Database Info

[POLL] Email-to-SMS

Hi all:
I am a developer for an app that forwards SMS (and other things) to an email address. Obviously it would be elegant to be able to reply to your SMS right from your email account, while the other side still sees your SMS in the normal way, and the app does exactly this.
But to get the reply back to the phone via email, we need the user to enter the email-to-SMS address as part of setup. You know, like [email protected] or @vtext.com. The app has a database for some countries and carriers but obviously its a drop in the bucket.
We are finding out that maybe not a lot of people know of such a feature on their phones, hence this poll! It'll help us try some other ideas, or implement this one differently.
Thanks!
PVS
PhoneLeash - free on Android Market

Rogers (in Canada) has this service.. but they charge us for it. So not many people actually have it.

Thanks to everyone who responded. As a result of the poll results, PhoneLeash now supports forwarding SMS (and missed calls, and location, and battery status) to another phone number via SMS. And replying back to these forwarded SMS' does not require an email-to-SMS feature. If you forward to a Google Voice number (or other PC-based SMS-capable services such as HeyWire, Pinger), you can use a PC, and enjoy a very nice feature set (see this review).

Thanks for the useful development for mobile users and internet users as well.
However, I'm already using this service with the help of third party i.e. TextMarketer.co.uk

Play (Poland) already has such a service. It is free for everyone. Polish speakers can check it here: http://www.blogplay.pl/2010/11/kopia-sms-na-email-beta/

[APP][2.3][UK Testers wanted] WYMO - Mobile bill optimizer app

Hello all,
WYMO (Watch Your Mobile Operator) is an Android friend that helps you find the cheapest mobile plan available for you in the UK market.
Our application is in beta testing phase and we are looking for volunteers who would agree to use WYMO's services free of charge and to give us invaluable feedback on their experiences.
If you are interested in giving our app a try and you have Android 2.3 on your phone please go to wymo.co.uk or search for Wymo on Facebook to get to our app's page, where you can find a link (as a noob I can't link here now) or drop a mail to [email protected] and I'll send you the apk.
If you’re a tester don’t hesitate to share your questions and ideas here in this thread or via the email address above. Testers will be asked in a few weeks by a questionnaire as well.
Details about how our app works:
The app is counting incoming and outgoing calls, SMSes, MMSes, data traffic and roaming as well (due privacy reasons it only watches the first 4 numbers of phone numbers). Then it searches for the cheapest plan available on the UK market by analysing the data gathered. The user will get an email about the better offers.
To gather sufficient amount of data the app needs a few weeks monitoring of usage. This happens automatically as the process runs in the background showing a green logo on the status bar.
On the first start the app asks for a few data: only a valid email address and the name of your operator is required. Gender, age, education and postal code are optional.
The main screen has 6 options:
Show report shows the measured usage data.
Discount numbers is where the user can add those numbers which it can call with discount prices (this helps us to be more accurate)
Number portability is where the user can set those contacts who have different prefix than their operator (it helps us to be more accurate as well).
Upload data to server option uploads the measured data to the server.
Settings leads to the app settings.
Purchase leads to the Market’s in-app payment system, where the user can pay to get the cheaper offer’s list. The user will get an email with the list of offers and their prices. For beta testers the service is free.
Should you have any questions, feel free to ask here or via email.
daniel

HealthStylus App

Hi everyone,
I'd like to share with you our best Health App i.e HealthStylus. Here I introduce some feature of this app
Features-
HealthStylus enables you to maintain your family health records electronically.
HealthStylus enables you to keep all your doctors' details address, phone and email in a centralized place.
Take pictures of prescriptions and medical reports using your mobile phone's camera.
Reminder functionality to remind you of upcoming appointment(s), taking medication, etc. on dashboard and taskbar of your phone
Enter your Doctor Appointments, BP, Sugar, Spending, Asthma and Weight details in the app anytime you want
Graphical representation of health statistics captured
Add item related to spending. Track all your healthcare related expenditures - medications, doctor visits, lab tests, etc.
Allows you to enter and access data without internet connectivity. Will synchronize whenever internet service is available.
Initiate doctor calling instantly through this application.
Emergency feature enabled to you call, sms and email to your specified contact no.
Search on Google Play : HealthStylus

