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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.
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 ----
in other words, a defective phone, only useful in areas where you trust the wifi connection.
Yeah, like the cordless phone you have sitting on the charger at home. Only it doesn't cost anything per month and doesn't necessarily need to be restricted to just working at home.
It sucks that it wouldn't help you much if you travel through time and space, but it's not exactly a lump of nothing, either.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
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.
What's going to get shut down by Apple? VoIP on the iPhone and iPod touch? Didn't Apple already announce that they were going to allow VoIP apps in the iTMS so long as they only used VoIP on WiFi connections (not on the cell phone data network)?
"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?
Shut down by Apple lawsuit in 3...2...1...
Lawsuit? There wont be any lawsuit... at least Apple wont be the one filing it. Apple has complete control of the iPod Touch through "The App Store". They simply wont allow these applications to be sold or downloaded.
What's that? Your going to find a way to put it on there without Apple's permission? A simple firmware upgrade will take care of that.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
There's one application where VOIP is significantly preferable to the standard cellular network: international calling. I can use a VOIP app to talk to my cousins in Australia for free; being able to walk around my house or sit at the local coffeeshop while doing so would be nice.
This isn't about style; it's about adding functionality to a nice little piece of hardware. My cell phone's practically an antique at this point, but I have no need to upgrade it because I don't talk on the phone much. My iPod is a great PDA; adding VOIP capability would just be icing on the cake.
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.
The new iPod Touch has bluetooth? Since when? Not according to the Apple Store: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_touch?mco=MTIxMTE AFAIK, the new features were a physical volume control, microphone, speaker, and new case design.
Yeah, like the cordless phone you have sitting on the charger at home.
Does it also cost $30.00 with two handsets and extra charging station?
Does your home telephone play games and music?
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
Music for a phone keypad
and another
it's full of them.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
Yes, since 2G. Right now its limited for use with the Nike thingy. The chip is there, and it is in use on the BT frequency, but until its jailbroken we won't know for certain if it uses the BT stack, or can be altered to do so by patch.
from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
What's that? Your going to find a way to put it on there without Apple's permission? A simple firmware upgrade will take care of that.
Which is precisely why I've had a voip client on my iPhone that, in blatant disregard of Apple's Wifi only voip rules works on the cellular network, and has through the last several firmware updates...
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
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.
add a link and / or some instructions and earn some modpoints!
:)
yes, it's just that simple!
It's not about fate, it's about character.
there be no shelter here, the frontline is everywhere!
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=-
add a link and / or some instructions and earn some modpoints!
1) Jailbreak iPhone
2) Install any of the available SIP clients through Cydia
3) Profit!
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
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
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.