Slashdot Mirror
Skype With Your Cell Phone
Praxiteles writes "Seen on Gizmodo, apparently a USB device called 'imFONE' allows you to use your existing cellphone as a VoIP phone From the article:"You simply plug this thing into your PC's USB port, pair it via Bluetooth to your phone, and you're ready to go...It currently works with imtel and Skype..." No extra contact management and caller ID works properly."
but why use your cellphone as a voip phone? does it work for dialing also, or just speaker/headphone? in my opinion I'd rather use a usb headset than my cellphone for VoIP or Skype, but thats just me.
If you look at the picture you'll realize that there is *some* usefulness in this. Take a laptop, pick up a wifi spot, and you can use your cellphone to make free long distance/roaming calls.
Assuming this actually works (and actually exists), it looks suspiciously like... a Bluetooth Adapter! And it looks a lot like you're just using the phone as a headphone/mic combo, and the central contact list just means you have to use your PC, not your phone, to dial.
If your computer has built-in Bluetooth, is there any software out there to get Skype talking to your handset? Isn't that something Skype is likely to offer?
This Like That - fun with words!
Not everyone has a WiFi Pocket PC device. Lots of people have Bluetooth-enabled cell phones.
I don't know how much this thing is going to cost, but I imagine that it's reasonable ($30 or so) then it's less than the price of most bluetooth headsets and obviously lower than the price of a PocketPC (I'm not saying you won't get more value in a PocketPC, but that has nothing to do with this niche market).
The purpose of this device is taking what you already have (or the lack of what you have) and making it more useful.
I think it would be much more useful to be able to use your cellphone to make outbound phone calls. Coupled with a POTS VOIP gateway you could have normal phones in your house that used your cellphone to dial out when you were there, and when you wern't you could take your cellphone with you.
I agree. This is a product I've been waiting for awhile now.
I don't have landline service. At all -- no local dialtone, nothing. However I do have a cell phone. And broadband, via cable. Of course because I'm cheap I have the minimal service plan on the phone, which is only a few hundred free minutes per month.
So anything that would let me make calls via Skype or VoIP from home without using up my cell minutes is great news to me. Especially if I know it's going to be a long call (tech support, a conference call meeting, calling the family), I could use SkypeOut and save myself the minutes for when I'm actually out of the house and need the cell minutes.
Plus, this allows me to use the contacts already stored in my cellphone, which is a big plus since I have several hundred stored in there.
I can also see this being a boon for people who do a lot of international calling, since Skype is significantly cheaper than even the best international plan I've ever seen.
Overall I think this is a neat gadget, although perhaps one with a very niche market.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Now, quite honestly, I don't see how it can work. To the best of my knowledge, cellphone handsets cannot act as external headsets for other devices, even with bluetooth. At least, they don't genericly (there are cellphones out there that support something called UMA, GSM over IP over Bluetooth or 802.11, but that's still nothing like what's being described here.)
Does anyone out there who knows bluetooth and knows what cellphones "have to" implement explain how this works, if indeed, it really does? The entire thing looks like a warped misunderstanding. Actually, it looks like it's made up.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.