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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
"What? It competes with our own services!? Delete it from the Store! Then bring me the developers' ashes on a plate with a glass of red wine..."
I love the itouch for being all the good parts of the iphone minus the badparts (the crappy phone quality coupled with a crappy network and contract, [never met any serious phone users who praise the iphone's phone quality, uptime, and availability]). Why turn a really cool internet appliance into a kludge-phone?
I love my ipod touch for cooking, I bring up the browser, look at a recipe, and its right there next to the stove. I love my ipod touch for games when i'm bored on the go. I love my ipod touch for movies on the go. I love my ipod touch for being 99.95% as useful as an iphone near a free wifi hotspot.
I also love that it can do all of the above without drawing one nano-watt from my real phone's battery.
PS. the ipod touch does not have a built in microphone or ear speaker, why kludge a microphone attachment onto a beautiful internet appliance/ebook reader/gaming device/portable movie device?
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
Not the same as unlocking, which connecting to an alternative carrier.
I forgot whether you can walk out of the store without an ATT contract these days.
I was fairly confused, even after i RTFA, about how you talk into an ipod touch, since they don't come with either a microphone or bluetooth.
Google helped me find this Lifehacker Article that is way the hell more useful than the linked one. Basically you have to buy some sort of external mic that clips onto your touch, then use your headphones to listen to the call. To me, this awkwardness seems like sort of a deal breaker for the practically of an iPod TouchPhone.
If there were a way to hack a bluetooth module in there, it could be a whole different deal. You could talk using a handsfree bluetooth device, and in a brilliant circlejerk of redundancy, even tether your internet connection to a traditional cellphone with a data plan.
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
There is no hacking or jailbreaking needed, just get one of Apple's very own headsets with a microphone included - http://jajahurl.com/b6g4 - install the app and enjoy free or low-cost international calls without a two-year contract nor an international calling plan, your landline at home can't do that!
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....
Ah, not sure what you're finding as scarce, but the simple fact that you see a set of golden arches every 1/2 mile across the US, McWifi pretty much laid a good blanket across my area. Not to mention coffee shops, malls, gas stations, most major restaurants, they all seem to be offering it now.
I thought mcdonalds had abandoned that project? Of the 3 in this town only 1 ever got it, and that never worked... it brought up a login page but the routing was fubar. They eventually gave up a few months back.
Yeah right. Try finding a McDonalds between Harrisburg and circa Uniontown PA, along the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76). Out in the mountains it's hard to get just a "normal" cellphone signal, much less Wifi. I think some of ye who make comments like "a McDonalds every 1/2 mile" never leave further than 25 miles from the city. Try driving across North America sometime and you'll see LOTS and LOTS of open space, with, shocking, no technology. I named the PA Turnpike. There's also the wide-open stretch between Richmond and Charlotte. Or the isolated Interstate 81 corridor... which could be nicknamed Redneck Alley.
Off-topic:
How do I get my Iphone, Ilaptop, Iwhatever to receive Shoutcast radio while I'm driving in my car? I was thinking maybe I could cancel my satellite Sirius-XM and just go with "free" internet radio.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
That's why most of us live in the cities. It keeps us from bitching about not living in the cities.
...you'll be able to make outbound calls but not take random inbound calls.
Sounds like my kind of phone.
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
I have a Nokia E71 with Fring on there. It connects to Skype, any SIP provider (in my case FreeWorldDialup), I have a virtual number forwarded to my SIP account so I can be called from a normal phone and the caller pays local rates to my mobile no matter where I am in the world, and it logs me onto my MSN and ICQ accounts. The only thing it lacks is IRC!
Fantastic. And it's so small and light it makes the iPhone feel like a brick. The only reason I didn't and never will buy an iPhone is the proprietary lock-down, and now I am so glad Apple forced me to look elsewhere. I find the E71 so much better. Give it a year when I am out of contract again, and a next-gen E71 running Mobile Ubuntu (and with better camera), and I'll be in heaven.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
It wouldn't be as convenient as a an iPhone, but it would me much more convenient than finding a pay phone (remember those?) and much cheaper than the convenience of a cell phone.
