Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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Mobile Phones

Mobile Phones, cell phones

Plantronics Voyager PRO

April 23, 2009


The Plantronics Voyager Pro is the successor to the much-loved Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset, which goes on sale today, although, Best Buy started selling its stock a bit early. I have a review unit which I plan on testing and giving my thoughts/opinion on in the new few days. I reviewed its predecessor, the Plantronics Voyage 510, which had a cult following. I was a big fan of the Voyager 510 and have one on my desk.

GVDialer for Google Voice

April 11, 2009

GVdialer is an intriguing mobile application for Google Voice, supporting iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Microsoft, and Symbian. GVdialer enables you to use Google Voice with your mobile phone while enabling some cool features. For instance, you can present your Google number as your Caller ID on outgoing mobile calls, thus keeping your mobile number private. This also gives you a one number identity to share with people.

Using the app installed you can dial directly from your phone's contacts, speed dial, call log or keypad, and GVdialer will automatically connect the call using Google Voice.

Even cooler you have Google Voice feature access including instant access to Google Voice's voice mail, Inbox, and GOOG-411.

As seen in the iPhone application, GVdialer lets you configure when GV would be used, i.e.





KIRK 2010 <strike>WiFi</strike> DECT VoIP phone

April 9, 2009

The KIRK 2010 WiFi DECT VoIP handset launched today. This is the latest edition to the Polycom KIRK Series. I wonder if Captain Kirk is aware that Polycom is trying to copy his copyrighted 'communicator'?

Then again, Kirk's communicator didn't have a numeric keypad. Just turn the dial and instantly talk to the Star Trek Enterprise's bridge (hundreds of miles away) with seemingly no latency either.

IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone

April 7, 2009

IPEVO's S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone is a pretty neat Skype phone, that unlike most Skype phones, was designed for your desk, not to carry around. That includes the IPEVO Wi-Fi Skype phone, I recently reviewed. While the IPEVO Wi-Fi Skype phone was designed to be portable and carry around, Skype phones like these are small which means a very small speakerphone (or none at all), resulting in limited or no hands-free speakerphone capabilities. The IPEVO S0-10W Skype Desktop Phone solves that problem.

Rather than sporting an Ethernet connection, however, it uses a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, so you could carry this around the house / business if you wanted to (still needs power, so would have to plug it back in).

Tweefind a new rank-based twitter search

April 6, 2009

Fellow VoIP blogger Luca has launched a new endeavor called Tweefind, which is a rank-based twitter search engine rather than a simply timeline search on keywords.

Luca explains:

How is the Tweerank calculated? Behind the scenes there is a sophisticated algorithm which analyzes how users use Twitter and calculates their rank accordingly. The rank is obtained taking into account a certain number of different parameters in a certain timeframe:

  • # followers
  • # following
  • # of tweets
  • # of RT he/she receives
  • # of replies
  • # of distinct users who reply
  • # of distinct users who retweet
  • # of RT he/she makes
  • # of links the user shares
  • much more...

Luca explains that a twitter user's ranking can change daily, depending on how much they use twitter, and other variables. It's an interesting model.


Skype for iPhone Blocked in Canada

March 31, 2009

I learned that the Skype for iPhone app is unavailable to our Canadian friends across the border in the Apple iTunes App Store. I contacted Skype for comment and their representative told me, "There are some patent-licensing issues which prevent us from offering it there."

I then asked if other countries were affected or if it was just Canada and was informed it was just Canada. When asked whose patent it was or what category it involved (i.e. mobile VoIP), the representative told me, "I can't go into many more details other than it's codec related."

Sounds to me like their was some sort of patent settlement which Skype can't talk about.



Skype on iPhone is Official

March 30, 2009

Gigaom's Om Malik was right about Skype launching a native Skype app for the iPhone. The WSJ and CNet are confiming Om's scoop today. When I say the news hit the wires, my initial reaction was "I hope Om go credit for breaking this story last week. He's one of the premiere bloggers and deserves credit from the mainstream media and other tech journals".

Alas, I was sorely disappointed that they didn't give Om credit.

IPEVO Wi-Fi Phone for Skype Review

March 27, 2009

The IPEVO Wi-Fi Phone for Skype launched just last month and IPEVO sent me a review unit to check out, which I've been testing for a few weeks.

Installation
Installing the IPEVO Wi-Fi Phone was a snap. Although it only has a numeric keypad for entering in alphanumeric characters for entering in the WEP/WPA/WPA2 key. As you hit a key, it shows you the current key where your cursor is located, but it also shows you a horizontal list of all the characters that key can produce and highlights the current key.


Native Skype for iPhone app coming?

March 26, 2009

Om Malik is reporting that a native Skype for iPhone app is coming next week.

According to Om:
A tipster -- a very reliable one -- tells me that Skype is almost ready to launch that iPhone version, perhaps as soon as next week. CTIA Wireless, a large mobile industry trade event, kicks off in Las Vegas next Wednesday, so perhaps the announcement will be made there. I am working on getting more details, as well as screenshots of the service.
But, if you can't wait that long, here's a good list of various workarounds to run Skype on the iPhone, including fring, which is an iPhone app you can get today (screenshot to the right), as well as Nimbuzz.

Finally! New Windows Mobile App AudioRoute Enables Earpiece for VoIP Apps

March 26, 2009

Finally a software tool called AudioRoute that can be used to route Windows Mobile audio from the earpiece speaker to the backspeaker and vice-versa. This is especially needed for VoIP applications on Windows Mobile phones.

I've tested several VoIP apps (SIP clients, Skype, etc.) on my Windows Mobile XV6700 phone and other Windows Mobiles and from what I understand the carrier forced the hardware manufacturers to block VoIP applications from using the earpiece for listening to the remote caller. You couldn't even use speakerphone. Instead, you were forced to use the backspeaker, a tiny low-quality speaker located on the back of the phone, which made phone quality horrendous when making VoIP calls.

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