Sure, the iPhone is cool looking, works out a lot, and is really good at math... but it can't do VoIP, can it? Well, yes it can -- and you can, thanks to a company called Fring and a piece of ingenious software (for jailbreakers only). Using the native app, it's now possible to place and receive calls via your WiFi connection, thus making AT&T CEOs cry like little babies. Besides doing Skype and the like, the app also lets you connect for chats via MSN Messenger, ICQ, GTalk, SIP, Twitter, AIM, and Yahoo!, which should make this an attractive package even if you don't want to harness the raw power of IP telephony. You can get the application for free by loading up Installer with the company's repo. Check the video after the break to see the magic happen.
[Via
Zatz Not Funny!]
posted Apr 15th 2008 3:55PM
Will it run on the iTouch?
The real question is...
Will it blend?
No mic or ear speaker?
This rocks my socks off!!!!
Yes, it will, but it's buggy.
If you had a mic for it, or a combo mic/headset you still couldn't use it as a phone with this version of the software. According to the site it is intended only for the iPhone (with touch compatability coming).
Using it myself I can see why they'd say that, attempting to make a call simply fails and kicks you back to the main screen, and the chat is buggy as the input box is black with black text.
But, when they get it working properly for the touch (this is still a .9 release) it'll be unbeatable, I think.
I know you can't talk, but what about the IM functionality?
@ steve baird
I have a jailbroken 1.1.4 touch...while I haven't installed fring, I definitely would if it worked with the touch.
However, I think I read somewhere that the headphone jack for the touch only had like 3 rings or something and not a fourth one which would allow mike input? (I'm not an expert on this by any means)
Basically, do you know of any mikes or headphone/mike combos for the Touch? Can you point me to them?
VoIP on the Touch already exists, courtesy of a rather unwieldy Wal-Mart microphone designed for a different type of iPod. The software for this came out around the beginning of 2008. It is by no means mainstream, thanks to the fact that you have to pick up a soldering iron and modify the stock mic slightly (and it's ugly as sin). Beautiful it is not, but functional it is.
No idea if that mic works with fring, but it directly accesses the Touch's Line In contacts - so it's possible that it could with minimal modification. The main advantage of fring seems to be integration with IM.
@Christian LeBrilla:
Will you blend?
What a coincidence, the modmyifone guys just did a post regarding a mic release for the iTouch.
http://www.modmyifone.com/forums/showthread.php?s=909d213baed9c3086670e7171f385b45&t=117991
Alright guys, the real question is:
Unless you get crappy cellphone service in your house, why would you want to use a phone on WiFi?
"@Christian LeBrilla:
Will you blend?"
Fargo says yes.
@ Backlin:
because it's free?
i have skype on my K850i and it saves me so much money.
Yea, but does it.... (fill in the blank)
Yea, but do you ever shut up?
Oh man. Just for that, i quit Engadget. STFU noob. I was just posting the obvious hoping no one else would ask it. Sarcasm what? What is that? Ok "suicide"...
Ouch, sad I got 2.0 beta today :/
It's a very nice program. There are some bugs, though.
It's nice to see competition against Mobile Chat and Apollo.
Did they make this version not suck? I tried the WinMo version and it was terrible. To my fantastic surprise, it ignored the system set sound level (nothing beats Midi music at full volume in your cube...), and I got about half a dozen spam text messages with 24 hours of signing up for it.
Oh, yeah!
Just loaded and tested a skype call. First connection was mute on the receiving end. Second try was fine -- with a noticeable delay.
Still... awesoooome!
I have it on Nokia.. it doesnt always work perfectly.. i just wish Skype would make a native application for the mobile platforms.
Uh... yeah, you're right. I got lucky with my first couple attempts. Now it's not working. When I initiate a call, sometimes the program quits. And logging into Skype takes a loong time. Hopefully this will get better quickly.
Yea i had the same problems. I recently just got iSkoot application... connects fine everytime, havent tried to call yet though.
skype does have a native application for mobiles, it came with my sony ericsson k850i. works well but can sometimes take ages to sign in, i blame that on poor signal in this area though.
skype have also released a 'skype mobile phone' on the 3 network but it's ugly as sin.
I've been holding off on a jailbreak, this is making me want to finally do it.
alright, mr. jobs, you may have my soul now. But, my heart will stay with the hackers!
Well that was easy enough.
Can you get an iPhone without activating it?
Also, what are the risks in jailbreaking it?
Maybe someone can point me to a website that discusses obtaining and using an iPhone without using it as a phone (cause I ain't paying those douchbags at AT&T two years of my hard earned cash).
Skype is the one thing appled fears most...free calls of my home network. Good job, way to stick it to those greedy bastards!
1. Yes, you could jailbreak + unlock the phone so it can be used with and without SIM card.
2. Warranty is gone.
modmyifone.com was invaluable in my iPhone hacking days... Give that a thorough look.
actually, it's at&t that'd be doing the fearing, not apple... unless you plan on stealing the iphone as well..
What happens when you call yourself from the VoIP application?
does it dvide by zero??
He didn't explode... so it's probably okay.
He meant call his iPhone from the iPhone itself.
Results inconclusive. My calculator says "E"
test call works, msn works... skypes still trying to connect... and ill try sip later tonight
atleast this is a real group actively working on it... those idiots at sipvoip/siphone are just clowning around at this point trying to sell their touch mics and ignoring iphones
I have a question: if I jailbreak my iPhone and install this Fring app, will I still be able to upgrade my iPhone firmware (like when 2.0 comes out)?
