Database Info

Three UK embrace mobile data and web

see
http://www.three.co.uk/xseries.omp
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35786
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/16/3_internet_launch/
A big hooray
Shame about choice of phone's and that none have wifi.
I have been pissed with T-mobile bot allowing many services on web n walk.
3 embracing skype and opening up to data tarrifs.
Thank you. Lets hope you start a trend/price war.
Although I will wait until I see the charges.
Did I read on these same pages yesterday the o2 chairman predicting 3 and virgin would not last. Show them the way to go.
Just need more broadband routers with better igmp support for alll the video streaming,IPTV etc that is gonna be coming.

This all sounds good, and it is very tempting to go with 3, especially with x-series services coming up. Free unlimited international calls (Only to certain countries) aswell, for £15!!
However what I would like to know is, do you have to use 3's phone to get free access to internet, skype, messenger etc. i.e. does 3 load on their own version of these software to access these services? By reading articles, it seems they do, for example, you can only use Yahoo Go and Google to browse or search the internet. Or could you use a PDA phone (say HTC Trinity) with your 3 sim, and open PIE and surf the net for free, use skype or Live Messenger for free?
Ideally, I would like to get my own PDA phone (maybe trinity) to take advantage of these services, but I have a gut feeling it's not as simple as that. It's a shame that there's only two phones they currently offer that support HSDPA, Nokia N73 and SE W950i. I rather have the Trinity

A friend who works for vodafone said that they will be following up with some new data tariffs around January time - fingers crossed, dual sim with web-n-walk doesn't quite cut the mustard for me!

agree with the two posts above, web n walk is great however the t-mobile call reception is terrible in my area. The 3 hansets avaliable are not to my liking. My O2 contract expires in January, at that point i hope i have a decent choice of data plans......

Why no answering machin ?

as i heard the mechanism of ppcs cant accept any answering machin ...
is that right ? why ?

Probably due to some government regulations of sort, or some intervention of the carriers. The same reason I guess why you cant get a vocoder for the ppc.
As fun as it would be to speak in a robot voice to your m8's I'm not sure if we can, due to the same limitations.
Saying that, anyone found a vocoder for ppc ?

Actually this this is not true for all phone edition PPCs.
Gigabyte g-smart comes with a built in answering machine and 'background sound - alibi' software, and I think there are others too, but HTC models so far have hardware separation between phone and PPC voice systems.
Even despite that there is at least one company (I can't remember their name or site, but they were mentioned here so pleas search) that successfully made a commercial answering machine software that reportedly works well on most devices.
I seriously doubt there is a government regulation on the subject as I read that recording conversations you are part of is allowed in Europe and most of the U.S. (without informing the other party), but the cell companies stand to loose a lot of money from their voice mail services.
That is the same reason some cell co. don't offer models with WiFi - so customers will have to pay for GPRS / 3G.

Android Bluetooth Stack Development

Hey I know I'm more of a leech than a seed but I want to start an open discussion / brainstorm about the limited bluetooth capabilities within Android. Specifically on the HTC Dream (G1).
I don't have a strong grasp on Linux but I've been playing with different flavors since i was 13 (11 years). I don't have the knowledge or the support to even attempt this.
HOWEVER I do have a job and I do have the money (donation) to support anyone with the ability and the time.
That being said I would like to talk to anybody who would be Seriously interested in developing additional profiles for the bluetooth stack.
Anyone who has wanted to FTP over bluetooth or for me send my phonebook to my Lexus GS350 I would appreciate donations towards a common goal.
The $ would go to the developer or team. Of course after that it would have to be open source and free to the community.
I have not created a paypal or account for pooling donations but whoever is seriously interested contact me. I've got $300 (donation) to get you started (motivated)
Au Revoir,
-Koocat

how do i make it bold lol

koocat said:
Hey I know I'm more of a leech than a seed but I want to start an open discussion / brainstorm about the limited bluetooth capabilities within Android. Specifically on the HTC Dream (G1).
I don't have a strong grasp on Linux but I've been playing with different flavors since i was 13 (11 years). I don't have the knowledge or the support to even attempt this.
HOWEVER I do have a job and I do have the money (donation) to support anyone with the ability and the time.
That being said I would like to talk to anybody who would be Seriously interested in developing additional profiles for the bluetooth stack.
Anyone who has wanted to FTP over bluetooth or for me send my phonebook to my Lexus GS350 I would appreciate donations towards a common goal.
The $ would go to the developer or team. Of course after that it would have to be open source and free to the community.
I have not created a paypal or account for pooling donations but whoever is seriously interested contact me. I've got $300 (donation) to get you started (motivated)
Au Revoir,
-Koocat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm all about development and hard work, but with the release of blutooth 3.0, wouldn't it be better just to save the $ and put it towards the next android device that is compatible with bt3.0( which utilizes wifi for bt transfer...not to mention the improved battery life). what are your thoughts?

