Anemic Speaker or Anemic WAV Files?

FrinkTL · 03-27-08, 08:48 AM

I was worried after all the posts I read about how weak the speaker that I wouldn't be able to hear the alarms that sound. I have been pleased that, after completing the 3-4 hours of setup, that the alarms sounded just fine. Perhaps the speaker is a tiny bit weaker than the Axim X51v's, but not much - and certainly nothing like what I've read in other posts.

I install Jonathan Sach's freeware "StopTime" timer software - because I like it and it's free (did I mention it was free?) - and with that comes a broad range of wave files. All of them sound loudly enough that I can hear them across my quiet house (about 45 feet NOT in a straight line) with the iPAQ still in its case. Then, I decided to try one of the "standard" wave files, and they ARE notably quieter. Of course, I can barely hear it on the noisy transit bus, but that was true of the Axim as well. (The only device I've owned that was NOT true for was my near-antique iPAQ 3150 (that I still have); now that thing could/can BLAST out sound, so much so that I never turned the volume all the way up unless I was going to the bowling alley or someplace else really noisy - but I digress...)

I am led to believe, therefore, that the problem isn't with the hardware (speaker itself), but with the actual sound files that come with the device. In fairness, I don't know who's responsible for those files, HP or Microsoft, as I don't know if they are core elements of Windows Mobile. I'm guessing they're part of Windows Mobile, though. All you really need to do is either amplify the wav files on your desktop or download some alternate WAV files into your device's \Windows directory and then point your reminder(s) to those files.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Theemed · 03-27-08, 05:01 PM

What we should really argue about, is the (not so) brilliant choice to place the speaker ON THE BACK, so explain me how the heck am I going to hear tomtom's directions while at 130km/h with radio turned on, if on top of that the speaker gets gagged by the surface of the pocketpc holder. Don't mind trying to answer, I had the opportunity to try it once, and I DO NOT hear what it's saying, while on the exact same condition the sound was pretty well LOUD on my ipaq hx2400 (same sounds, as they are tomtom's audio files, which have not changed after the pocketpc switch).
If only the VOIP speaker got unlocked somehow...