Orange introduces 'HD Voice' calls -- 3G, Moldovian citizenship required
By Donald Melanson 
posted September 11th 2009 6:38PM
posted September 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]
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 :)
so it's no longer: Can you hear me now? But rather, "Uh-uh. Yeah I know you can hear me now but I really need to know just how well you can hear me now"