its not about the money. I'm using dudes cupcake rom whatever latest rom .92 and as far as i know there is no way to send my phone book to my Lexus when it prompts me to create a phonebook and because of this I can't use voice dial and nazi lexus basicly won't allow you to input anything while the car is in motion. the specs released on 1.5 only included stereo bluetooth theres still no push allowed or PBA

jaaronmoody said:
i'm all about development and hard work, but with the release of blutooth 3.0, wouldn't it be better just to save the $ and put it towards the next android device that is compatible with bt3.0( which utilizes wifi for bt transfer...not to mention the improved battery life). what are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would my car even work if bt is trans over wifi spectrum?

koocat said:
would my car even work if bt is trans over wifi spectrum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, and sorry for the confusion. My point was that this android incarnation is lacking in bluetooth capabilities, and there has just been a new bluetooth technology released, not only having the wifi capability, but also all current profiles. I am sure that android will support this in the future with hardware in a new device, but for now, they are probably content with what they have, since it is an evolving technology.

jaaronmoody said:
i'm all about development and hard work, but with the release of blutooth 3.0, wouldn't it be better just to save the $ and put it towards the next android device that is compatible with bt3.0( which utilizes wifi for bt transfer...not to mention the improved battery life). what are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, Bluetooth 3.0 standard was just released. We're not going to be seeing any Bluetooth 3.0 devices for another few years, one at the minimum. Not to mention that the OP's Lexus would still require a transfer via Bluetooth 2.0 technology.

I would be content if an open phone with an open platform supported bluetooth features I could actually use.
I manually added one contact into the lexus and manually set the voice rec. and then attempted to call using 'dial by name' and it will only work if the dream is unlocked and awake.
BT 3.0 will be great. but I'd have to get a new phone and depending on the backward capabilities a new car too.
but that brings the question "how long do i have to wait for bt 3.0"
"how long do i have to wait for cupcake"
I was hoping with 1.5 they would expand on the BT stack and they did but not for anything I can use. whats funny is 2 years ago when I had Verizon and a Voyager I thought I was cool to have stereo bluetooth headphones to rock out too. and they want to market stereo bt as being a great new feature but its not new

koocat said:
I would be content if an open phone with an open platform supported bluetooth features I could actually use.
I manually added one contact into the lexus and manually set the voice rec. and then attempted to call using 'dial by name' and it will only work if the dream is unlocked and awake.
BT 3.0 will be great. but I'd have to get a new phone and depending on the backward capabilities a new car too.
but that brings the question "how long do i have to wait for bt 3.0"
"how long do i have to wait for cupcake"
I was hoping with 1.5 they would expand on the BT stack and they did but not for anything I can use. whats funny is 2 years ago when I had Verizon and a Voyager I thought I was cool to have stereo bluetooth headphones to rock out too. and they want to market stereo bt as being a great new feature but its not new
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an appropriate place to post issues with supported bt profiles already supported, but there is no guarantee that it will be addressed. i'm not speaking for anybody here, but me... butif it were my build, i probably wouldn't modify it for one make of car. There are other vehicles where this is working...am i right? i think so.
so far i think only broadcom has achieved and are planning to produce the new standard, but how long will it be till we see it??? my guess is 6mo- 1yr. Yes, stereo bluetooth is not a new thing, but i'm sure you can grasp the technology curve. "they" are only gonna release what they have to, in the time that will make sense to them, not the consumers. This
is a business, and will be treated as such. For how many years have we been scratching at the heels of EVERY advancement, just to PURCHASE it as soon as it comes around. edit...but to go along with you i was looking forward to file transfer myself, and it didn't happen.

what can i do on my car to verify the bluetooth version installed?, or bluetooth capabilities if you know what i mean
its a mazda 3 2010 sport
Thank you.

