Forum Discussion
Tablets that can be used like a phone
Are there any tablets folks have used that work like a phone to make and receive phone calls. Not talking about voip whatsapp or Hang outs or Skype. Basically an LTE device fully functional wit...
Ah. That's kinda tricky because when we set up the tablets, the lines are created with plans that do not have voice capability included. So, even with a pre-installed or downloaded dialing app, trying to call from the tablet will result in an error message.
btfojeff@yahoo.com wrote:tidbits wrote:Also as I pointed out with the unlocked Note 10.1 cellular version it could make phone calls with ANY GSM carrier. If there is no provision for it that's total BS as it still works to this day. Samsung removed the ability on their own worldwide and forces you to use their service or pick a VOIP service.
I apologize. I will let you believe whatever you want, it really doesnt matter. My tablet does what I need it to and that is what matters to me. But thanks for your throughput anyway, it was virtually useless. To that an End. As you were.
Just for reference. I was a developer for Sony Mobile for over a decade. Also my brother works for Samsung in Korea as a developer as well.
Look up Note 10.1. Not the recently released 10 or 10.1. It came out after the Note 3 and before the Note 4. It was unlocked and made phone calls. When the Note 4 was released Samsung removed phone app for all their tablets going forward. See below as to why. People have sideloaded or even tried coding in phone calling capabilities, but have failed. There's a simple reason why it has failed and has nothing to do with carriers and tin foil conspiracies. It has to do with profits. Android is not 100% open source. There are proprietary bits that are needed. You need licensing and also testing which cost $$$ and time. Check out the licensing for your tablet and see if the FCC approved it for calling. No? Well Samsung didn't run it through so it will never get that ability. That's why the proprietary bits will not be found because they don't have any intention on it working or spending money to give that feature.
Another example Nexus 4 with 4G and Google removing the proprietary bits to make it stop working because of no licensing. They could have just ran it through. It was cheaper for them to remove the bits and keep the price point as cheap as they had it.
You can always import one that has that ability and make phone calls but keep in mind the frequency support might not line up because it isn't intended for our market. My car has a radio that has a sim port from Singapore and I have my digits sim in it. I can make phone calls surf the web and such, but only at 2G. When T-Mobile retires 2G in my area those features will stop working.
