Android N, VoLTE and WiFi Calling

[Old Stoneface]

Somehow I was under the impression that Android N would have VoLTE and WiFi calling baked-in, but, searching on "Android N", "Android 7", "VoLTE" and "WiFi calling" combinations: I get nothing.

Was this a figment of my fevered imagination?

 

[anon(9072051)]

Nope. You're probably not getting any search hits because both features are more or less taken for granted now. That "baking in" was a big deal for LP and MM. It's just a given now for N.

 

[bjrosen]

It's a function of your carrier not the OS. Verizon supports V0LTE on the 6P (you have to enabled HD Voice), AT&T doesn't. I don't think either of those support WiFI calling, at least not on non-carrier branded phones. Project Fi will give you both if you can live with the coverage limitations of Sprint/T-Mobile.

 

[Old Stoneface]

Hmmm... Two comments. Two, differing, opinions. I wonder which, if either, is correct?

 

[ptkelly]

Hmmm... Two comments. Two, differing, opinions. I wonder which, if either, is correct?

Or both. The capability is baked in and the service provider must offer the service?

 

[anon(9072051)]

Depends on what you mean by "baked in." The software can't do anything without a phone and a carrier.

 

[bjrosen]

VoLTE and WiFI calling must be enabled by the carrier. The software supports them but it's the carrier that controls it. On Verizon you must have HD Voice enabled to get VoLTE. AT&T doesn't support VoLTE on non AT&T branded phones so you are SOL on AT&T. I think T-Mobile and Sprint do support it but if you are using either of those you should probably switch to Project FI which definitely supports both V0LTE and WIFI calling.

 

[Old Stoneface]

Depends on what you mean by "baked in." The software can't do anything without a phone and a carrier.

What I mean is...

VoLTE and WiFI calling must be enabled by the carrier. The software supports them but it's the carrier that controls it.

If I'm reading this correctly, then the answer to my question is: Yes, VoLTE and WiFi calling are baked into Android N.

The reason for my question is a kind of "Hail Mary" hope. What I'd like to have for a phone is a Moto G, 3rd Generation. But Lenovo/Motorola/whatever chose not to get it certified for VoLTE. So no "extended LTE" network on T-Mobile, our carrier. However... It is believed Lenovorola will probably upgrade those devices to Android N. If Android N has VoLTE baked in, perhaps, then, B12 can be activated and Life Will Be Wonderful.

Yeah, I know: Long shot. Probably.

Google Fi is interesting, to me, but merely interesting. I'm not particularly enamored of either of the handsets you have to buy to get on it.

 

[bjrosen]

Wait for the 2016 Nexus phones if you don't like the current ones. If they don't have support for VoLTE on the Moto G now I don't see why they would enabled in when and if the roll out N for the Moto G. M has support for VoLTE so it's not Android's fault if the Moto G doesn't support it, either the phone lacks the hardware, Lenovo hasn't been bothered to get it certified on T Mobile, or T-Mobile doesn't think the phone is important enough to support it. Goto the Moto G forums and ask if there is VoLTE support on any carrier, if it's enabled on another carrier then switch carriers. I switched from AT&T to Verizon when I got my Nexus 6P because Verizon supports VoLTE on the 6P and AT&T doesn't. AT&T has chosen to limit the number of phones that it supports VoLTE on. They could make that choice because they are a GSM network and simultaneous data and voice works on GSM, it doesn't on CDMA which is why Verizon is more aggressive about supporting VoLTE. T-Mobile is also a GSM network so they can get away with limiting VoLTE support.

 

[Old Stoneface]

Wait for the 2016 Nexus phones if you don't like the current ones.

Frankly: I've never very much liked any Nexus phones. (Or tablets, come to think of it.) While I haven't looked at all of them closely, my general impression is Nexus devices tend to be just so-so, in the respects that most matter to me, and more costly than I care to spend.

The 5X is "typical Nexus": No µSD card slot. Only 2GB of RAM. No water resistance at all. (People have killed them by sweating on them!) Mediocre run time on battery. Mediocre network performance. *yawn* And for that you're to pay $300?

Yeah... I'm thinking probably not.

Allegedly a wonderful camera, though. Which would be great if a camera is what I wanted. But what I really want is a good, reliable phone that won't die if it gets too humid.

If they don't have support for VoLTE on the Moto G now I don't see why they would enabled in when and if the roll out N for the Moto G.

I said it was probably a long shot.

M has support for VoLTE so it's not Android's fault if the Moto G doesn't support it,

Never said it was.

either the phone lacks the hardware, Lenovo hasn't been bothered to get it certified on T Mobile, or T-Mobile doesn't think the phone is important enough to support it.

Don't know about the Moto G3 and VoLTE on other carriers. Rumour about it on TMO is that TMO's VoLTE certification process is painstaking and expensive, and Lenovo/Motorola/whatever chose not to invest in it.

Perhaps, probably, I don't understand how VoLTE works in the real world.

Anyway... Like I said: Long-shot hope. Sounds like it's actually a vain hope, based on a lack of understanding of How Things Work. Figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[ptkelly]

Thanks. That explains the original post. Have you tried Apple?

 

[Old Stoneface]

Thanks. That explains the original post. Have you tried Apple?

There are many, many reasons I'm a bit frustrated with Android offerings, but I'm not that frustrated with it... yet.

I may just "settle": Abandon both TMO and Lenovo/Motorola/whatever. Buy a Nexus 5X and move to Google Fi. I may just say "to heck with it," and buy a Moto X Pure Edition while the last good phone Lenovo/Motorola/whatever made is still available. I may decide to simply do nothing at all at this time. My 1st Gen. Moto G is still working well. It can't take advantage of TMO's much-touted "Extended LTE" coverage, but many unlocked phones can't, so... *shrug*

But it's unlikely I'd move to an iThing.

