Once the enterprise smartphone of choice, the Blackberry has pretty much lost the market to the iPhone... but will RIM manage to get customers back with phones able to automatically improve sound during audio calls?
A newly granted patent reveals a system using sensors around the earpiece to detect how close the user's ear is to the handset, and whether it is "sealed" tight to the phone or not. The system also detects ambient noise, subtly adjusting volume levels while making sure the user doesn't detect a volume changes.
More interestingly the sensors also learn user habits-- "Upon receipt of user input indicative of a high degree of ear seal, a sample of the sensor(s) may be taken and stored for using during future estimation of the degree of seal," the RIM patent says.
Will RIM manage to improve sales through better sound though? After all, it appears nowadays customers use smartphones for everything except, well, actually making phone calls. We will get to know once RIM actually starts making devices carrying the technology...