It wouldn't be worse than an "old days" cellphone with limited coverage because you wouldn't be paying for the (false) perception of convenience. You could, conceivably, get the same shitty service for free.
Cool. Are you also the guy who came up with "King of Prussia"?
Well, I listen to http://di.fm/ premium stream on my Windows Mobile phone while driving. It's as simple as going to www.di.fm and selecting mp3, wma, or aac. If you are a premium subscriber, you can login and get your premium options. The thing plays using Windows Media player.
I would expect syncing up a PLS file from Shoutcast would enable similar functionality on the Apple platform.
I can also listen to SiriusXM on my phone. :)
Leonid S. Knyshov
Find me on Quora
Most people live fairly close to major cities. The majority of the US population lives within commuting distance of a major populate centre. Isolated rural areas are common, but they don't contain a lot of people.
Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
No, King of Prussia is named for the bar that the town grew up around. The bar was named for Fredrick the Great (aka "Frederick the Queer"), some say in the hope of attracting the business of Prussian mercenaries encamped at nearby Valley Forge.
The Turnpike comes though here too...
-=Maggie Leber=-
They're starting to sell them at Wal-Mart, and it's a known trick there to claim that you're buying the phone "as a gift", and that the recipient will set it up with their current plan. I don't know if they have a different policy for the iPhone.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
I also live in a city, but I leave it once in awhile to go exploring the rest of the continent, like those parts classified "rural" by the Census Bureau. It's similar to how you leave your parents to explore...the...outside...
Oh. I forgot. This is slashdot.
(ducks spitball)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I use fring on my Touch and it works great through my Skype account.
Already have the external mic kit for the Touch so that was the first bit. Got it from sparfun.com
Most wi-fi is run by routers in people's houses. I don't expect Apple to travel everywhere to approve everybody's network. And the iTouch/iPhone already only runs Apple approved apps (which is why I jailbroke my iPhone)
"I refuse to believe that everybody refuses to believe the truth." -- Lisa Simpson
If the power is down for weeks you're still counting on a generator to run your phone, you're just paying the phone company to run it for you. It's not like they've got a 600-hour battery backup.
Second, if you're really worried about availability, you could keep a spare battery pack around to plug into your router/ATA when you needed to make an emergency call -- most of them run at 5V or 12V DC, so it's trivial to make a backup that would last long enough for several emergency phone calls, would have weeks of standby time, and could left out-of-the-loop to avoid premature draining but still be easily switched on in an emergency, all for under $50. Not to mention the 12V power source and fuel-powered recharging system available in your car.
Or you could get a radio -- CBs don't require any license. And in an emergency would probably be willing to face the FCC in order to use restricted comm channels. Or get a satellite phone, which has its own battery, a car charger, and doesn't require any local ground infrastructure of any kind.
Heck, you could even light the signal fire at Amon Din to call for aid from Rohan.
I'm not saying it's unreasonably to have a land line, but it's far from the only choice for emergency communication.
Download the free shoutcast app:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299647180&mt=8
Get a Tunebase-FM
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=257270
Load up shoutcast (or whatever other streaming radio app, there are probably hundreds by now), stick your phone on the tunebase (or other charging fm transmitter), pick/tune a proper frequency.
Done. I personally use last.fm and the tunebase, but it works anywhere there is coverage.
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
"Second, if you're really worried about availability, you could keep a spare battery pack around to plug into your router/ATA when you needed to make an emergency call -- most of them run at 5V or 12V DC, so it's trivial to make a backup that would last long enough for several emergency phone calls, would have weeks of standby time, and could left out-of-the-loop to avoid premature draining but still be easily switched on in an emergency, all for under $50. Not to mention the 12V power source and fuel-powered recharging system available in your car."
Ummm, down as in wires down (1). And even if they weren't were do you think the cable company get's the power to run their infrastructure?* Remember the cable company doesn't have to meet the same reliability requirements as the Telcos. They should but they don't. That's why I still keep a land line even if they cost more.
*Not to mention the water company and sewage treatment.
(1) buried telco vs cable on pole.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
There's only one hitch: Without a Wi-Fi connection, the iTouch is still, well, an iTouch.
