Fix "half duplex" audio problems (cut outs)
This isn't as much of a suggestion as a bug report. The audio performance for the Portals, especially the Portal TV's, is very poor. The portal microphone mutes itself for a second when it picks up sound that came out of the speakers - resulting in half duplex (walkie talkie) style communication.
Participants then complain that it's "hard to hear". If you have a call where kids are in the room, or side conversations are happening, then there is going to be tons of random audio cut outs - making conversations painful or impossible.
The only work around is to use bluetooth headsets so the mic can't pickup the other caller's sound. You can't even use a bluetooth speakerphone with proper full duplex support because the portal doesn't support that.
That means you can either use the portal as a personal (one person per portal) device or use it as a video walkie-talkie.
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Matteo
commented
Same problem, I bought 2 of them to let the kids talk with my parents, but it is impossible having a conversation, really annoying! I am thinking about giving the devices back…
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David
commented
same problem, i have to mute myself to hear people on the other side...
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rombr
commented
Same issue on Portal TV (with the latest update as of 9th June). The mic cuts out and others cant hear what I am saying. So annoying!
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NJTee
commented
The half duplex is infuriating. It's impossible to have a conversation of there's young kids about which lets face it is what this is for: families. I've ditched the portal for other tech.
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Anonymous
commented
My business bought four of these units and they're essentially worthless because of the duplex issues. Way to go Facebook.
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Mike Jackson
commented
This is a joke. Audio is a bit important to a video call experience and I'm having people refusing to use these because of the inherent frustrations.
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JonC
commented
Interesting that this channel is called Portal user voice, yet no-one from Facebook appears to be listening!
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ReX
commented
Is anyone from Facebook going to look into this and provide an answer here? We have invested in your product and we deserve an update.
I wonder if this can be fixed with a software update or the hardware is the problem...
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Vic
commented
I find it pretty useless to be honest. Wish I had not bought it.
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ReX
commented
I also have half duplex audio and I think it is due to the poor noise and echo suppression algorithm, that relies on software instead of using environmental microphones (as any modern mobile or conference speaker).
By contrast, when I use a Jabra conference speaker or my mobile, there is no echo at all.
I am surprised, as Facebook claims Portal TV has 8 microphones, so it should be designed to handle echo and noise properly. Hopefully it is just a software issue and they need to tune it, but I am concerned... is anyone even working on the Portal platform and hardware any more? It seems dead - I have never seen an update.
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Holly Moore
commented
We have a terrible time with the volume on all the portals we purchased. (6!) We like the camera features, but any loud sound (dog bark) and suddenly the volume drops off and either we can’t hear or the person on the other end can’t. If our dog barks, the other person can’t hear us, and if their dog barks, we have trouble hearing them. ( dogs are just an example). We JUST ended a call out of frustration with the sound. It was a big expense for not much satisfaction.
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Jason Scheller commented
We hardly use our pork anymore because it’s so hard to head each other. Much easier to use to use FaceTime.
Hey Facebook when are we expecting a fix for this pretty major design flaw?
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Anonymous
commented
It’s a farce trying to use this - such a poor experience !!!
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Anonymous
commented
So unprofessional. Should stop product sales and recall all sold products if can’t provide a fix. Impossible to use for calls of more than one person in a very quiet room.
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Anonymous
commented
My sister returned the Portal I sent her because she just couldn't hear me on a call. No good troubleshooting available on the Portal/Facebook site. Really annoying. Should be a software update to fix this issue.
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Anonymous
commented
This is a huge quality problem... Can't believe they can't figure out a software fix for this... If can be really bad... Saying huh a lot, cause you miss the first part of the conversation
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Anonymous
commented
Same problem here. Audio cuts out when there is noise on our side. To the point it is almost unusable with a toddler to people using messenger app.