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Turning an iPod Touch Into an iPhone
David Burnett recommends an eWeek article on the leading contenders to make an iPhone out of an iPod Touch. Of course your newly phone-capable iTouch needs no activation and no binding carrier contract, just Wi-Fi. One of the companies working in this space, JaJah, is bundling the software with back-end services such as billing, so that carriers — or anyone really — can offer free-calling iTouch phones.
in other words, a defective phone, only useful in areas where you trust the wifi connection.
Ya thats nice, but haven't you noticed that open/free wifi is starting to become more and more scarce? If you cant just whip it out at anytime and make a call, its rather limited in its usefulness.
It would be worse then it was when having a cell phone back in the old days when coverage was spotty at best and you were paying for that privilege.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I'll give 'em credit for following the idea of using a WiFi mobile device with VoIP, but that's really not particularly revolutionary. What's needed next is WiMax or a small portable cell-WiFi bridge. If the bandwidth's high enough (EVDO rev a is almost there), then you have affordable unlimited talk and data...
Tweet, tweet.
I looked all over my iPod Touch and didn't see a speaker or microphone. No bluetooth either (well, sort of). So you can make a call, but you can't talk to anyone? Am I missing something?
This is why I really hope we get some actually *open* wireless Internet built as a result of the analog TV spectrum being reallocated. I was very disappointed that the government didn't adopt the openness rules recommended by Google in the auction.
Imagine how great it would be to not be beholden to cell carriers, but to be able to buy any kind of Internet device you want, and use it as a phone if you want. It would open up competition between hardware manufacturers and service providers. Competition is good.
Even so it this a reasonable solution. The iPod touch is a $200 gadget. One has to assume that some use outside of the spec are going to be used. For instance, if Apple is not saying it can support a microphone, then one assumes that feature cannot be tested, and the iPod touch cannot be returned on that basis if it does not work. I can see this as a cool tech thing, and might do it, but would not depend on it to work, for instance as a primary home phone through comcast, and certainly would not build a business around it.
This is where I get a bit annoyed with style over substance. I use apple products because the generally perform for me, and I buy what I need and can afford. If I could not afford an iPhone, I would not get a touch and pretend it was an iPhone just to be cool. If the iPhone did not work in my locale, I wouldn't be one of those trying to figure out how to make it work. I would just buy something else.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black