Which means it is not really a phone. It's just a wireless enabled device.
Something like FStream ought to work. Kinda depends on the QOS you get with your EDGE / 3G / Wi-MAX while driving.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
On the other hand, I don't live in a city, because it keeps me from bitching about living in a city.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Off-topic:
How do I get my Iphone, Ilaptop, Iwhatever to receive Shoutcast radio while I'm driving in my car? I was thinking maybe I could cancel my satellite Sirius-XM and just go with "free" internet radio.
Look for "Tuner" by NullRiver in the App Store. That, along with an FM Modulator/AUX port in the car, and you're listening to internet radio while driving. I often listen to SomaFM or Demovibes while going to and from work. : )
my UID was ten away from being an ambigram. . .
The article mentions being able to SMS over the WiFi in an attempt to complete the package of being a cell-phone replacement. Does anybody know of a free/low-cost provider for such a service?
You're not kiddin about the richmond-charlotte corridor (charlotte resident who's driven up towards richmond here) The eastern part of the state south of raleigh and east of charlotte, right up to the sand dunes comes to mind too.
Re your question, streaming over iPhone via Edge is really dicey, but doable depending on your location. If you have a 3G iPhone and can maintain 3g connectivity on your trip you could just plug the iPhone into whatever aux-input your car stereo may have. Been wanting to do that myself to listen to Pandora while i drive, but lately Edge bandwidth just isn't there to stream. I'm not familiar with shoutcast in particular so I don't know if there's a way to get it on the iPhone, but Pandora and Tuner both offer a vast amount of music.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Dude, it's the fucking turnpike. You only get what the Turnpike Commission says you get. Ever wonder why the service stations only have Sunoco gas and Burger King fast food?
The iRadio app on iPhone can play SHOUTcast streams over the cell network. Pandora works on the iPhone. In the Windows Mobile world, SHOUTcast streams are natively supported, Pandora doesn't work. Check out TUNED.mobi or The Mobile Stream Center. There's a lot of "PDA Only" terrestrial radio broadcasts there (that is, they expect you to be a wireless PDA user to use the stream).
URL for the "Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic":
http://www.apple.com/ipod/inearheadphones
"The control capsule located on the cable of the right earpiece includes a microphone and three buttons. With this convenient remote, you can adjust the volume, control music or video playback -- including play/pause and next/previous -- and record voice memos."
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
Am I missing something? Without the ability to keep the application open in the background (not supported by Apple), how can you receive calls?
You either keep the app open (duh), or you use iCall - iPhone App Enables GSM To WiFi/VoIP Switching
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Couldn't in theory an add-on be built to convert an iTouch into a flown-blown cell phone? It would be a kludge to be sure but then you'd have the equivalent of an iPhone that works on any network.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Off-topic:
How do I get my Iphone, Ilaptop, Iwhatever to receive Shoutcast radio while I'm driving in my car? I was thinking maybe I could cancel my satellite Sirius-XM and just go with "free" internet radio.
Try this.
This space intentionally left blank.
How do I get my Iphone, Ilaptop, Iwhatever to receive Shoutcast radio while I'm driving in my car? I was thinking maybe I could cancel my satellite Sirius-XM and just go with "free" internet radio.
On my iPhone, I use a free app from the App Store called FStream which can stream MP3, OGG, ASX, and WMA formats over HTTP or MMS. It actually works great over 3G/HSDPA and even EDGE in many cases as well (I drove 300 miles once along Hwy 26 in Washington with EDGE service most of the way, and listened to a 128kbps Shoutcast radio stream most of the time...worked great).
You can create a "favorites" list that you can scroll through and select the station of your choice to "tune in" to by simply tapping the selection, so it works fairly well in the car while driving. It even ties into the main Shoutcast Directory server where I can browse all of the advertised streams on there and connect to any one of them.
Not affiliated with the author, just a fan, etc.
-- Nathan
Hell, try finding a McDonalds IN Harrisburg....
(seriously - I was stuck there for three or four hours on a Sunday during a bus layover.... there. Was. NOTHING.)