iPhone Push to Talk ?
I know its pretty pointless to send suggestions to Apple's suggestion box, because there is no evidence anything happens until after 4 million hits or 2 years which ever comes first.
But one thing Apple could do really well would be Push to Talk app.
I hate texting or calling just to remind my wife to pick up a dozen eggs. Both take too damn long.
But picking up the phone, unlock, tap PTT icon, tap desired Contact name and and recite short message would be really cool.
They could hang management of it in your contacts, so you can control who you send and receive from.
I'm thinking this would be totally over 3G, or Wifi, and would just digitize your voice and send the packets to a queue for the recipient. They get a Notification, and can listen and reply.
No long term server based storage.
No interoperability with Sprint or any other PTT service.
No SMS/MMS bandwidth used, no clogging up the carriers phone system.
Just receive them automatically from authorized senders, and put them in your iPhone memory.
Just Iphone to iPhone. To heck with those Pre users.
Strictly short voice segments from the mic, no music, 30 to 45 seconds max.
I suppose a Developer could do almost as well as Apple using notifications,
but they would have to store and hold the messages and you would have to fetch them. That would be slower. I bet this is something Apple could do much better than anyone else, because it could receive these in the background like mail.
I hate the PTT phones where the tool holds the phone in front of him and shouts into it while everyone in 40 feet gets to listen to his wife reads him the grocery list. Just make it work thru the ear speaker or headphones so iPhone users don't look like idiots.
Apple could use that big east coast server farm for this. Maybe expand the service later to include videos/pics. The notification system is already in place. But nobody has an App for that in the app store.
Note:
PTT is different than sending a Voice Message by mail or a voice MMS. Its immediate, its delivery guaranteed, or fail notice guaranteed. Its bandwidth friendly because you don't need to send in real-time, (just near real-time), and fidelity only has to be good enough to understand. (And no, you don't need that annoying Nextel beep).
I know its pretty pointless to send suggestions to Apple's suggestion box, because there is no evidence anything happens until after 4 million hits or 2 years which ever comes first.
But one thing Apple could do really well would be Push to Talk app.
I hate texting or calling just to remind my wife to pick up a dozen eggs. Both take too damn long.
But picking up the phone, unlock, tap PTT icon, tap desired Contact name and and recite short message would be really cool.
They could hang management of it in your contacts, so you can control who you send and receive from.
I'm thinking this would be totally over 3G, or Wifi, and would just digitize your voice and send the packets to a queue for the recipient. They get a Notification, and can listen and reply.
No long term server based storage.
No interoperability with Sprint or any other PTT service.
No SMS/MMS bandwidth used, no clogging up the carriers phone system.
Just receive them automatically from authorized senders, and put them in your iPhone memory.
Just Iphone to iPhone. To heck with those Pre users.
Strictly short voice segments from the mic, no music, 30 to 45 seconds max.
I suppose a Developer could do almost as well as Apple using notifications,
but they would have to store and hold the messages and you would have to fetch them. That would be slower. I bet this is something Apple could do much better than anyone else, because it could receive these in the background like mail.
I hate the PTT phones where the tool holds the phone in front of him and shouts into it while everyone in 40 feet gets to listen to his wife reads him the grocery list. Just make it work thru the ear speaker or headphones so iPhone users don't look like idiots.
Apple could use that big east coast server farm for this. Maybe expand the service later to include videos/pics. The notification system is already in place. But nobody has an App for that in the app store.
Note:
PTT is different than sending a Voice Message by mail or a voice MMS. Its immediate, its delivery guaranteed, or fail notice guaranteed. Its bandwidth friendly because you don't need to send in real-time, (just near real-time), and fidelity only has to be good enough to understand. (And no, you don't need that annoying Nextel beep).
Last edited:
I am not real sure about how the technology works but I think it may be dying out. I know that Nextel is really struggling and with Sprint's help. They have almost become a niche service for Construction and other VERY large facility types. Their coverage has never been that great and does not seem to be getting any better.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram