Phone  Computer

It seems to me that many phones will be pitched as computers, BYODKM. But I don't see any computers that you remove the bulky parts and it becomes a phone.

Maybe it is just perspective.

If my car can pickup the blue tooth signals from my phone in the house, I would imagine that I should have a computer that could do the same job as the phone.

Shouldn't it be easier to turn a computer into a phone than a phone into a computer?

-Josh

@PopeDai: No, I'm talking about something that works well. Even the crappiest of phones is better than Skype, at least for making phone calls.

-Josh

@JoshRoss:I have a lot more luck with Skype than I do with standard phones where international calls are concerned.

@JoshRoss: 'phones' can cover a multitude of things.

If you are talking analogue phones connected to the PSTN via POTS, then the grunt work of encode/decode is being done at the exchange, so even the simplest analogue handset will work ok.

However, if you are talking about office-type SIP-VOIP (as opposed to say, Skype-VOIP) then the handset (or soft-phone app) is doing the encode/decode work, and so there can be a vast difference in call quality depending on the device being used, not to mention all the other variables like Firewalls, Routers, PBXs etc.

I've installed SIP phone systems using CISCO and POLYCOM handsets, and the call quality is first-class, better than a classic analogue call, while the same PBX using a Lynksys SPA phone makes the caller sound like Darth Vader with a head-cold.

I think I've had a program for Win3.1 that allow you to dial and talk through a modem, with headset and microphone.

EDIT: Just found that under WinXP, you have \Program Files\Windows NT\dialer.exe too.

3 hours ago, PopeDai wrote

*snip*

but I've found the call quality to be no-better than a POTS call.

With an IP phone, the analogue signal is encoded/decoded at the phone, whereas with a POTS service the analogue signal needs to reach the exchange before that happens. Where I live (and work) poor copper is common place, and noisy lines play havoc on all analogue services.

Forget phone computer, how about phone super computer:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/48-cores-chip-cpu-smartphone-tablet,18811.html

@PopeDai: The irony is that you can run Skype on your phone (well, some phones).

It's a phone pretending to be a computer pretending to be a phone.

Shakespearean.

I just downloaded Skype for my phone. Strange enough, Skype on the phone is better that Skype on the computer. Much better. Go figure.

-Josh