Turning the PSP into a WiFi VoIP phone?

Hopefully he's not just thinking out loud: Erik Lagerway, the president of VoIP company Xten, has been musing on his blog about how he thinks his company should be able to hack together a VoIP softphone for Sony's PlayStation Portable. Should be totally doable, too, since the PSP has built-in WiFi, a TCP stack, and a "Headphone/Microphone/Control connector". The PSP is playing catch up here—last week at E3 Nintendo showed off a new VoIP app for the DS called DSpeak that'll let you voice chat with other DS users.

[Via GigaOm]

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

The PSP will never play catchup. Nintendo's idea of VoIP involves a talking wario.

[Bobby Blue @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

In the words of the great Robert Deniro, "Well...what's the holdup?"

[ed @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

One word:

Sidetalkin'

[Craig @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

The PSP has way too many mindless accesories but i think this would be sweet to have.

[Staff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

mindless accesories? you must be a ipod owner in denile

psp is self crippiling why doesnt sony just let us hack it up!!

[Alric Lopez @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Talk about self crippling. I get frustrated just thinking of 1.8 Gb/UMD disc of content that I could have if Sony gave us an UMD writer.

[matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

wow, i've been waiting for something like this to come out.

[kyle @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

"voip company Xten"

is that the same company as home automation/security company x10, or just a shameless rip-off of a name?

[Cullen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

anyone else think blogs by ceos and such are lame? it seems that itd be far too easy to just turn into a PR thing.
and who exactly wants to talk into a psp? it makes a little sense on the ds because i tihnk therell be games that use it, but this is jsut another example of something that shouldve been done that wasnt. nintendo thought ahead, sony created the UMD :p

[Jesse Andrews @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

re: kyle

given that X10 is known for those annoying "Spy on people" ads, I doubt anyone would want to be associated with them on purpose.

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Also, wouldn't it be great to have skype on it. Skypein/out ... ;)

[Dan Dickinson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

"last week at E3 Nintendo showed off a new VoIP app"

That's funny, I would've sworn the sign said Tech Demo.

http://img.engadget.com/common/images/7435545919932967.JPG?0.9262591570509601

[www.mygadgetbag.com @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I think it would be "ok" to have VOIP on my PSP, but, if you can afford to purchase a PSP, and all of it's games; why not just purchase a dedicated VOIP phone?

It would seem pretty clumsy to use a PSP just to make a call.

[Tim Shundo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Oh good lord. Nintendo was right. Competition is fierce. Now I see why they wanted to wait to reveal the Revolution controller's new features; they'd be on the rest of the rest of the controllers in the competition ASAP.

"That's funny, I would've sworn the sign said Tech Demo."

Does that make any difference? Either way, it's an application.

[Kevin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Is that PSP thingy *still* around?

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Dan, I fail to see your point. The Tech Demo was showing off a VoIP app. Nintendo themselves say that DSpeak is an application that will be available to end users.

[elmer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I don't know why the article seems to say anything about �Headphone/Microphone/Control connector�. As far as I know the headphone jack is just that; a headphone jack with a remote control port on the side. I don't remember anyone mentioning that it could act as an input too (wouldn't it have been nice to record audio input even to a memory stick - too bad). If anyone had bothered to quote properly then you might have read "and it has a USB port, Wi-Fi and a TCP stack" on the original blog, implying you'd probably need a USB mic. What's my point? Well aside from not owning any USB mic's, it makes it just a little bit (lot) tougher to dial numbers and addresses without being able to simultaneously connect a USB keyboard (hubs will just make it look silly) and a darn sight less friendly than doing the same on a DS, where in theory, you don't have to buy a thing.

[Streetism @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

The DS is a piece of crap. I'm glad I sold mine. It's time for Nintendo to fold up and stop making systems and just make games. Do we need another Mario or a talking DS? Who really has a DS anyway?

[lupinstel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Poster #10. X10 has come to be known as being associated with the annoying pop up ads, but it must be known that X10 is actually the name of a a protocol used in home automation, not a particular product. The people selling spy cameras in pop up ads hijacked the name, and ended up giving everyone selling x10 compatable products a bad name. Products which use the X10 protocol are pretty cool, and I hate to see everyone selling x10 protocol products associated with the spy cam sellers. Of course my post has nothing to to with the company Xten mentioned here, but I wanted to clear the confusion up.

[OddManOut @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

So if this VOIP application actually get's 'hacked together' will it only work on the Japanese firmware version 1.0 systems or is Sony actually going to sanction this product's development/implementation ?

[Cullen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

itll probably be an app that dials your home phone though the browser in wipeout. you know im right.

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

16:
i believe the "remote control port," as you called it, serves more than one function. if you'll notice it has 3 metal contacts on the inside -- typically, in previous devices, each contact on a 3-pin slot like such has one for input, one for power, and one for control -- or something like that. all i know is that that the different contacts serve different purposes, if sony got their programming right.
i'm not 100% on this, but just thought i'd offer my feeble knowledge. also, couldnt the IR port be used for something? as of now, its sitting idle (xept for those guys who used it as a tivo remote).