Your exactly right and thats what makes Android such a beautiful thing. Because we are longer governed by whatever corporate timeline 'they' decide. the timeline is to maximize profit. cupcake is marketed as a feature update to show dedication to their product and to their customer base but its not a dedication because they were forced to evolve it to make it compatiable with additonal hardware and minimize the media attention towards custom devleopment and end user modification. Google doesnt want to piss off Apple or HTC or T-mobile or Vodaphone ect because thats business.
Google doesnt care if you transfer over bt they dont care if you mod your phone. but when Apple says no mulitouch and vodaphone says No Bluetooth profiles they don't have much of a choice if they want Android to succeed.
and Thats why they made it open.
same with rooting your phone google had to fix it beacuse if they make it look easy they run into problems. T-mob or voda don't want you to teather your phone and use it as a modem and root allows this. so you must disable and discourage root and tell people its a security risk.
fcuk T-mobile and their G1 bs marketing. My phone is a Dream.
---btw the new radio gives me 3G in my house now wootwoot so i can actually talk on the phone with t-mobiles shi*ty service--- I only left Verizon because phones suck Donkey...Anyways..
its not just one car. go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth to see all supported profiles
there are profiles that all cars support. most likely PBA "phone book access"
I know when the Prius 1st came out I was like 16 or 17 lol and none of VZW phones could send phone book data to the Prius only because VZW policy with phone makers demanded they crimple BT profiles even on smart phones. so you couldn't FTP a mp3 and set it as ur ringtone you had to buy the ringtone for 2.99 or what i did back them I used Bitpim but you get the idea.
-Koocat

alfmetal said:
what can i do on my car to verify the bluetooth version installed?, or bluetooth capabilities if you know what i mean
its a mazda 3 2010 sport
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would google some keywords and try and find a user forum for Mazda cars.
I know theres clublexus.com where I have learned a lot about my car.
for some Lexus (i know for sure the GS and LS models) you turn the car on, then hold down the INFO button while turning the Lights from OFF to ON four times. and the car enters a Service Diagnostic mode and you can view different settings and run diagnostics, clear error codes and rescan. I know theres a spot to view the bluetooth version and software version. You can adjust the Mic volume, send and recieve volume and adjust voice quality.
You really don't need to adjust your car (thats not what this post is about).
Depending on your car you can get updates from the dealer and you can find software mods online for some cars.
example; lexus had a override in the system menu to allow user input while the car was in motion. IN 07' that option was removed on all models so for my 07 Lexus i found a post from someone that had taken the Nav disc for the same model in 06 and he modded and issued a ISO for users burn to get that override feature back.
-Koocat

Bah! @ Bluetooth 3.0. Totally overhyped standard. Could be completely done with adhoc wifi and would be easier and more than 2x as fast.

[email protected]:
Yeah, it is... It's just a wifi coop mode, which requires both parties to have a wifi-radio free to use...
It's not really an optimization of bluetooth :/
Everyone else in here:
Well, i'm not sure you're gonna catch many devs in here (There doesn't seem to be any

[email protected] said:
Bah! @ Bluetooth 3.0. Totally overhyped standard. Could be completely done with adhoc wifi and would be easier and more than 2x as fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Power management is much better in Bluetooth. Combining the two gives the best of both worlds. BT 3.0 will be able to connect, go into low power states and only turn on WiFi if a higher speed transfer is required.
BT 3.0 is more than just BT+WiFi anyway. The ability to have an Alternate Mac-Phy (AMP) like WiFi is one feature. There are other new features as well (like better quality of service). Also, an AMP could be a Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radio, with speeds much higher than WiFi with lower power consumption. The potential for 3.0 is really interesting.
But as others have stated in the thread, it will be a while before there are any implementations. We are just starting to see 2.1 devices in the market.
paesano

I know this is only my 2nd post, but I too am looking for better BT Stack. Dont get me wrong I love that I got back my stereo BT on my Pioneer Avic-D3 but unlike my Nokia N95 and my Tilt which lets me transfer my contacts to my Headunit.
Also another thing I miss is sending contact info from one phone to another!
Waiting for the time I can ditch my ipod and be apple-free LOL

I think a total update of the bluetooth would be cool. I think the 3.0 is a bit away but besides just a specific car profile i think it should be and all around compatible bluetooth. with all the devices and allow file transfer as well something that non g1 phones can already do. I think that alone will make it feel much better until until the newer technology is intergrated. That would probably lean me more to donating

I have two old Motorola RAZR's and they transfer data over BT, it is really surprising that the Dream falls short in this area.

