Many would really welcome a local answering machine on their Pocket PC’s to, for example, avoid the (often costly) need to call in remote voicemail boxes and/or to keep / archive the recordings of their, say, girlfriend.
Unfortunately, I have bad news for all these people: there is NO way one can implement such software on the current (mostly HTC-manufactured) crop of Pocket PC Phone Edition devices because of the hardware limitations I’ve explained in my article on recording conversations. That is, it’s pretty futile to look for any answering machine software for your Pocket PC phone – unless you have the GIGABYTE G-Smart (see below).
Note that
there are SMS notifiers (Aali Alikoski’s free SMS Notifier and BOO! Interactive’s commercial SMS Answering Machine) but they only answer with an SMS message and aren’t able to directly record the speech (the message) of the caller
other smart phone platforms (see for example Smart Answer on the Nokia S60 platform) do have call recorders. They, however, have hardware that does allow recording calls. (HTC, hear this?! It has been stated many times and we’ll tell you many MORE times that you SHOULD produce phone models that are able to record phone calls because that feature would also make it possible to use the phone as an answering machine!)
there is only one Pocket PC Phone Edition model, GIGABYTE’s excellent G-Smart, which contains built-in software to do this. The software, however, can NOT be “hacked” to other devices – this GIGABYTE PDA has special hardware that, unlike HTC models, does allow for recording the voice of the other party (incidentally, this is why it also contains a call recorder software, not just a call answering machine.)
Some related threads:
Answering machine
You can also try entering the words "Answering machine" here, making sure you also select the “Search for all terms” radio button.
DAMMIT
The Answerphone is great on the g-Smart... but not perfect....
To get it working better you need to get rid of your service providers answering service, otherwise that one will occasionally take the call, as the time that you set the answerphone on the g-Smart, isn't always accurate. I.E. set it to a 20 sec delay, and because of the lag for the phone to ring, the lag for the software to activate etc etc.... the SP answering service grabs it first...
Once you've disabled the SP service, it's great... when you have signal... otherwise you'll miss everything, won't get any indicators and all the caller gets is the DO-DO-DO-DO-DO of the engaged/not available.
Upside though... cheaper... messages available locally... and you can screen the calls...
Has Microsoft (or anyone else, for that matter) ever published a book, whitepaper, or anything else that actually explains how the various components of WM5/6 actually "work" in a real PDA phone?
I've seen various scattered documents at MSDN that tell how to write applications for phones running WM5/6, but I've never been able to find anything that coherently explains how a PDA phone running WM5/6 actually HANDLES incoming/outgoing phone calls -- the apps and DLLs involved, points where you can wedge your own handlers into the event chain, etc.
I guess what I'm really looking for right now is some guidance about where to even LOOK for that info... the official library/object name(s), the proper phrases to google for, etc. I have a hunch that what I'm looking for is NOT in the MSDN documentation tree for WM6 Professional PDA Phones, and is hidden somewhere else in the hierarchy... but finding anything at MSDN feels like searching for a needle in a haystack unless you already know exactly what you're looking for and what it's officially called ;-)
For what it's worth, I want to write my own replacement handler(s) for voicemail notifications. I can't stand the way WM6 stupidly makes me swat away the notification that I have voicemail, and decline to listen to it, then swat away a second notification that I have a missed call before FINALLY letting me know whose call I missed (and by extension, who left the voicemail message). I want to write a handler that shows something like:
Missed Calls:
Joe Smith @ 3 minutes ago (italics = left voicemail)
Jenna Ho @ 2:27am
Matt Johnson @ yesterday 11:52pm
Matt Johnson @ yesterday 10:23PM
on the screen instead.
