Nokia N81 8GB Cell Phone Review - Audio Quality
Because the audio quality of your phone calls is so important we use the same professional grade equipment and software to test it that many manufacturers also use. To simulate the human head and ear we use a Head and Torso Simulator and to analyze the quality of the audio we use Listen Inc's
SoundCheck software. For more information on how we test see
this article.
Sound Receive Frequency Response (8.73)
The chart above shows the quality of audio received by the Nokia N81. This is how others on the call will sound to you. The blue line indicates the Nokia N81's performance while the two red lines are the limits we test against. As you can see the Nokia N81 falls completely within our limits in this test. There is some variance within the limits, but nothing that will cause serious problems. The audio quality you receive on the Nokia N81 should be very good.
| Cell Phone |
Nokia N81 8GB |
Nokia N95 w/ US 3G (Unlocked) |
Sidekick LX (on T-Mobile) |
| Score |
8.73 |
7.90 |
6.74 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |
|
 |
 |
Sound Send Frequency Response (7.65)
In this test we look at the quality of audio sent by the phone, so this is how you will sound to others. As with our receive test the graph above indicates the N81's performance with a blue line and our limits with red lines. You can see that the Nokia N81's performance in this test is not as good as the previous one. The curve rises above our limits at the lower frequencies and then falls off a little too quickly at lower frequencies. The deviations are minor, however, and should not effect users too much. Listeners may notice a boomier sound at the lower frequencies and a high pitched voice may sound clipped, but the deviations aren't enough to produce serious problems. You can see below that the Nokia N81 still put up a pretty decent score.
| Cell Phone |
Nokia N81 8GB |
Nokia N95 w/ US 3G (Unlocked) |
Sidekick LX (on T-Mobile) |
| Score |
7.65 |
6.51 |
5.35 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |
 |
 |
|
Handset Side Tone (6.85)
Side tone is the small amount of your own voice that is piped back into your ear so you can judge how loudly you are speaking. Our ideal for side tone is -18 decibels so the Nokia N81's score of -21.15 decibels is a little lower than we would like. What this means is your voice may not sound loud enough to you, causing you to speak more loudly. If anyone on the other end of the call complains about the volume of your voice while using the N81, this is probably the reason. You can see from the table below that the Nokia N81 did nor perform very well in this test compared to other phones.
