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Use Google's Nexus 7 Tablet As a VoIP Phone, For Free
Lauren Weinstein writes with a link to this short-and-sweet explanation: "I don't usually do 'how-to' postings, and I'll have much more comprehensive discussions of Android 'Jelly Bean' and the Google Nexus 7 tablet later — there are some really fascinating implications to how that ecosystem is developing. But since quite a few people have been asking me if it's possible to use the Wi-Fi-based Nexus 7 as a phone, I thought I'd scribble out this quickie guide. In short, yes, even though the N7 doesn't obviously have phone-related user interfaces, you can use the N7 as a phone for both outgoing and incoming calls via VoIP, and this can be accomplished completely for free via Google Voice accounts."
So you meant to tell me a device with a microphone, speaker, and wi-fi connection can be used to make VOIP calls!! Wow--what will folks figure out next? When you guys get around to discovering stuff like Skype, Google Voice, etc--let me keep sleeping...
on Google spam
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
install grooveip? no give us the free way, go through sipdroid...
On one hand Slashdot runs stories where they throw out obscure acronyms I need to google, and then the flip side of the coin are stories that MIGHT surprise your grandmother. Well done, editors!
Only if you are U.S. Based
This is hardly earth shattering news. A friend of mine uses his iPod Touch as a phone and has for over a year. Wi-fi when it's available, and a 4G hot spot when it's not. Works great and is a great deal cheaper for those who aren't heavy users.
No representation was made that this was earth-shattering news. Rather, a *lot* of people had been asking specifically how to make this work (not everyone is as knowledgeable about this area as some folks seem to think!) and the goal was to provide an approach with specific instructions that would function for people already using Google Voice, or who can obtain Google Voice accounts. This approach also has the advantage of going direct to Google Voice servers, rather than via third parties, which is also a plus (as far as I'm concerned, anyway).
> quite a few people have been asking me if it's possible to use the Wi-Fi-based Nexus 7 as a phone
Do these people own a Nexus 7 or have they even seen one? It wouldn't make a great phone.
It's too big to hold up to your ear and besides there isn't a speaker near the top. So that means you'd have to use it as a speaker phone. And as it only has wi-fi it's not as if you can use it on the go, unless you happen to be near a wi-fi hotspot or similar that you have access to - but using it handsfree in public isn't going to work well.
I was doing this with a Nokia N95 before the phrase smart phone had been thought of. This is not news.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
i have an employer coded app on my iphone and ipad that links into our corporate VOIP system and turns my devices into my office phone. logs me out of the office phone too.
no big deal. hundreds of similar apps with services in the app store for iphone and ipad
Wake me up when a company gets off their butt and makes a ~7" tablet w/ some type of international-capable cellular service + WiFi that can make a phone call over the cellular network using a bluetooth headset, no Google Voice, no Skype, just an ACTUAL phone call. Not even asking for it to let me splat the thing on my face, require me to use a headset, that makes sense! But damnitall stop blocking cellular phone calls on these devices. >_
"The earpiece jack on the Nexus 7 apparently does not accept microphones (e.g., via TRRS plugs)"
That's disappointing.
My son did this same thing last week on his iPod Touch 4 - sure it requires Wifi, but otherwise it 'just works' fine via Google Voice, so I don't know how this post is garnering this much attention, save for the Nexus 7 is the new/latest hotness.
fak3r.com
Okay, it's 5.3" instead of 7", but other than that it seems to be what you're looking for.
Holding a 7 inch tablet up to my ear would look just about as silly as those original "brick" cellphones. No thanks, I'll stick to the regular form factor.
wow - lots of negativity in the comments so far. yes, on one level this is obvious, but in reality i've found this difficult
i use google voice as my primary number and most days i don't buy prepaid service (i'm spending $100 per year for the last 2 years) - so i'm wifi only. when i'm on a linux box (with a hardwired ethernet) i use the gmail to make calls. but i haven't found a great solution for my phone - google nexus s. what i'm doing is have google voice forward the call to ipkall (free pots to sip gateway) and then answer the call on my phone with csipsimple (seemed better than builtin, though i haven't tried the builtin sip since i upgraded to ICS). for testing, i do the same thing on my linux box using sflphone. the quality using gmail is much better than what i've gotten from either csipsimple or sflphone (i'm on a 1Mbit dsl connection)
so an android app that talks directly to GV seems incredibly useful to me. anyone know how this works - eg, are they just running a pots-to-sip gateway or have they actually implemented the GV protocol (i think it's jingle with some extensions). any other apps that are doing something similar, especially one that's Free ? or linux programs (on my laptop, leaving gmail open eats my battery) ? anybody else using GV + wifi as their primary means of communication ? how does the voice quality compare with gmail ?
yes, the article isn't great. but the idea is 100% geek - embrace it. in the meantime i'm going to go investigate GIPL and see if anyone else is implementing the GV protocol
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Am I the only one or do others look at this technology and think it's really neat and something I'd like to have, but as soon as I have to type in my google email address and password, I get leery that this 3rd party, closed source "lite" application is secretly doing an HTTP POST to a remote web server in some scary dude's basement and he's then using my google mail account for his own personal interests???
I've wondered this - can you tell Google Voice to ring both your carrier cell# and the VOIP # configged in grooveip/sipdroid/whatever, and then you can answer on whichever you prefer? That way, you can set your voip app to run when wifi is available (or script it to start when wifi turns on, if it doesn't have that feature), and conveniently receive calls on VOIP when possible.
"Ahh! I see you're in that indeterminate Schrodinger state where - oh, uh
I might get two...
-- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
What about a 7" Galaxy Tab? I met someone who used it as their phone, this is in the UK, not sure how well it works internationally.
Yes. My landline, cell, and tablet all ring at the same time.
I tried Groove IP, and it looks like most of the time, all you have to do is install the app and sign in.
However, when testing it out with another phone, I found that the delay in the audio was too high to carry on a normal conversaion. On the order of 1 - 1.5 seconds. I couldn't find any settings in Groove IP that would lower it. Doesn't seem to be a problem with Google Voice because I carried out the same test on my computer (over the same wifi) and the latency was well within tolerable.
I might use Groove IP in a pinch, but not for normal chatting.
Has anyone tried this device yet? Not as spectacular as an iPad in my opinion http://www.frequency.com/video/nexus-7-review-hardware-software/53464963/-/4-4189