An encryption-based decentralized End to End communication APP

The Internet was designed to be a free network. “Don’t be evil” is the formal corporate motto of Google.However a subjective good from Internet institutions can't guarantee Internet freedom.What the true freedom? The true freedom is assuming all the participators are evil, get rid of all the participators capacity for evil through architectural design.
Apps often used to deliver sensitive data or used for personal and corporate communications, so the data stored by the service provider should be encrypted end-to-end, There are many App messaging applications like Line, WeChat, KakaoTalk, and many more, but they are not end-to-end encrypted messengers. Time is loudly announcing the need to shift to some alternates who provide end-to-end encryption for communication between two devices and respect your Privacy. There are a number of solutions available includes for privacy like, Telegram offers end-to-end encryption and have a 'Secret Chat' feature, that self-destruct messages after the conversation, Sure spot allows you to send and receive text messages, pictures and audio clip with end-to-end encryption, Threema use end-to-end encryption and gives you all features like text messaging, image sharing, and voice chat as well, Text Secure and Red Phone also provides end-to-end encryption for messaging and voice calls respectively. Red Phone allows you to upgrade a normal call to secure call whenever it senses the possibility to fulfill the requirements.
Therefore we have developed a complete decentralized, third-party End to End encrypted communication APP.
What is “a complete decentralized” concept?
IMAP/SMTP are standard communication protocol for retrieving and sending emails from mail server, our APP users communicate via the protocols, as if they are sending emails.
What is “third-party End to End encrypted communication”？
Since we are using zero-server solution, the developer themselves can't read the communication information from users at all. We encrypt the E-mail communication. The advantage of third-party encryption is no one can read APP user's communication information without permission, include APP official, operator, E-mail service provider and so on.
Why “APP”？
We used smart phone longer than sitting in front of a PC. We hope to develop a 100% free of charge future-proof secure communication app that is convenient and suit for long-hour usage.
After completing the APP, as long as there is user, nobody include us can prohibit this product from being used. As in nobody can prohibit the use of email protocol. Furthermore there will be no server deployed to manage this APP. It enables free flow of APP in conformity with the spirit of free Internet environment.

freedom is only an illusion. Your never free, I'll never be free, no living thing can ever be truly free, as every action is determined (or can be seen as determined a posteriori) by various factots. So, as the Internet is constructed by humans, logically it won't be free as well.
Stop talking about freedom and give us a secure App
this is not meant negatively.
Regards

Needs to be idiot proof, lightweight and versatile. Good luck.
Sent from a stolen phone!

VOIP For expatriates, multi-country presence, & escaping carrier-bound phone numbers

