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I have two Android phones: a Nexus S and a T-mobile G2. I just bought a new set of headphones that have a built-in microphone. The Nexus S seems to recognize audio input but the T-mobile G2 does not. Is it a hardware limitation or because I am running Android 2.3.6 on my G2 and Icecream Sandwich on my Nexus S?

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Both, plus the specific headphones as onik notes. – Matthew Read♦ May 24 '12 at 15:40

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Most likely it's a difference in the TRRS layout of the headset.

For example, I have two "similar" headsets, one that came with Samsung Galaxy S and another that came with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Even though they look similar to the naked eye, if I use the Galaxy S one with my Tab, I only get mono sound due to a minor difference in the TRRS layout.

Sometimes I can remedy this by pulling the jack a little out of the plug, but it's very tricky to keep it in the correct position.

Anyway, you should test the jack with different headsets to verify that there's no physical damage to the jack.

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Hmm.. but it's the same headset being tested on both phones. Shouldn't it be some difference in the phones? The jacks for both phones work normally for just listening to music. – Eliss May 24 '12 at 6:46
@Eliss Yes, that's what i implied with my example. My devices have slightly different layouts in the jacks, therefore the headsets work perfectly in their own devices. Most likely your devices have the mic pin in a slightly different position, preventing it from connecting to the plug on the G2, even though it works in the Nexus S. – onik♦ May 24 '12 at 6:51
I had exactly the same thing using the headphones from my old Galaxy S in my current Galaxy Nexus, it was worse than Mono, I was only getting one channel of sound, which meant on a couple of the podcasts I listen to, I could only hear one of the hosts talking. Switching to the headphones that actually came with the Galaxy Nexus (which looked identical other than using a different colour of plastic in the jack fitting) fixed that. – GAThrawn May 24 '12 at 9:37
"It's not a hardware limitation, most likely it's a difference in the TRRS layout of the headset." <-- isn't that a contradiction? – Lie Ryan May 24 '12 at 14:34
@LieRyan Good point, I was thinking about hardware in the electronic sense :) Fixed now. – onik♦ May 24 '12 at 16:41

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