Use your GPlayer as a regular Cell Phone

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silentdoh

Member
Jun 14, 2012
29
12
Just something to keep in mind, that lovely 50-some odd hour battery life on standby? That won't be around, even with light use, you'll have to charge both devices every night, after a couple weeks with the Gmate I moved back to my old phone, half because I couldn't get data to work and half because of the constant need for charging, but it is a cool device, and I'm definitely keeping it around, in case my old phone finally kicks it.
 

silentdoh

Member
Jun 14, 2012
29
12
Yeah, you do need a sim card for this to work. Basically, it's an unlocked GSM phone, minus the screen, keyboard, speaker and microphone. So for me on AT&T, all I had to do was pop my sim card in and connect with the app, my number showed up on the main screen, and all the contacts from my sim card were downloaded to the Gmate address book. Also, I'd strongly advise getting the Gmate+ (the one with vibration) as the regular Gmate appears to have no way of communicating to you while in your pocket if it disconnects.
 
Sep 11, 2012
7
0
Midothian
YP-G70 at a cellphone

A few days ago I bought a device called GMATE ($80), a type of smallcell without display or keyboard which is inserted a normal simcard and communicating via Bluetooth to the Samsung Galaxy Player, which means an application is integrated with android, receiving and making phone calls, and SMS, in addition to allowing internet access GPRS.
It's a perfect combination that increases the possibilities of Our Player

I also use my player as a dedicated cellphone, but simply purchased a 'no contract' Verizon jetpack for mobile WIFI ($60 per month for 3Gbs). I had my previous cell number ported to Google Voice (costs $20) and use a free app called Talkatone as my dialer/phone. It works great, with excellent performance, particularly in 4G LTE areas. Similar to a cell phone, if the signal is weak, performance is degraded. The talkatone app runs continously in the background and the Galaxy rings, as it should, when receiving a call. ;)
 

llukezz

Member
Oct 9, 2012
43
6
I have a flip phone and I bought the gp5 thinking I could use it as a headset via bluetooth (flip phone is a work phone and I can't change it to something better). I connect them via bluetooth but it just says "paired but not connected". So I figured the gmate would be perfect. I bought it and tried it but apparently my network isn't GSM, it's CDMA. So I hit a dead end. Any other ideas out there how I can make the gp5 a phone using my flip phone or sim card on a CDMA network?
 

muji8u

Member
Oct 26, 2012
29
0
I'm still having trouble with how it recives data without wifi.

and where does the sim card go?
 
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GuestD0577

Guest
This is indeed very interesting. I didn't think a product like this existed. However, can we have more details on how it works? I'm trying to figure out one thing:
  • The SIM Card. By "You can use 'any' SIM Card", define "any" please. An active SIM? Which carrier? Where to buy? Pretend I'm stupid.
 
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TwistedSanity666

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2011
212
32
London
the player (5.0") is about £130, the gmate is around £50, add a bit more and you're better off buying a phone outright methinks

doesn't seem like the most economical solution

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
 
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GuestD0577

Guest
What if you consider the long term costs?

Sent from my YP-G70 using xda app-developers app
 

TwistedSanity666

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2011
212
32
London
What kind of long term costs are you thinking?

If you're using a sim in the Gmate from any network, the cost of the call will be the same no matter whether you use the Gmate or a normal phone.

I don't really see the benefit so far, might as well have a fully fledged Android device with phone functions and one which is easier to root - just picked up a Sony Xperia U for my sister for £100 in the sale
 
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GuestD0577

Guest
What kind of long term costs are you thinking?

If you're using a sim in the Gmate from any network, the cost of the call will be the same no matter whether you use the Gmate or a normal phone.

I don't really see the benefit so far, might as well have a fully fledged Android device with phone functions and one which is easier to root - just picked up a Sony Xperia U for my sister for £100 in the sale

Oh I see, the SIM will have to be active with a carrier. Well, I know that should have been obvious, but I wan't to be sure. Yes, you are correct, GMate seems pointless.
 

TwistedSanity666

Senior Member
Mar 10, 2011
212
32
London
Just spotted new HTC Desire X, similar size, better features, better looking and with Android 4.0 - might just get one of those instead.
 

HeyyahAndrea

Member
Oct 12, 2012
47
2
I did some short research on this and yes, they sell it in my country! :) I also found the price... Youch. I have to think about buying this, though. A lot of people think my SGP is a phone ("Is that Galaxy Note?!") and I can't wait to finally use it as one. :)
 

halomademeapc

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2010
310
104
Indianapolis
www.halomademeapc.com
I did some short research on this and yes, they sell it in my country! :) I also found the price... Youch. I have to think about buying this, though. A lot of people think my SGP is a phone ("Is that Galaxy Note?!") and I can't wait to finally use it as one. :)
I've had mine since august and get the "is that a ______?" about five times a day at school. Thursday is the first time I met someone who actually knew what it was and I met two other people with them at a Jazz Festival yesterday. Samsung definitely could have done a better job advertising this guy.
 

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    EDIT: I HAVE FIXED THE MAIN ISSUE WITH MY GMATE, MORE INFORMATION BELOW


    Well, my Gmate+ came in the mail today, and I've been playing with it for a little while now and am able to give first impressions. First off, the device is much smaller than I imagined, it easily fits in my palm, the vibration (on the plus version) is very loud. As for the function itself, it works. You can call and send and receive text messages (haven't tested the web access yet) with a few minor (and one major) annoyances. My device is currently a US SGP 4.0 running Terrasilent 1.1 and EtherealRom 2.3.

    Minor annoyances I have found with the Gmate+:
    - Notifications (read: texts) do not make noise/vibrate while the screen is locked. Once the screen goes on, if you do have a new text, it notifies you, kind of ruining the point of the notification.

    - Text messages you send have proper time stamps, for some reason, the ones you receive are off by a few hours, as if the sender is in a different time zone

    - Seems to be no way to delete contacts from the address book, even uninstalling, wiping data, reinstalling didn't do anything about this.

    Major annoyance with the Gmate+:

    - It disconnects, and by that I mean it disconnects ALL THE TIME, the device is pretty much useless because of this, it will be fine for a few minutes, then disconnect, regardless of how close the Gmate is to my SGP. Every few minutes, I'd check it, and guess what? No connection. Sometimes it would reconnect, sometimes I'd have to manually do it, sometimes I'd have to restart one or both devices to get it to work again.


    Seeing as everything the device does it actually does quite well when actually connected, I want to rule this problem to some battery saving tweak in my kernel/rom. As such, I'll be returning to stock and trying the Gmate again to see if any of these issues are cleared up. As it stands, I have a 75$ paperweight that buzzes occasionally.


    EDIT: After flashing back to stock and noticing no change, I began searching around and found other people having similar problems with similar devices, mainly connecting their smartphones to the bluetooth sound system in their car. Turns out in Deep Sleep, the device has issues keeping constant bluetooth connection. After downloading an app (Bluetooth KeepAlive: ~$1.30) on the market that keeps the device from entering this mode, the Gmate no longer disconnects, and has remained connected for several days, having no problem with calls or text messages at any time. In summary, with this app, I am now happy to recommend the Gmate to anyone who is looking for this kind of functionality. Guess it goes to show that non compatible apps are listed in the Play Store as non working for a reason ;)
    2
    A few days ago I bought a device called GMATE ($80), a type of smallcell without display or keyboard which is inserted a normal simcard and communicating via Bluetooth to the Samsung Galaxy Player, which means an application is integrated with android, receiving and making phone calls, and SMS, in addition to allowing internet access GPRS.
    It's a perfect combination that increases the possibilities of Our Player