I just miss the very basic file transfer (obex) to move images, mp3, contacts, etc. from device to device. I know I can set up an ftp or webserver to allow phone to phone access, but quite frankly we shouldn't have to use a work around for such a standard phone option. ALso, I like to bluetooth pictures from my phone right to the Kodak picture printer in Walmart and other stores. There is no way to install an FTP server or client on that machine (without some hacking).
I would donate if we had some devs on here taking up the task.
Rick

JackD3ath said:
I have two old Motorola RAZR's and they transfer data over BT, it is really surprising that the Dream falls short in this area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I'm not surprised that the Dream falls short in Bluetooth support. My experience with Bluetooth in Linux has been very unsatisfying. I don't know if that stems from the Blue Z stack, or if no one cares enough to do things properly. The last couple of times I upgraded Ubuntu or Kubuntu, Bluetooth was totally broken, and I had to figure out my own workarounds to get some of the functionality I needed.
What I would currently like to see is DUN support, so that my Tom Tom can access the internet. Very few BT phones don't have DUN, especially on T-Mobile. Makes me wonder why T-Mobile wanted to get the Tethering apps out of the marketplace. You can tether with almost every Bluetooth phone they sell!
paesano

SIP dialing for Gingerbread 2.3 Discussion

In reviewing the new page on the nexus s, the only thing I really am interested in is the internet dialing/SIP. I have tried SIPdroid on the captivate, and it works ok, but very staticy on the other end. I am curious as to whether anyone knows where the SIP client for 2.3 came from. Is it SIPdroid? Did Google buy SIPdroid? I would also be very interested in flashing only the SIP part of Gingerbread 2.3, the rest of the update isnt all that interesting to me. If anyone comes across info or files related to this, post here.
Thanks

Benny1234 said:
In reviewing the new page on the nexus s, the only thing I really am interested in is the internet dialing/SIP. I have tried SIPdroid on the captivate, and it works ok, but very staticy on the other end. I am curious as to whether anyone knows where the SIP client for 2.3 came from. Is it SIPdroid? Did Google buy SIPdroid? I would also be very interested in flashing only the SIP part of Gingerbread 2.3, the rest of the update isnt all that interesting to me. If anyone comes across info or files related to this, post here.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google bought Gizmo5 about 1 year ago. This is probably where they got the SIP client.

From what I read on the official document, internet calling works via wifi only.
I hope and i'm sure the devs will modify this to make it work via 3G.

A few things:
1) You are using VoIP over 3g? It's probably not goind to sound great, and any free client you have is not going to implement g729 b/c it requires a license so GSM is your best bet for low bandwidth, and it doesnt sound great.
2) a. No it is not sip droid. b. Sipdroid sucks - it is a terrible client. Basically the PBXes.org people who "wrote" sipdroid took the example "client" from mjsip and jammed an android interface on it. The backend sip implementation is pretty crappy, doesnt support call transfer, does multiple registrations and can flood a registrar.
2) CSipSimple is a much more promising client (IMO). And while has not yet implemented transfers yet, it is based on pjsip, a very well implemented sip stack that does fully support these features. Also, I have found that CSipSimple has less fuzzy audio too.
3) I have been looking at the 2.3 SIP stuff - It's not like you can just take that part from 2.3 and "flash" it to your device.
Besides that, the implementation that is in the 2.3 SDK looks very simplistic so far - and it is unclear to me whether or not the dialer will allow native SIP calling, or if google has just put in sip libraries for people to develop SIP applications. I see no where in any settings that allow you to specify "phone wide" sip credentials.
This would seem to be further backed by the sample "walkie talkie" application that is available with the 2.3 sdk.
4) I doubt google bought gizmo5 for their sip stack/client. There are many highly compliant open source sip stacks freeley available: sofia-sip, pjsip, jain-sip etc. etc. I dont know what is "under the hood" but what google has exposed via the SipProfile so far looks to be sub-par.
5) "Internet calling" support isnt going to be enabled on all devices, although i think the nexus s probably will be one of the few, in fact even in the AVD I get an "internet calling not supported" message when I try to call a sip URI from the dialer.
Your best bet right now - try out CSipSimple. Native SIP support is going to be a bit raw for a while is my guess.

