How to get speaker on Phone when listening to voicemail?

[VanguardLH]

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
Android 4.4.4 Kitkat

I get a call and they left a voicemail. When I tap on the call in the
notifications list, I'm taken to the Phone app (the standard one
included in the Android setup) and into its Recent list with the new
call preselected. I click on the Play button and the voicemail begins
to play - through the earpiece (the speaker to which you press your ear
on the rear of the case). I'd like to have the voicemail play through
the speaker (on the front of the case); however, there is no speaker
icon for me to elect listening via speakerphone.

If I make an outbound call using the Phone app, and after entering the
number and tapping the Call button, there is a speakerphone icon I can
tap to change output to the speaker. Is it a limitation of the
pre-installed Phone app that it does not let me switch to speakerphone
when listening to voicemail?

I have Google Voice installed. Under Settings -> Call, the "Voicemail
service" option is configured to Google Voice (instead of carrier). I
went into the Google Voice app where its "Voicemail playback" option is
set to "Play via speaker". When I play a voicemail using the Google
Voice app, it does play through the speaker.

However, it would be a nuisance to tap on a voicemail alert in the
notifications panel to be taken to the item in the Recent list of the
Phone app only to exit that and then open the Google Voice app to listen
to the voicemail over there. I might have to do that if the standard
Phone app has no speakerphone option to use the speakerphone when
playing voicemails there or there is no global setting to change it to
always use the speakerphone to playback voicemail.

[M.L.]

Once a call is placed or answered, SpeakerPhone EX automatically
enables the speakerphone when your phone is held away from the ear,
and disables it when held to the ear.
https://goo.gl/SuKXnk
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidm8.speakerphoneex

[VanguardLH]

M.L. wrote:

> Once a call is placed or answered, SpeakerPhone EX automatically
> enables the speakerphone when your phone is held away from the ear,
> and disables it when held to the ear.
> https://goo.gl/SuKXnk
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidm8.speakerphoneex

Thanks for that info. Seems confusing that they have 2 options that
appear to perform the same action:

Auto Speakerphone On
Sets the speakerphone on automatically when the phone is held away from
your face.
(Or: On when away, off when near.)

Auto Speakerphone Off (enabled by default)
Sets the speakerphone off automatically when the phone is held close to
your face.
(Or: Off when near, on when away.)

Seems either option does the same as the other option. Speaker is on
when away, off when near: that applies to both options.

What would happen if you enabled both options? They are shown as
checkboxes (squares), not radio boxes (circles), so presumably they are
not mutually exclusive. In fact, I installed the app and both these
options are enabled by default - and both look to do the same toggling
action.

[VanguardLH]

Okay, I tried this but immediately noticed 2 problems:

- When it is outputting to the speaker, volume is a third, or less, of
what I've set using the volume control. The caller's voice is to faint
when this app is using the speaker. Volume is okay when I put the phone
next to my ear. I found no separate volume control to adjust this app's
volume when outputting to the speaker. It will do the switching okay;
however, its speaker volume is too low.

- Does not address my original issue. When someone leaves a voicemail
and I tap on it in notifications to show it and tap on the Play button,
there is no output to the speaker, only to the earpiece. Sound is still
output only to the earpiece when listening to voicemail despite that I
have the phone at arm's length. So this app will do the switching on
for phone calls, not for listening to voicemail.

I notice that when the pre-installed Phone app is used for listening to
voicemail that sound is only output to the earpiece. However, if I
listen to the voicemail using the Google Voice app, sound is output to
the speaker by default but there is a Speaker icon that I can tap which
sends sound to the earpiece. So with the Google Voice app to listen to
voicemails, I can switch between speaker and earpiece. The Speakerphone
Ex app has no effect in either voicemail app to switch between outputs.

[M.L.]

>> Once a call is placed or answered, SpeakerPhone EX automatically
>> enables the speakerphone when your phone is held away from the ear,
>> and disables it when held to the ear.
>> https://goo.gl/SuKXnk
>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidm8.speakerphoneex
>
>Okay, I tried this but immediately noticed 2 problems:
>
>- When it is outputting to the speaker, volume is a third, or less, of
>what I've set using the volume control.

I don't have that problem on my Galaxy S2. The speakerphone is loud
and clear after moving the phone away from my ear.

>- Does not address my original issue. When someone leaves a voicemail
>and I tap on it in notifications to show it and tap on the Play button,
>there is no output to the speaker, only to the earpiece.

I don't have that problem either. As I listen to my T-Mobile voicemail
recording, the speakerphone becomes enabled when I move the phone away
from my ear.

I think there are other apps that do the same thing and might work
better with your phone.