Also, I use my cell phone as my "real" phone, and have an AT&T cordless phone that pairs with it via bluetooth. Unfortunately, it doesn't notify me of voicemail or received SMS messages, and I can easily go for HOURS without noticing (say, if I'm outside when someone calls, and they leave a voicemail message... until I physically happen to wake up the phone and look at the display, I'll never even know someone called). So... I want to build a circuit using a BlueSMIRF bluetooth-uart module and a microcontroller that toggles an input on my home automation/burglar alarm system (triggering a voice announcement over the loudspeakers), and have my handler app on the phone connect to it and trigger that notification every few minutes until I notice. I also wouldn't mind being able to make the phone go crazy vibrating in response to a received sms/voicemail message, so if I'm somewhere like a noisy nightclub wearing loose jeans and don't notice, it will keep vibrating and making noise until I do.
Hi all. I have an HTC HD2 in the UK on Orange which gives me billions of free minutes - great for me to use for my business calls. At least it would be if it wasn't for the pain of having to read every number from Outlook or my browser and punch it into my phone by hand.
Is there a bit of software out there that will allow me to dial through my usb or BlueTooth connected phone from my Win7(32) PC? Perhaps from the clipboard or a context menu. If it uses my PC mic/speakers as a hands-free that's also a bonus, but not essential.
All my searches on the subject return info on VOIP etc, which I'm not looking for
Can someone point me in the right direction?
Cheers!
835Rocks
Hello Everyone,
I have Star x18i Mobile with android installed on it, i did search alot of applications and used and really like most of them, now what is my issue i m not able to find any suitable auto call answer machine software,
There are many software of auto answering machine which send message to unknown number calls as soon any call come,,,,
What i want is i get alot of wrong calls each day, i dont know who is calling maybe friend or romour, and i not want to talk to them directly so i m looking for software to install into my mobile which do following main functions :
1. When unknown number call comes, my phone auto pick the call and play an audio file which i will select or built-in in software to that person and record the phone call as well, Audio i will use will be something like that ( Person you are calling is busy please record your msg person will get back to you ) when ever an unknown number call come i want to play sound and record so later i can listen who that person was calling me, if any known person then i will contact them otherwise will block them number....
That is the simple thing like software i want, Please tell me if anyone know any of that type software ? again please i not want sms reply software, i want to play sound to that person auto and record voice....
Hope someone will guide be better.
Thanks allot in Advance
rayice said:
Hello Everyone,
I have Star x18i Mobile with android installed on it, i did search alot of applications and used and really like most of them, now what is my issue i m not able to find any suitable auto call answer machine software,
There are many software of auto answering machine which send message to unknown number calls as soon any call come,,,,
What i want is i get alot of wrong calls each day, i dont know who is calling maybe friend or romour, and i not want to talk to them directly so i m looking for software to install into my mobile which do following main functions :
1. When unknown number call comes, my phone auto pick the call and play an audio file which i will select or built-in in software to that person and record the phone call as well, Audio i will use will be something like that ( Person you are calling is busy please record your msg person will get back to you ) when ever an unknown number call come i want to play sound and record so later i can listen who that person was calling me, if any known person then i will contact them otherwise will block them number....
That is the simple thing like software i want, Please tell me if anyone know any of that type software ? again please i not want sms reply software, i want to play sound to that person auto and record voice....
Hope someone will guide be better.
Thanks allot in Advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is is truly unbelievable to me that in this day and age such an essential phone function could have been overlooked! I have been searching for days and days and found NOTHING or got stupid responses such as "use Google" (Online only, uses Data and for US Citizens only) or "use voicemail" (expensive cellular provider subscription add-on)... I mean, come on! When even the cheapest home phones can be gotten with built in answering machines, how come this essential feature is nowhere to be seen on android phones?
What's the deal, what's the technical hangup, what's the problem? Can anyone explain the REASON why there are NO call answering machine-like apps of any kind out there?
Old faithful said:
Is is truly unbelievable to me that in this day and age such an essential phone function could have been overlooked! I have been searching for days and days and found NOTHING or got stupid responses such as "use Google" (Online only, uses Data and for US Citizens only) or "use voicemail" (expensive cellular provider subscription add-on)... I mean, come on! When even the cheapest home phones can be gotten with built in answering machines, how come this essential feature is nowhere to be seen on android phones?
What's the deal, what's the technical hangup, what's the problem? Can anyone explain the REASON why there are NO call answering machine-like apps of any kind out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im looking for the same thing and can't find it too!
