Symbian in Motion

Fully Integrated Multiline Support by TalkPlus

Welcome to ‘Voice 2.0′ as brought to you by TalkPlus…

In support of the first offering in their line of S60 Voice 2.0 Products, TalkPlus has recently updated their offering and revamped their public beta program in the US and Canada. TalkPlus (click this link to register for the free trial and public beta!) allows to to add a fully functioning, fully integrated second line to your S60 device. Actually, it allows you to add up to 10 additional lines! The beta provides only one line for the time being though so let’s stick with that.

How does it work?

Once you’ve signed up for your free beta account on their site and installed the application, you now have a new fully integrated local second line on your device. Calls made to that number will ring on your device (while the app is open in the foreground OR background) just as if it was your main line - with full caller ID support. Calls made from your new TalkPlus number will initiate a quick communication over a data connection, and will then be routed via TalkPlus servers to your destination (over GSM voice, not data!) and the call recipient will see your TalkPlus number on their caller ID display.

The Dashboard seen above is where you can quickly and easily change your device’s current profile (profile = line, either main line or TalkPlus line) by simply scrolling up or down through your available profiles. Each profile is represented by a unique icon that is also visible on your standby screen to indicate the current enabled profile.

By accessing the phonebook beyond the TalkPlus dashboard, you can easily make calls or change the default profile for each individual contact. The default profile indicates which will be the main profile to make calls to a contact. I think that the default profile concept is superb. This allows you to easily separate contact types and manage your calling quite well. In an update I would like to see group support so that if for example I have a group called “business contacts” I can quickly and easily switch the default profile for all included contacts with one simple adjustment.

Voicemail for your TalkPlus account is fully integrated into the app and accessible from the options menu. You can quickly scroll through your voicemails chronologically and listen to them easily. Also, you can change your personal greeting and configure voicemail notifications to be sent via email (with an MP3 attachment of the message), via SMS, or both.

It is also worth mentioning that RAM consumption is quite reasonable making this a great app even on RAM-starved devices like the N95 or N80. In terms of its impact on battery life I haven’t been using it long enough to make any conclusions but I did leave it running on my E61i overnight last night and awoke to find the same number of bars that I went to sleep with.

For someone like me the app is incredibly useful. As the Business Development Manager for a small privately held company I was always hesitant to include my mobile number on my business cards and in my vcard because I pay for my own mobile line. By allowing me to add a completely separate integrated line I can now distribute my new number and easily separate business and personal communications. Beyond that, if I want I can easily bill certain calls back to my company when necessary (at incredibly low rates I might add).

This certainly won’t be the last you will read about TalkPlus here on SiMo. I will be adding periodic features over the coming months as I continue to use the app and as we continue to see updates. It is also worth mentioning that TalkPlus is being quite proactive in embracing the Symbian community so you can expect to see good support and regular updates I would imagine. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, this app is just the first in the forthcoming line of TalkPlus’ Voice 2.0 products and it makes me incredibly anxious to see what the future holds.

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