You can jailbreak, and close it back up a million times if you want. But I warn you. Once you jailbreak, you won't want to go back.
Hmm...When I try to make a call it just crashes on me...
Crashes. Though it is a pre-release after all.
It would be good to at least see the app work for a small amount of time before croaking.
The Iphone has had skype capablities for sometime now, with IM+ (s4iphone.com), ive been using it for a while now... this is not a first...
and AIM and other IM messging services have been available for a long time too now with the free use of "Meebo"... im dissapointed in engadget!
wow! I've been waiting for GTalk and Skype for months! This is great stuff... I'll test around now when I find their repository.
I hope they'll be officially up on Apple's 3rd party software list in June.
VOIP not likely to be blessed be released through the offical App store.
Forgot to say... I hope they'll make Skype and GTalk available over EDGE/GPRS... or by then 3G.
I think it'd be more fun to shove bamboo under my fingernails than to try and have a conversation over GPRS. But for 3G (and maaaybe EDGE?)... Rock on!
oh, and i forgot to say... you DO NOT need jailbreak for either of these... or need to download any special software or anything.. point and click.
Nice laid-back video. Yeh, the iPhone can do it all and more when the 3G iPhone hits the streets.
I'm joking.
I'm sure there'll be plenty of applications like this once the iPhone 2.0 firmware is released. Nothing wrong with these guys trying to get an early jump.
Not like this one...
In the closing questions when they announced the SDK, Stevie told us that apps using VOIP would not be permitted.
Acutally, Steve said VOIP over EDGE (VODGE?) would not be permitted...and it shouldn't be. It'd be terrible. He specifically said they would not disallow VOIP over wifi.
The service at http://rf.com has offered these capabilities for some time now. Even better you can still place your internet calls on rf.com when you don't happen to have a WiFi connection.
So will this be hitting the App Store in the Future? Someone on the Fring forum was saying that Apple would not allow this, but then again....
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/08/apple-to-allow-voip-on-iphone/
touchmods already came out with this like 2 or 3 months ago. They also have a mic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TuS2ihLfdU
Watch it, Fring doesn't seem very good after watching that video.
Kickass! :>
Ooh, Fring! Had it on my N95-1 almost a year ago. Nexxxxt.
This is released for the iPhone users, dumbass....not N95 Owners a "year ago" you bitchin' little apple slammer ;-)
'This is released for the iPhone users' well observed, you managed to understand what this article is about, you're not really as stupid as you sound. Funnily I'm typing this out on my MacbookPro.
This is big for me. I've been waiting for this since last September. First real skype client for iPhone. It's beta, plenty off bugs, but already 100 times better than POS s4iphone.com! And its free!!! i just placed my first skype call on iPhone. This is unreal! Thanks you fring and engadget!!!
been out of the iphone things and i was wondering if is any good jailbraker for windows?
Ziphone is sprendid. There are severar others, too. Googre for "iphone jairbreak" and I think you'rr be set.
@danny
errr... he said jaiLbraker and not jaiRbreak
so i dont really get ur 'joke' (or watever that is) of replacing L's with R's.
The grammar smells of Engrish. Maybe I am wrong...
Can we get Teamspeak compatibility on an iPhone yet? Much more useful than any of the text chat programs IMO.
Okay... it crashed upon exiting. whoops.
PS. it consumes a lot of memory.
There's also another problem with SIM card "not inserted" after a reboot. you need to eject it and put it back in. but it went back to normal after i've uninstalled it.
Please bless this app with a touch of grace--iTouch that is.
www.mailbysnail.com
Check out this You Tube video of Fring on the iPhone:
http://mailbysnail.tumblr.com/
The same video that's in the post.
Do you really need the traffic to your Tumblelog? ;)
will this work on the EDGE network if your not near an access point?
using it for AIM, so far so good! very stable which many of these apps seem to lack...
Am I the only one that doesn't know what source to add in installer for this? All the post said was 'the companys repo".
Source: http://fring.com/iphone.xml
crashed when i attempted to make a call via gtalk
can you connect to multiple chat protocol at once?
Hi Guys,
My name is Roy and I'm on the fring team. As you probably know the version we released the other day is indeed and a 'pre release', with the objective to get your insights and feedbacks.
Thanks for the head's up and pointers on the 'good things' and on the things we need to improve and do better.
keep them coming :)
10x
Roy
roy@fring.com
hot...can use use the Bigstring Self Destructing IM?
anyone try this with/know if it will work with lingo? i.e., put SIP info in and use a lingo account over the iphone...
it crashed when set up calling connection on 1.1.4 iphone
Well it is a nice S/W ,but trust me i have used this on my N95 8gb and the voice quality is just not so good .The only benifit is when my System breaks i have a way to talk to people and without wifi its so damm expensive unless its unlimited download
tried the pre-release version on iPhone 1.1.4 (MA384LL/A) and get no sound (neither with headset nor without)
SIP, Skype registration are fine though
Call seems to be fine too (called iPhone using SIP) but just no sound.
Anyone with same issue? Working solution appreciated ;-)
if anyone wants a free iphone go to this website http://www.YourFreeiPhone.com/index.php?ref=5143379