Here is my need. I have a business phone number and my personal cell phone number. All my customers should call me to my business number which I can set to auto-forward to my cell only at the time I want to. But some of my customers know my cell phone number and they keep having this bad habit of calling me on it instead of my business phone number.
I'm looking for a app that will be tracking in the background the caller id number of incoming calls, if the number is a on list of unwanted that I have set, it will auto-answer, play an audio file recorded by me (like: "Please dial 111-222-3333 to reach me, thanks you") and then hang-up.
I don't feel alone with the need of a solution like this. And there are apps that can auto-answer call according to the caller id and there are apps that can play audio in a call, I don't see why it could not be technically possible to combine both.
wow
can't belive it, i was looking for the same and found several threads like this one, that's sad
let's hope sth comes up
Yeah, I used to have this function on my old fliphone from way back in 2002! Also, on my Windows Mobile phones after that...
Exactly. My nokia flip from ages ago (ran symbian OS) has an app on it called "Advanced Answering Machine" or "Advanced Call Manager" or something similar.
I could set it up so that it would direct calls to different greetings depending on the caller ID. An example of this is, I wont accept calls from "unknown" or "blocked" etc numbers. ACM/AAM would handle this perfectly. It would answer the phone, play the Telstra (thats a telco in australia) message "the number you have called is not available from this service." twice, then hang up. Later on I found out I was missing some important calls (the message confused some people such as the landlord who had a blocked number) so I changed it to "I do not accept calls from blocked numbers. To unblock your number, dial 1831 in front of your number. It wont cost you any more". This fixed the problem.
It was also programmed to answer calls after 30 seconds of ringing and play a standard greeting then take a message.
It was a very versatile program. I could (for example) divert certain calls to a party line if I didnt want calls from that particular number; however I didnt, as the diverted leg would cost me a fortune.
Its a shame on these advanced handsets today that such a simple, commonly available on landline phones, feature is not available. I can control televisions, fly remote controlled toys and vapourize components with a big bank of capacitors over bluetooth using my phone, yet it cant perform a simple answering machine function.
From what I hear the API that handles these functions is not directly accessable to developers; probably because "malware" could hook in and dial high priced premium calls and rack up huge bills all the while the phone owner not knowing until the monthly account comes in.
I did see one answerphone somewhere but it utilised the speaker so if it took a call (for example while your at the pub) the caller would not hear your greeting, or on the train everyone around you would hear your greeting and then the callers message, so not very practical. It would NOT work properly while the phone was on mute.
xperia phones come with buit-in answering machine feature. or use jail broken iphone and u have half a dozen apps which can do it.
unfortunately in android noway.. even if u r rooted.. no way
I've got a 4G/LTE Note 8.0 N2150. Since getting this I resolved getting a one year unlimited Skype Out call subscription unlimited for my country. This is sold by Microsoft/Skype as a replacement for your phone, except for emergency calls, quote "Make internet calls for free and cheap online calls to phones and mobiles with Skype. Sign up today and discover a whole new world of staying in touch."
What Microsoft won't tell you is the dial pad doesn't work to make selections for extentions on switchboards under Android. This means all your calls to companies, institutions, government etc are defunct and requires paying extra for by using your usual cell phone SIM. Unless they have manned switchboards.
There's no information on this at all when signing up. Since the dial pad works for dialling a phone number, and the marketing is "make cheap online calls to phones" you only have two weeks to discover this and cancel your subscription.
In a one hour "support" call, where they do not up front ask for OS, device, version of Skype, etc, suggesting immature support, I was finally told that "oh, the dial pad doesn't work in Android. Never has." In the call it was blamed on Skype just recently having been acquired by Microsoft. Er, that was three years ago.
Some further investigation shows that this problem went unattended on Windows7 for a whole year 2011-2012, although Microsoft Skype now claims it's been addressed both for Windows and on Macs.
No official plans exist to address this, nor are there any replies by Skype on the forum.
So, Skype is ripe for picking unless Julie Larson-Green takes action.