SIP dialing
Thanks etamme ! Thats some good information! Yeah I would like to use SIP for international calls, wifi and 3G data. I use the phone when we travel and have foreign sims. So making GV /G5 calls would be perfect. I used to use an iphone, but unlocking became a PITA recently. (read as 6.15.00 BB)
Will check out CSSipSimple, I assume it will work with G5. I'm glad someone else realizes Sipdroid is terrible. Every time I use it the other party complains. With all the updates theyve done they have failed to address a major problem.
Thanks again!

have you tried this?
i'm trying it now
http://androidandme.com/2010/12/news/how-to-place-and-receive-internet-calls-with-android-2-3/

Benny1234 said:
I am curious as to whether anyone knows where the SIP client for 2.3 came from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gingerbread has a built-in SIP stack.

etamme said:
A few things:
1) You are using VoIP over 3g? It's probably not goind to sound great, and any free client you have is not going to implement g729 b/c it requires a license so GSM is your best bet for low bandwidth, and it doesnt sound great.
2) a. No it is not sip droid. b. Sipdroid sucks - it is a terrible client. Basically the PBXes.org people who "wrote" sipdroid took the example "client" from mjsip and jammed an android interface on it. The backend sip implementation is pretty crappy, doesnt support call transfer, does multiple registrations and can flood a registrar.
2) CSipSimple is a much more promising client (IMO). And while has not yet implemented transfers yet, it is based on pjsip, a very well implemented sip stack that does fully support these features. Also, I have found that CSipSimple has less fuzzy audio too.
3) I have been looking at the 2.3 SIP stuff - It's not like you can just take that part from 2.3 and "flash" it to your device.
Besides that, the implementation that is in the 2.3 SDK looks very simplistic so far - and it is unclear to me whether or not the dialer will allow native SIP calling, or if google has just put in sip libraries for people to develop SIP applications. I see no where in any settings that allow you to specify "phone wide" sip credentials.
This would seem to be further backed by the sample "walkie talkie" application that is available with the 2.3 sdk.
4) I doubt google bought gizmo5 for their sip stack/client. There are many highly compliant open source sip stacks freeley available: sofia-sip, pjsip, jain-sip etc. etc. I dont know what is "under the hood" but what google has exposed via the SipProfile so far looks to be sub-par.
5) "Internet calling" support isnt going to be enabled on all devices, although i think the nexus s probably will be one of the few, in fact even in the AVD I get an "internet calling not supported" message when I try to call a sip URI from the dialer.
Your best bet right now - try out CSipSimple. Native SIP support is going to be a bit raw for a while is my guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running Gingerbread right now...I can tell you that "Internet Calling" works straight from the dialer. However, my experience with built in SIP over wifi on Pbxes.org is that cSipSimple is more usable. There is a noticeable lag using the built in SIP configuration and only UDP works for PBXes since it doesn't allow a hybrid mode like cSipSimple (TCP for registration, UDP for connection due to PBXes incomplete TCP implementation). The problem I have with cSipSimple is that the mic gain is way too high and it picks up all the background noise.

Benny1234 said:
In reviewing the new page on the nexus s, the only thing I really am interested in is the internet dialing/SIP. I have tried SIPdroid on the captivate, and it works ok, but very staticy on the other end. I am curious as to whether anyone knows where the SIP client for 2.3 came from. Is it SIPdroid? Did Google buy SIPdroid? I would also be very interested in flashing only the SIP part of Gingerbread 2.3, the rest of the update isnt all that interesting to me. If anyone comes across info or files related to this, post here.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks to me that it is based on JAIN-SIP from inspecting the AOSP source. Have look at http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/external/nist-sip.git;a=tree;hb=HEAD
JAIN-SIP was developed by NIST and the AOSP references NIST also. Haven't dug deeper to confirm however.
etamme said:
A few things:
3) I have been looking at the 2.3 SIP stuff - It's not like you can just take that part from 2.3 and "flash" it to your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would it take to extract the SIP bits from the AOSP and use it as a reference library for a SIP enabled application? I have never tried but it should be possible no?

Wrong mic (top)
OCedHrt said:
The problem I have with cSipSimple is that the mic gain is way too high and it picks up all the background noise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set the mic gain:
While in a call, click the menu button (bottom left)
Select Media
Move the Mic slider left to lower the volume (quickly before the screen goes back to default).
However, this does not really solve the problem because cSipSimple uses the mic on top of the phone which does not pick up your voice very well, and pics up the sound from the receiver (speaker) causing the person on the other end to hear an echo of everything they say.
I have not been able to find a way to change this behavior.

anyone having an issue with phone calls being rejected with sip dialing? I've tried sipdroid, csipsimple and native sip. using google voice forwarding a number i recieved from ipkall, and using iptel.org instead of pbxes

[Q] Is the Nvidia Shield Tablet the right tablet for me?