 

[bjrosen]

There are many, many reasons I'm a bit frustrated with Android offerings, but I'm not that frustrated with it... yet.

I may just "settle": Abandon both TMO and Lenovo/Motorola/whatever. Buy a Nexus 5X and move to Google Fi. I may just say "to heck with it," and buy a Moto X Pure Edition while the last good phone Lenovo/Motorola/whatever made is still available. I may decide to simply do nothing at all at this time. My 1st Gen. Moto G is still working well. It can't take advantage of TMO's much-touted "Extended LTE" coverage, but many unlocked phones can't, so... *shrug*

But it's unlikely I'd move to an iThing.

The 6P is the Nexus phone to get if you were buying something today. It has a terrrific AMOLED screen, excellent camera, 3G of RAM, up to 32-128G of storage and the performance with Android N is really good. If you can wait a few months you could wait for the next generation of Nexus phones although my concern about those is that HTC has been using LCD screens on their phones instead of AMOLED, if that's the case the current 6P would still be the better choice.

 

[Old Stoneface]

The 6P is the Nexus phone to get if you were buying something today.

Thanks for the suggestion, but, beside the 5.7" size: I'm not likely to ever pay $400-$500, or more, for a phone that has a lifetime of perhaps 2-3 years. If I'm lucky.

 

[bjrosen]

When going from a small phone to a phablet the initial response is that the phablet is huge but within a couple of days your perspective changes and the 5" phone looks tiny and the phablet normal. I went from the Nexux 5 to the 6P and I adapted in a couple of days, not I can't imagine using something smaller. The QHD AMOLED screen is gorgeous compared to any LCD screen, the colors just pop and the contrast is massively better. The 6P is $300 less than the iPhone 6 Plus and $150 less than the iPhone 6 so from that perspective it's cheap. However I get that you don't think it makes sense to spend $500 on a phone, if that's the case then I'd wait for the 2016 Nexus 5. The 5X was just a slight bump on the Nexus 5 and it lost one of the most appealing features of the 5, wireless charging (the 6P also lacks wireless charging). Rumor has it the HTC Nexus 5? will bring back wireless charging which is reason enough to wait. Another reason to wait is that Google only provides 3 version of Android per phone, the 5X and 6P came with Marshmallow, they are running N now and they will get Oreo but that's it, the 2016s will get P but the 2015s won't.

 

[Old Stoneface]

When going from a small phone to a phablet the initial response is that the phablet is huge but within a couple of days your perspective changes and the 5" phone looks tiny and the phablet normal.

My guess is that's only true if the larger phone doesn't keep getting in the way.

I can guarantee you a 6" phone will not fit as comfortably in my jeans front pockets as does my 4-1/2" Moto G (2013), or even my wife's 5" Moto G (2015). In the car I often drop my phone into a cup holder. I was just looking at how my current phone fits and thinking a much bigger phone might not.

... I'd wait for the 2016 Nexus 5. The 5X was just a slight bump on the Nexus 5 and it lost one of the most appealing features of the 5, wireless charging ...

I really don't care about wireless charging. Not in the least. To me: The effort of plugging a charging cord in is trivial.

What I do care about is the phone making it through an entire day w/o having to be recharged. (I see iThing people having to put their phones on chargers all the time, at work. *ick*) What I do care about is not having the phone die if it gets wet. What I do care about is having enough memory and storage. What I do care about is network (carrier and WiFi) connectivity reliability. Everything else comes secondary to those things, for me.

And that list perhaps informs as to why I'm underwhelmed by the Nexus 5X. If the successor to the 5X does not improve upon those aspects I'll be equally unimpressed.

 

[eric002]

It's a function of your carrier not the OS. Verizon supports V0LTE on the 6P (you have to enabled HD Voice), AT&T doesn't. I don't think either of those support WiFI calling, at least not on non-carrier branded phones. Project Fi will give you both if you can live with the coverage limitations of Sprint/T-Mobile.

Very true even more so when you're making a VoLTE call, the caller screen will actually say hd call is on.

 

[GreatCanadian]

What I do care about is the phone making it through an entire day w/o having to be recharged. (I see iThing people having to put their phones on chargers all the time, at work. *ick*) What I do care about is not having the phone die if it gets wet. What I do care about is having enough memory and storage. What I do care about is network (carrier and WiFi) connectivity reliability. Everything else comes secondary to those things, for me.

I have the Nexus 6P, but I also have the Moto G3. I understand where you're coming from. When we vacation in DisneyWorld, I leave my 6P home and take my Moto. I pop in a Roam Mobility SIM card which runs on T-Mobile. I don't have to worry about the phone getting splashed, and have no issues with texts, calls, web browsing, downloading, etc. Battery life is very very good. The camera is ok, but if we do need a better camera, my wife will use her iPhone 6s.Other than the fact that the moto seems REALLY slow compared to the 6P, it's actually quite a decent phone. I have no idea what the subsequent Moto G series phones are like (or even if they even exist - is there a G4? - i must google!)

But I do understand why people are turned off by the size of the 6P. It is a huge phone, and not the most pocket friendly. But it does fit in the cup holder in my truck!! Barely!!

GC

 

[Old Stoneface]

Other than the fact that the moto seems REALLY slow compared to the 6P, it's actually quite a decent phone. I have no idea what the subsequent Moto G series phones are like (or even if they even exist - is there a G4? - i must google!)

Yeah, there are G4s. But they're bigger, of lesser quality (tho still splash-proof), and Lenovorola's customer support isn't what Motorola's was. Right now I'm hoping I like the smaller of the two new Nexus'.

 

[wpinfected]

Using it on my note4

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