Listen to this. T-Mobile just beat every other U.S. carrier bringing HD Voice to market, delivering a radical improvement in call quality for everyone carrying an HTC One S, Samsung Galaxy S III, or Nokia Astound phone. And wait, it gets better—it might work with iPhones. “It’s a very noticeable enhancement to the voice call,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s CTO. He’s right. T-Mobile gave me a quick demo of the new system, and it’s definitely an improvement. The demo compared two calls from a noisy coffee-shop-like location. In the HD Voice call, the background noise receded, although it didn’t vanish. Very noticeably, though, the caller’s voice really jumped forward, and the caller’s tone became much richer and more well-rounded. Comparing it in my memory to AT&T’s HD Voice demo from yesterday, AT&T’s demo sounded even better in terms of noise cancellation. Of course, AT&T isn’t going to have HD Voice for at least eight more months, and neither demo was an actual live call.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.