PPLConnect makes physical phones virtual, is now available via open beta to Android users

Your phone is a prisoner. No, it's not chained to a particular cell, but it is confined to whatever handset your SIM is stuffed into. PPLConnect wants to free your phone from that confinement through the powers of cellular virtualization. And today, if you have an Android phone and live in the US or Canada, the company can do just that with the launch of its eponymous app and open beta. In case you missed our earlier coverage of PPLConnect, let us give you a quick refresher on its technology. By creating a PPLConnect account and linking it with your phone number via an Android app, you gain access to your contact list, text messages and phone calls from any device with an internet connection -- letting you both make and take calls and send and receive texts straight from the browser. And the best part? Because it's fully virtualized, your phone doesn't even need to be turned on for you to use it remotely.

Before you go signing up for the open beta, however, there are a few more things you should know. Since we last saw PPLConnect, it redesigned its web interface to be responsive to work on any screen size. During that redesign, the team decided to optimize it to work in Chrome due to that browser's use of WebRTC technology and its cross-device compatibility. Support for Firefox and Safari are also in the pipeline and are slated to be supported early next year, but for now you've gotta stick with Google's browser.

Also, for folks with privacy concerns: yes, PPLConnect holds all of your contacts and communications info on its servers, but co-founders Denzil D'sa and Jenviev Azzolin assure us that they absolutely prioritize their users security and privacy. "We believe that your data is your data," says Azzolin, which is why one of the first features built into the platform was a one-click means to delete your account. Plus, the whole point of the company is to provide a better, more flexible phone service for us all, and to do that it needs to build and maintain credibility with users. D'sa and Azzolin made clear that they see user privacy as key to achieving its goals.

So, if you're willing to take them at their word and you're over the tyranny of physical phones, head on down to the source -- the PPLConnect bandwagon's still got plenty of seats available.