wi-fi calling
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Why Wi-Fi Calling could be the biggest new feature in iOS 8
As week continues, we're finding out more and more about what wasn't highlighted in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite during yesterday's keynote event. One of those features, Wi-Fi Calling, could easily be one of the most important features in Apple's upcoming mobile operating system for a lot of iPhone users although it was just another bullet point on one of the slides (see image above). Wi-Fi Calling allows Wi-Fi networks to handle voice calls from an iPhone, provided the iPhone owner's mobile carrier supports the feature. Why is this big news? Let's say that you happen to live in one of those fringe zones where low signal strength and dropped calls are a regular occurrence. With Wi-Fi Calling, your call is routed over your Wi-Fi network and out onto the Internet. You save talk time minutes, your signal strength is as good as your Wi-Fi network, and in situations where you may be near a Wi-Fi network but not on your carrier's network, you might save yourself some roaming fees. For many of us who are in those fringe zones, our current fallback is to spend extra money each month to retain a landline to use for critical situations where a dropped call or bad signal just can't be tolerated. Wi-Fi Calling isn't new to smartphones; Windows and Android smartphones have had the feature for some time. To take advantage of Wi-Fi Calling, your wireless carrier will need to support it. At this point, T-Mobile is the only US carrier that has publicly announced support. T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert announced yesterday that the company has supported Wi-Fi Calling since 2007 and welcomed iPhone users -- albeit prematurely -- to join in on using the feature. If the other major US carriers -- AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint -- also announce support for Wi-Fi Calling, it could easily be one of the most profound changes to the iPhone in terms of voice call quality ever. According to Sievert, using Wi-Fi Calling is a no-brainer; just enable the service on your smartphone, connect to any available Wi-Fi network, and you're ready to start calling without fear of a dropped call or roaming charges. Should those other carriers decide to ignore or delay implementation of Wi-Fi Calling, T-Mobile will find itself in the enviable position of being the sole carrier to provide its customers with landline-quality reliability without the extra expense of maintaining a landline connection.
T-Mobile says its Nexus 4 won't provide WiFi calling, makes a stronger case for going unlocked
T-Mobile has already made an odd pair of decisions around its approach to the Nexus 4, namely its choices to ask $200 on contract and $500 up-front for a smartphone that costs $349 unlocked. It might be time to add a third quirk to the list, if a forgivable (and not entirely surprising) one. The carrier has confirmed to TmoNews that it won't be offering WiFi calling through its edition of Google's flagship; if cost or coverage makes cellular voice a scarce resource, VoIP might be the only viable backup. We weren't assuming that T-Mobile would suddenly layer the Nexus 4 in custom features when the very point is to run an unspoiled Android 4.2, but the strategy leaves us even less of an incentive to submit to long-term commitments when a virtually identical, unfettered Google Play model beckons. November 13th is looking better every day.
T-Mobile makes LG Optimus L9 official, carries big-yet-budget Android this fall
We knew it was coming -- we just didn't expect official news quite so soon. T-Mobile has confirmed that its edition of the LG Optimus L9 will be available this fall. The magenta network's supersized yet entry level Android 4.0 phone won't be significantly different than its international cousin in hardware outside of the necessary 3G frequency switch, but the American GSM variant will support WiFi Calling, allow five-device hotspots and ship with a preloaded copy of Slacker Radio. Any pricing and an in-store date will have to wait; even with that 4.5-inch screen and 2,150mAh battery, though, it's easy to picture the L9 costing less than many of T-Mobile's smaller smart devices.
T-Mobile to bundle Wi-Fi Calling app with future Android devices?
Yesterday, we saw that LG's Optimus One might ship with WiFi calling, and that's all well and good, but a new leak suggests the Optimus was just the tip of a UMA iceberg to come. The above picture is one of several allegedly leaked training slides obtained by TmoNews, highlighting a dedicated "Wi-Fi Calling" app that may come pre-installed on upcoming Android devices, one of which just might be that new T-Mobile G2. Before you raid your piggybank in hopes of free VoIP calls, however, know that this app-ified brand of WiFi calling isn't necessarily the seamless switching solution we've wanted all along; that little yellow "limitations" tab reportedly explains that as soon as you leave the WiFi radius, you effectively drop your call.
