OK...I know..it's extremely annoying. The BlackBerry 7290 doesn't have a speakerphone. But have you actually had the volume turned all the way up and listened when you made a call? It was almost halfway loud enough to be heard without putting it up to your ear. This makes me wonder...is there a third-party app/program out there that can be made to manually BOOST the volume of the speaker so that it's just a little bit louder so you can hear it about 2-3 feet from your ear? I've been able to leave it on my desk and hear pretty clearly (but not quite loud enough) the voice coming through the speaker. I bet it can be done...maybe something that can boost the speaker safely without blowing it? It can get pretty loud.