the phone pipes back into your ear so you can judge how loudly you are speaking. Below you see the performance of the LG enV2 in decibels across frequencies.
LG enV2 side tone
The average volume level for the enV2 is -23.21 decibels. You can see from the table below that this is significantly off from the average from all phones. Our goal in this test is to get an average sidetone of -18 decibels, you can see that the enV2 is significantly lower than this. The result is that the LG enV2's performance in this test is amongst the worst we've seen. The practical result for users is that you may find yourself raising your voice too much because you will think you're speaking too softly.
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