What do I need to do to my SM-P905 to use it as a phone?

[Tom2112]

I just pulled the trigger on a refurbished SM-P905 (Verizon) tablet. I would like to have the option of sticking my phone's SIM card in it and use the tablet as my phone (with an ear piece, of course).

What would I need to do to the tablet in order to make that work? Root? Install additional apps? Would CM12 work?

Assume that I have a Verizon cell phone that I would pull the SIM from and put into the tablet when I needed to use it as such.

Thanks!

 

[BuHaneenHHHH]

I have the international version of the note pro SM-P905

from my previous knowledge,
any android tablet can be used as a phone except that phone calls will be heard through the speaker unless you use an ear piece.

I already have a phone sim installed on my note pro and it is working fine out of the box
I use it the sim for data and I made a few phone calls without any problems
no need for root or anything else

I don't know about Verizon note pro model but it is suppose to be the same

 

[Tom2112]

Thanks! I was concerned that the tablet wouldn't have the necessary phone apps and background software that it would need right out of the box.

 

[firefly6240]

I have the P905V as well.
I haven't tried a phone sim on I cant say for sure on the phone calls themselves.
however I am using a T-mobile tablet sim with text messaging and the text messaging does not seem to work on this tablet.
Verizon and sprint use CDMA for voice, SMS and 3G data
When they moved to LTE (Which is a GSM technology) they basically just added a sim card slot for data on top of the existing CDMA hardware.

Some Verizon phones also have the Sim slot enabled for GSM calling for people that travel internationally.
unfortunately most tablets (and even a lot of phones) dont have that feature and only use it for LTE
I suspect that this is the case here.
there is chance it might make calls if activated under Verizon though you would need a dialer installed. (Perhaps someone with one activated with Verizon could chime in if they have tried it)

The best option I've found on an alternate carrier is to use your google voice number in the hangouts app to make VOIP calls.
it works great for that and you basically have calling coverage anywhere you have data.
Groove IP also works pretty good and doesnt use much data.
unfortunately VOIP is the only option I know of.

On a side note, as stated above the international version has the full phone features in GSM format, this is often the case with international versions of tablets.
Sadly the US only versions often have things stripped out by the carrier, sometimes out of necessity and sometimes to push people to use their service etc.

 

[Tom2112]

Thanks for the info! That's exactly what I was afraid of, that the Verizon version of the OS on this tablet wouldn't include the phone/texting software. So I'm wondering if the CM12 rom does..?

 

[firefly6240]

Unfortunately while the Verizon version is rootable on android 4.4 there are no custom roms for it currently.
Also note that they released the 5.1 update for the Verizon model but its not yet rootable.
I've kept mine on 4.4 for this reason but a lot of people have opted to give up root for the newer software.

I know this all sounds like bad news but this is really an amazing tablet, I actually use it exclusively and no longer use windows at home.
I also often use it for calls over VOIP.
but unfortunately if custom roms and voice calls are what you are looking for in a tablet the international version would have likely been the better choice.

The Verizon Version does have a few perks due to the snapdragon 800 processor, charging faster being the biggest.

 

[Tom2112]

Thanks! I just purchased mine and its supposed to get here tomorrow. I'm probably going to send it back. I don't want to be stuck on 4.4 just so I can have root, and I don't want to deal with not even having root on 5.1. Then add-on that you can't unlock the bootloader on the Verizon version, and it's a no-go.