Greetings,
I have been on the look out for a tablet for quite some time now.
Some background information:
I am currently a University student, and I enjoy power hungry video games like Diablo3 (if you think d3 isn't power hungry, ok. It isn't the point of the thread.)
I owe a gaming pc - Nvidia 660Ti, and a Tablet / Ultrabook Hybrid - Asus Taichi 31.
I live in Malta. (A&T and T-Mobiles are not available, I have yet to contact them wheter they are willing to offer their services from abroad regarding a data plan) (to my knowledge acquired from these forums, there is currently no possible way to integrate voice calling / smsing with the mini sim. The mini sim is only used for data transfer correct?)
I understand barely nothing about android, roms and kernals, I am studying for a pharmacist. What little I know is mostly about desktops from my interest and sources are typically the internet and some local technicians I enjoy chatting with. (if any1 can point me to a good beginner guide, that would be great)
I am currently looking for something that is able to:
replace my phone - just calls and sms. My lack of education on android devices and a very narrow google search lead me to believe there are apps with this ability if you are always connected to an internet connection? which wouldnt be a problem with the LTE/4G?
good alternative for an mp3 player - main issue: buttery life - size doesn't matter because I use bluetooth headphones
use XBMC hub - i think this tablet can easily handle it
take decent quality photos
stream games from long distances (when I am at university example, from my home) - is the only limiting factor the speed of the internet connection? Is it possible to connect the internet via a cable? (ethernet to mini usb converter?)​
My two main priorities are calling/texting and battery life.
I am yet to find a store who has this tablet on display so I can have a feel of the tablet, I do not know if 8'' is ridiculously large to carry around. And I think it also falls within personal preference.
What would you, if in my shoes, get? Should I look for a phablet? I personally find smart phones have a small screen, and the only use I have out of a phone is to text and call, so I would like to have the good out of both ends.
Thank you.

botno4 said:
Greetings,
I have been on the look out for a tablet for quite some time now.
Some background information:
I am currently a University student, and I enjoy power hungry video games like Diablo3 (if you think d3 isn't power hungry, ok. It isn't the point of the thread.)
I owe a gaming pc - Nvidia 660Ti, and a Tablet / Ultrabook Hybrid - Asus Taichi 31.
I live in Malta. (A&T and T-Mobiles are not available, I have yet to contact them wheter they are willing to offer their services from abroad regarding a data plan) (to my knowledge acquired from these forums, there is currently no possible way to integrate voice calling / smsing with the mini sim. The mini sim is only used for data transfer correct?)
I understand barely nothing about android, roms and kernals, I am studying for a pharmacist. What little I know is mostly about desktops from my interest and sources are typically the internet and some local technicians I enjoy chatting with. (if any1 can point me to a good beginner guide, that would be great)
I am currently looking for something that is able to:
replace my phone - just calls and sms. My lack of education on android devices and a very narrow google search lead me to believe there are apps with this ability if you are always connected to an internet connection? which wouldnt be a problem with the LTE/4G?
good alternative for an mp3 player - main issue: buttery life - size doesn't matter because I use bluetooth headphones
use XBMC hub - i think this tablet can easily handle it
take decent quality photos
stream games from long distances (when I am at university example, from my home) - is the only limiting factor the speed of the internet connection? Is it possible to connect the internet via a cable? (ethernet to mini usb converter?)​
My two main priorities are calling/texting and battery life.
I am yet to find a store who has this tablet on display so I can have a feel of the tablet, I do not know if 8'' is ridiculously large to carry around. And I think it also falls within personal preference.
What would you, if in my shoes, get? Should I look for a phablet? I personally find smart phones have a small screen, and the only use I have out of a phone is to text and call, so I would like to have the good out of both ends.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can meet your needs. You can use Google Voice # and hangouts to make/receive calls. It is a beast at gaming and the nvidia game stream is great, however its huge. In my opinion WAY to big to be used as an everyday phone, and would only allow speak phone calls or through a blue tooth. The call quality is good though.
If you want a tablet I recommend it. However if you want a phone I suggest using a phone.
I would get the tablet then get a Moto G or a Moto E for free and use it as your phone.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

OP did say they were in Malta. GV numbers are not available outside the US.

gerrykv said:
OP did say they were in Malta. GV numbers are not available outside the US.
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GV is google voice? Yes I live in Malta, and thank you I didn't know that.
Is there any other way possible to have voice call / texting possibilities on this tablet?