Elecraft NANO App steals microphone on Samsung Tab 4 w/Lollipop 5.1.1 O/S

[K7ZS]

On my Samsung Galaxy Note 4, when the Elecraft NANO app is installed I lose all microphone use on the tablet, except for the NANO app.   Apparently, the app 'steals' the microphone from all other apps.  Uninstalling it does not return the microphone to the other apps.  Once it is installed, the tablet loses that function.  The only fix is to reset the tablet to FACTORY DEFAULTS which allows other apps to use the Microphone again.  BUT, even though I backed up the tablet, none of the license information is restored from the backup, so now I am back on trial mode again. and of course if I want to use the mic for anything else - no go....

I sure hope a fix for this is published soon ...

73 Kevin K7ZS

[Jan (Microbit)]

This remains (so far) unexplained as well as not possible to reproduce so we are at loss what to do or suggest. In fact it sounds very strange that an app would be able to cause a permanent loss of microphone function in other apps. One would think it should be prohibited by the OS itself.

[ea1gwm]

I have the same problem, to change phone and have this new version of Android (5.1). I was no microphone, having to restore factory settings. Right now I have paid to enjoy rrc nano, but I can not use it.


Yo tengo el mismo problema, al cambiar de teléfono y tener este una versión nueva de android ( 5.1 ). Me quedaba sin micrófono, teniendo que restablecer valores de fabrica. Ahora mismo tengo pagado para poder disfrutar de rrc nano, pero no puedo utilizarlo.

[Jan (Microbit)]

BTW, which version of the Elecraft app are you using? 1.4.1?

[ea1gwm]

RRC Nano Kenwood 1.3.8

[Jan (Microbit)]

So this "microphone stealing" occurs on not only the Elecraft app, but also on the Kenwood app. Hmm...

I have tested what happens here by installing RRC Nano Kenwood 1.3.8 on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 with Android 5.0.2, running it, stopping it and then use Skype. The microphone was not "stolen" and everything worked as expected. So either it is something strange affecting both of your tablets or it is something happening with Android 5.1.1.

Kevin: You wrote "Samsung Galaxy Note 4" in your post, I assume you meant "Samsung Galaxy Tab 4"?

[Mac K7MAC]

I have had experience with this problem.  When I first loaded the Nano App on my phone, Android Razr Max, it worked perfect controlling the radio but no audio. After closing the App the mic was hijacked. Rebooting the phone freed the mic.
I was ready for another phone so I did some looking. I went to Verizon and the salesman let me load the app. Elecraft 1.4.1 bye the way. I tried it on several phones they all worked but a couple after word had the mic hijacked. In every case rebooting the phone freed the mic.
I settled on a Samsung Galaxy G6. It works perfect. OS is 5.1.1.
I wish I had noted witch models of phone and operating system were on the phones.
I did try it on my Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 5.1.1 OS and it worked fine. No problem with the mic.

Great app and audio quality on the phone is great. Worked  K5P on 20M split yesterday no problem.

Mac
K7MAC

[Jan (Microbit)]

It makes much more sense that rebooting the device(phone/tablet) frees the mic. But still that hijacking(btw, what are the symptoms of that? Just no sound recorded or some error messages?) is even possible considered what the app does remain a mystery. Also that it seems to happen only on certain devices, even same brand/model, and not dependent on Android version either, is very strange.

[Mac K7MAC]

On the affected phones there was no  send audio (mic) on any app that needed it. But the phone still worked, you could still make a phone call after using Nano. Voice recorder showed no audio and Google replied with "I didn't get that" indicating the mic had no audio. After rebooting the phone every thing worked again. There wasn't an error message.

Mac
K7MAC

[Jan (Microbit)]

We have managed to reproduce this issue on a phone we normally do not use when developing and have found out how to fix it too, at least on that phone. The phone did not require factory defaults in order to bring back the "stolen mic", only restarting. It seems this is yet another effect of different phones and/or Android versions behaving in different ways.

[Jan (Microbit)]

Elecraft version 1.4.3 and Kenwood 1.3.10 with a fix that hopefully makes Nano stop stealing the mic are on the way to Google Play. Please help us by trying it ASAP in order to find out if it works ok 

[Mac K7MAC]

I just tried it. Before I loaded it I ran the old version and it stole the mic. I loaded the mic without rebooting to regain the mic function. After I tried the new version the mic worked on the other programs.   BUT   I f I try to transmit the rig swaps VFO (A/B). I go back to receive and the VFO stays on B. Transmit again and the VFO changes back to VFO A.   So every time the transmit button is pushed the rig swaps VFO's

It looks like the mic problem is fixed.

Mac

[Jan (Microbit)]

Thanks for the fast feedback!

We will have a look at it asap. (Will be tomorrow as it's 6 pm here now)

[wb9ayd]

Jan, the new release of Nano for Kenwood gave me back the Skype microphone which had been silent since 5.1.1 was released on my Samsung S2 tablet. Glad that was solved. I'll try the VFO's referenced above. Thanks again for fixing the microphone issues.

[Jan (Microbit)]

Elecraft v1.4.4 is on its way out now. It should fix the VFO swap issue. What is strange is that it looked like that behaviour should have been there in the previous version too.

As for the stolen mic it sounds great that it seems fixed. Must be that new Android versions do not behave like the older did, and so it became a problem.