Why is Speaker on the back of the JAM ?

[Guest Perfectionist]

The JAM is superb.... but why did they have 2 speakers - one for phone calls and one on the back for everything else ??

The sound on the back gets muffled when sitting on a desk or in a case :D

Wish HTC could have put a decent quality speaker in place of the ear piece one which could handle all the sound ......

[Guest Chaser81]

Most manufacturers of Smartphones do it, not just HTC.... Look at the 6600 and the P800/900/etc... They all have a speaker on the rear for ringtones and speakerphone etc and then an earpiece on the front for calls....

I find if you place the Jam on a flat surface, like a table, it actually improves the sound (as the sound seems to rebound off the table and then back up).

[Guest Metoo]

It's done for safety. If the earpiece did everything, engaging speakerphone mode, or getting a loud ring tone through the earpiece whilst held to your ear could cause serious acoustic shock and permanent hearing damage.

That's why older phones with a single speaker, like the Siemens S45, automatically disabled speakerphone mode if you picked the phone up. They wouldn't go to the expense of this if it weren't for the risk of law suits from injured parties.

SonyEriccsson, bless 'em, took the cheaper approach by making ascending rings the default, and displaying a warning message when the ring volume was turned up, so shifting the liability onto the user.

Edited March 19, 2005 by Metoo

[Guest MitchellO]

I would prefer it on the front (say, under the dpad like several ipaqs) but it isn't too much of a bother. I actually prefer having the seperate speaker for the standard phone.