Orange introduces 'HD Voice' calls -- 3G, Moldovian citizenship required
By Donald Melanson 
posted Sep 11th 2009 6:38PM
posted Sep 11th 2009 6:38PM
You may not have realized it, but all of the cellphone calls you've been making have totally not been HD. While we may still be stuck with our old standard def calls for a while yet over here, it looks like the good citizens of Moldova have now finally vaulted into the future courtesy of Orange, which recently made the very first "HD Voice" call in the country (on 09/09/09, of course). Overused acronyms aside, the calls do indeed appear to be of noticeably better quality (at least if the web demo is any indication), which is mostly due to their use of the new Adaptive Multi Rate - Wide Band (or AMR-WB) codec that takes advantage of the greater bandwidth afforded by 3G. Unfortunately, it looks like the HD Voice-ready handset options are a bit limited to start with (just an Orange Moldova-exclusive version of the Nokia 6720), but it looks like more phones are expected to become available as Orange expands the service throughout Europe over the course of 2010.
[Via GSM Arena, thanks Sathish]
[Via GSM Arena, thanks Sathish]
Why is EVERYTHING new "HD"?
because its the new "X"...a simple addition to make something seem better. Also because the products it is slapped onto usually have HD capabilities.
lol, what the hell? Moldova? I live in Europe and I had to look it up in an atlas...
@james
Damn, sorry to hear that you have an IQ of 10.
HD voice? Pa leeeeeeeeeeeease
Because marketing people are douche bags some times.
I can speak in 720p Bitches!!!! (and 3D)
can't wait for Engadget HD
oh wait...
HD is the new black
It's a marketing "buzz word".
Who the hell is Orange?
The Oompa Loompas!
Who the hell are you?
@Lando
From his avatar, it's pretty clear that he's an ass.
A carrier in the UK
and Moldova, obviously. Infact, the article makes that clear so the original question wasn't worth much.
eh... one of the largest mobile service providers in the world.... hello?
HD Voice means you can tell the hot woman on the sex line is actually a man living in his mother's basement.
I really wish a US company would step up and do this - the sound quality on mobile handsets it horrible. A large part of this is the fault of the handset maker, but when using a very high quality headset, the quality still doesn't improve that much, it must be the carrier with a load of compression.
You beat me to it.
Me too.
No carrier wants to take the responsibility of the increased bandwidth requirements, especially since this doesn't seem to be the main complaint amongst subscribers
How dare you suggest that we improve the call quality on a phone, there are fart apps, widgets, and pointless e-mails that need that bandwidth.
I REALLY hope T-Mo expands their 3G service, as its the best(when available lol, which aint too often)
having the required bandwidth for videocalls already, I've always wondered why the audio quality of the calls haven't improved to, say, mp3 quality or something along those lines. I really hope this takes off in other countries too
This has been one of my gripes for a while now. Why the hell do cell phones still sound like compressed 4kbps mp3s? We have huge bandwidth now, and it would be nice if they brought voice quality up to say, landline quality at least.
Way to go Moldova! All 5 people living in that country can now talk to each other with amazing voice clarity.
at least it's a more civilized country than your's no matter what that is
Oh c'mon, you don't know nothing about Moldova, so don't judge.
The myfaves program was made with moldova in mind
Instant HD meals, HD lightbulbs, HD condoms, HD speed tickets, HD calendars, HD curtains, HD...
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. WELCOME TO THE HIGH DIRECTI... DEMAND... DELUSION... argh... whatever, WELCOME TO THE HD AGE!
Now it's just a matter until we'll get our HD homing pigeons! (pun intended, obviously)
HD homing pigeons!
Already available in South Africa.
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/audiovideo/2926/hdvision-wraparound-high-definition-glasses.html
Ia uite ce si-au tras ROMANII de peste Prut. Si noi romanii din Romania cand?
Noi nu sintem romani !!!! Noi sintem moldoveni !!!!!!!
I think they both agree with each other.
Da ma fut in moldova, trebe sa bage calitate HD in alte tari din vest nu in moldova.
@onupirat
*suntem
WTF??? moldova? de ce nu o bagat si ei intr-o tara de mai doamne-ajuta...poate o sa ii ajute calitatea audio mai buna sa rastoarne comunismu de acolo
Pai tsiganii nu stiu ce-i asta telefon mobil... deaceea nu ai nevoie de HD!!!
@papadie +1
@onupirat ești un dalbaiob
@madwh - ești un prost
@erwin - deja nu mai sunt comuniști =P
@Maddy
Actually they don't! But its still funny as hell seeing people talking in Romanian on this site! As for the HD. All I can say is good for them!
Good for me, i live in Moldova :D. But i don't have Nokia 6720 :(
Let us know how the HD voice works. I'd be interested to know adoption rates and if perhaps they'll throw video calling into the mix. HD video calling would be awesome. HD everything would be cooler. How expensive is it? It is "fițe"?
I doubt we will see anything like this hit the States in a while. AT&T can barly handle the demand of iPhones.
wow, this is close to as stupid as those "HD" glasses they are selling on tv
Great.....freaking Moldova gets 3G and "HD Sound", meanwhile I live in Florida and have T-Mobile and I cant even get 3G. Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
That'd be sweet in the US. I've always been bugged with how low-quality cellphone calls are.
I was born in Balti... but I'm not in Moldova anymore. :(
"Definition" is a property of optics, not sound. "HD Voice" sounds as stupid as "Hi-Fi Photo"
What is this article all about? (Never been to Europe) so how does this affect US OF A? (all I care about...why move?)
People like you are why the rest of the world doesn't like America much.
Do find a whole, lie down, and die.
Look at my comment. Its HD.
so did they actually talk about any specs?
192kbps would be HD sound in my books.. Id like to see..err hear that
Well that's maybe because you don't really have a clue. This isn't meant for music, so the bandwidth is limited to 50-7000 Hz, of obvious reasons (previous AMR use 300-3400 Hz). And forget the idea that someone (operators that is) would want to send speech with 192 kbps, that's insane. Maximum specified bitrate for AMR-WM is 23.85 kbps, and that sounds extremely "HD"...
Moldova? really?
Isn't Vigo (Ghostbusters II) from Moldava?
Yeah =)) he was!
Moldova is ruled by the communist party since 1991...what the hell? since when are the communists so tech-friendly?
Since yesterday, it's not. :)
you should read some history, dude, it's been ruled since 2001
and it's not anymore!
AMR-WB is available in GSM networks as an options for operators, if you do a listening test you will notices the extra bits used between AMR-FR and AMR-WB!
So the Zune HD IS a phone after all.
I hate to be "that guy" but HD is not technically an acronym. HD is an initialism, a type of abbreviation. Acronyms must be abbreviations that can be pronounced.
This is weird. I know my N75 can do AMR-WB--or, at least, it could if AT&T enabled it on their network. I didn't realize there was *no* carrier out there that supported it.
moldova is the poorest country in europe and until the 3G voice they were also communist... on the other hand it doesn't stop to amaze me!
due to Facebook and Twitter they made a Revolution and kicked the communists out (you u think this would be the last country in Europe to use technology for something like that)
Now they introduced 3G voice... i guess this will improve their skills to fight against communist governments
Hey China! You want changes??? Ask the Moldovans for advise :)