Nokia E90 cell phone review - Audio Quality
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Mark Brezinski Published on September 17, 2007 Comment on this |
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The E90 could certainly pass for a miniature laptop when it's flipped open, but no matter what it disguises itself as, it will always be a phone first. As a phone, it needs to have good audio quality. To test audio quality, we use a head and torso simulator (HATS), which is the very same equipment used by manufacturers to test phones. We then run the acquired data through an analysis program called SoundCheck. Using this one-two punch of science, we are able to test the quality of the sound the phone sends and receives, as well as its side tone. If you want to know more about our tests, click here.
Sound Receive Frequency Response (5.74)
Anyone who looks at this graph — regardless of whether or not they're 100 percent sure what it's of — can tell something isn't right. The red lines represent the industry standard limits we test against. The blue line — the one that's all over the place — is the reality of the E90's received frequency response. An ideal phone would have a frequency response that sailed through the limits, but the E90 is all over the place. The lower frequency sounds are very muted, while at the higher end, sounds are overemphasized. This means voices will sound very tinny. This is very poor audio quality, and one of the lowest scores we've awarded in this category so far.
| Cell Phone | Nokia E90 | HTC Mogul (on Sprint) | BlackBerry 8800(on AT&T) |
| Score | 5.74 | 7.33 | 6.99 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Nokia N95(Unlocked) | Helio Ocean(on Helio) | Apple iPhone(on AT&T) |
| Score | 6.46 | 7.88 | 7.57 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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Sound Send Frequency Response (6.09)
Though still bad, the sound the E90 sends out is far more consistent than the sound it receives. It's over the desired limit almost the entire way across, which means your voice will sound bassy. The graph also drops off toward the higher end of the spectrum, meaning voices will sound clipped and thin. This seems to be a common problem on cell phones that put the microphone on the bottom of the case; we saw the same thing with the BlackBerry 8800.
| Cell Phone | Nokia E90 | HTC Mogul(on Sprint) | BlackBerry 8800(on AT&T) |
| Score | 6.09 | 7.68 | 5.70 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Nokia N95(Unlocked) | Helio Ocean(on Helio) | Apple iPhone(on AT&T) |
| Score | 6.81 | 6.45 | 7.58 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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Handset Side Tone (6.77)
Side tone refers to how loud your own voice sounds on the phone. You subconsciously use side tone to regulate how loudly you talk. The ideal measurement is -18 decibels. The E90 measured around -21.23 decibels. This isn't far off, but it is a bit quieter than most phones. This means you might feel the need to talk a bit louder than you should.
| Cell Phone | Sidetone Measurement | Score |
| Nokia E90 | 21.23 | 6.77 |
| HTC Mogul | 17.12 | 9.12 |
| BlackBerry 8800 | 16.72 | 8.72 |
| Nokia N95 | 19.61 | 8.39 |
| Helio Ocean | 22.95 | 5.50 |
| Apple iPhone | 8.80 | 0.80 |
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