VOIP For expatriates, multi-country presence, & escaping carrier-bound phone numbers
VOIP for Expatriates
The bottom line turned out to be, there is no good way to have worldwide phone connectivity unless all of the numbers you use are VOIP numbers, and the SIM/wireless provider simply becomes a wireless ISP. This started out an analysis for CallHippo, which I tried out for a month, but it branched out. So far, I've only worked with CallHippo, RingCentral, and Google Voice, and looked at GrassHopper and Phone.com. I've highlighted the other's differences in red. You might be able to somehow use MagicJack in the fit too. One thing to keep in mind is once you leave the SIM or standard PSTN, VOIP often requires 10-digit dialing. That many not matter to you, but it might to those calling you. 7-digit dialing requires a relationship between the PSTN provider and the phone company for your area.
Cost: The only CallHippo plan that makes any sense is the $15.00/$18.00 plan because the number is free, you get 800 incoming, and 200 outgoing minutes after which you pay a penny a minute. Additional numbers are $6.00/mo. from ~200 different countries.
Advantages:
1. The call quality and latency are good.
2. The call recording is good, and without the intrusive nonsense of, "this call is being recorded". It just works, and they back them up as well as your call logs. The advantages of this cannot be understated. Unless you are doing contracts over the phone you don't want that. Most people just want a note taker so you don't need to interfere with the conversation to write things down, especially while driving. It keeps track of time on calls for invoicing purposes. In most cases, it is not possible to know ahead of time if you will need to play it back later or they will be giving you numbers to write down etc.
3. Very flexible with multiple people using the same number at the same time and ring through to other devices, and using devices like extensions. This is different from something such as RingCentral and Phone.com which can use SIP devices because it assigns it a number on the PSTN. With Grasshopper, the device must already have a number in the PSTN to forward the call to, to use it as an extension, which must be Internet accessible, and has it's own voice mail and greetings per extension. Nothing is more feature-rich than RingCentral and it includes MMS, never-busy FAX number, video and call conferencing, and can manage and access everything from a soft-phone on a computer. Phone.com can do nearly as much, but no MMS. A big advantage of systems that can use a SIP device means you do not need to pay for cellular PSTN number to forward to, which requires the additional expense, and something that needs to change every time you change SIMs. With GrassHopper, every time you change SIMs or let your SIM lapse somewhere, you would have to reconfigure because you would lose your number to forward to. You can still forward, and you aren't counting minutes. If the end point for the number will be a cell phone, then CallHippo might make more sense.
4. It only costs $6.00/mo. for each additional line, which can be from ~200 different countries, giving you local presence in multiple countries from anywhere. RingCentral requires a $34.00 plan for the US plus a $44.00 plan plus a 2-year commitment. With Phone.com I can get 1 US line and 1 foreign line for $14.99/mo. by the year or $19.99/mo. by the month. You get 500 minutes and $.039/min. after that or you can buy a bigger plan. If they had Colombia, I'd go with it.
5. The overall combination of good call quality, call recording, flexible use of lines, and local presence in other countries for $6.00/line set it apart. Phone.com also supports a limited number foreign countries at a very practical cost, and would be by far the better way to go IF they support the countries you need.
Disadvantages:
1. Their web site is a confusing hodge-podge of pages that indicating it was built without a plan and pages added to piecemeal to add a capability. Signup was and getting things going was cruel and required multiple chats. RingCentral is very well done. Phone.com seemed like a bit of a put-off because it seems they want you to get a quote. However, it is actually by far the best. A real-live-American will assemble the features you need so it doesn't need to fit anything, and give you a quote where you are getting everything you need and nothing you don't, and at a better price than any other.
2. Competent support will not be available when you need it. This has been true in all but one case. RingCentral's support is good, and Phone.com's is off the charts.
3. CallHippo cannot dial from your Android contacts, nor does it's sync to contacts work. If you enter the numbers into CallHippo's directory by hand they will work but then you cannot use those CallHippo contacts anywhere else. If select a Contacts from Android Contacts to dial, it will return an error that the phone number not valid. This is the problem:
__a. In Android Contacts when you enter a phone number 1234567890 into Android, it will automatically format it to (123) 456-7890.
__b. The CallHippo directory stores contacts like this: 1234567890.
__c. The CallHippo Contacts is designed to work worldwide numbers. For numbers stored as US numbers, it will prepend a 1 and dial 1123456789.
__d. When you select a number from Android Contacts, it receives (123) 456-7890 from Contacts, for the US it prepends a 1 for 1(123) 456-7890 and returns an error that the number is not valid
4. Like most VOIP solutions, it only has SMS, not MMS. RingCentral Supports both.
5. The combination of the poor support, poor website layout, not-well-thought-out contact access
*RingCentral has no problem here nor does Phone.com.
Summary:
- What sets CallHippo apart is the combination of call recording and local presence in multiple countries for only $6.00/mo. That make the penny a minute make sense. Phone.com can do this better if you can live with the much smaller country list they support.
- CallHippo costs $15/mo. for Silver which gives you 800 minutes of free incoming and 200 minutes of free outgoing. If you do the same for RingCentral Essentials it will cost $30/mo. but it will be unlimited free calling in both directions. If you have two people, RingCentral's price goes to $20/mo. each, making it compelling unless you need foreign or multiple lines per person. For that price CallHippo gives you automatic call recording while RingCentral will make you remember to hit the * key unless you get the more expensive packages. If you add $5/mo. to RingCentral you get fax, audio conference and video conference. CallHippo allows you to add numbers for $6.00/mo. including in foreign countries. RingCentral only works with US numbers and it would cost another full monthly service charge. Google Voice is free, but it is only a US number and you must give them a US number for confirmation. I'm not sure if you will need a confirmation number at any point in the future but I do know that if the number is no longer available, the service does not stop. Call recording for inbound calls only and does an announcement. This enables free calls to from anywhere to anywhere in the US for free, and makes you reachable from anywhere in the US. This does not enable free local calling to and from a foreign country from anywhere. The way I can see this working is if you don't care about call recording, and you got a VOIP number in the foreign country. Otherwise, when you were out of country, you would not be able to be directly contacted from that country, and you would have multiple VOIP provider apps. You hear a lot about GrassHopper. It is more feature-rich than CallHippo, but the problem is it is more of a forwarding service. That means you need to have a number to forward to that you are maintaining from another service. Thus, GrassHopper's fit is for a US-based business using other phones as extensions. It doesn't do call recording, every time you change SIMs the number you forward to would have to change, and anything foreign would be at long distance rates. It is clearly not a fit for international use. Phone.com makes a ton of sense if their limited non-US country list works for you.
- CallHippo's poor website layout, poor support, and not having something as basic as dialing from Contacts working, indicates an amateur operation. RingCentral and Phone.com excel in all of these categories and even sharing a contact list. Not being able to dial from you Contact list? People's expectations of a dialer goes beyond that. They expect to be able to paste a number in from a web page and have it dial.
- I believe CallHippo has a lot of potential but it seems like it's in the alpha stage. Will it even exist tomorrow, and what happens to your ported numbers then? The attraction is there isn't anything with this level of functionality and price for doing frequent coordination in multiple countries.
- Defining the market for this service is a bit of a challenge. As a VOIP IP PBX system, it is much more limited than most. It doesn't work with regular SIP hardware for inside of an office. If you use your cell phone as your desk phone, you still cannot share a company telephone directory, nor can you use its Contacts to dial from because their sync does not make the telephone numbers available in a format that CallHippo can use, nor is there any other way to import or export Contacts. It cannot sanitize numbers copied from web pages. Ideally, as an expatriate, you want your domestic and foreign numbers to be VOIP numbers so when you switch SIMs, nothing changes because the wireless provider does not host your number. He is simply providing Internet access for the numbers. CallHippo's main detractors are the Contact list situation, and no MMS support. So it seems like the only market fits for CallHippo are for a single expatriate, or a one-man business that needs local presence to call other businesses in foreign countries.