Public Preview of Truphone 3.0

[Rafe]

Via the Truphone blog comes news of version 3.0 of the Truphone Wizard. Truphone is a VoIP service specifically targeted at S60 mobile users. The new version includes the ability to make VoIP calls over a 3G connection, better managing of multiple WiFI access points, new presence features and multi-SIM (automatically updates your forwarding number) support.

Read on in the full article.

[chrsfrwll]

And there's Truphone saying they don't support or have plans to support calls over anything but WiFi. Ha. Anyway, this version will negate my current requirement to use Fring to fudge it to work over my 3G network.

[lark]

Does the truphone Wizard still crash the Call menu function? I think Truphone are putting the effort in to integrate with nokia but I found that wizard to be the buggiest software I've installed on my E70. With the 3.x software and easy swaps I've basically settled on AQL. Lark

[chrsfrwll]

Nope, the N95 still trips this up on installation. I know it's only a beta but you'd think they'd get this problem sorted by now.

[sirox]

I guess many forget that Truphone is not a VoIP software like Fring, it is just a utility which configures the Nokia settings for the use of Truphone.
For the VoIP part Truphone relies on the SIP functionality embedded by Nokia in all E-series phones. Therefore on operator-branded N95's it cannot work because some operators have crippled the Nokia firmware to remove the embedded VoIP functionality.
On the other hand, using the embedded SIP functionality of E-series phones gives lots of advantages (compared to 3rd-party apps like Fring) in terms of integration with the rest of the phone, call quality, and battery consumption. This last point is crucial. My E70 lasts 24 hours with the embedded VoIP functionality (i.e. Truphone) always on, plus cellular and normal use. With Fring on, it will only lst a few hours. This is obvious, as the Fring app is a complete overhead, while the embedded SIP functionality used by Truphone is fully integrated and optimised by Nokia engineers to work with maximum efficiency.
By the way, my Truphone number has now become the only mobile number I give around, so I am completely sold in the concept. Also SMS's work great (they get forwarded to your cellular number). Great!

Truphone should not crash at the call menu function. If you are experiencing this problem it can be easily rectified by Navigating to Menu->Internet->Internet Tel. Choose Options->Settings and leave preferred call type to 'Internet'. Then selected back to re-save the existing settings.

We would really like to know which stage within the installation you experienced a problem on your N95 chrsfrwll. Please send us a support request through your 'myaccount' page or send us an email (see website, contact us), with all the details, we can investigate the reasoning behind this and then post the resolution up here.

The Truphone Support Team

[sirox]

I also had the Tools/Settings/Call menu broken on my E70. WHen pushed, the phone would just return to Standby. And the default cal setting is in there!
I fixed it by doing a hard reset and re-installing everything.

[grpmiller]

Originally Posted by sirox

I also had the Tools/Settings/Call menu broken on my E70. WHen pushed, the phone would just return to Standby. And the default cal setting is in there!
I fixed it by doing a hard reset and re-installing everything.

Hi Sirox,
As katieb says, the Call menu freezing up has a cheeky fix. The settings of the Internet tel application allow you to change the default call type and that kicks the call menu back to life. Hopefully noone will need to know this!!

[sirox]

Originally Posted by grpmiller

Hi Sirox,
As katieb says, the Call menu freezing up has a cheeky fix. The settings of the Internet tel application allow you to change the default call type and that kicks the call menu back to life. Hopefully noone will need to know this!!

What I wanted to say is that the setting you are referring to is in the Call menu, NOT in the Internet Telephony application. There are no such settings in it.

In the new Truphone 3.00 application, there is that setting, but this got public only this morning. Maybe you were referring to this.

[chrsfrwll]

Katieb - well, it finally installed. I'm not sure how or why but 78p worth of texts in a concerted attempt to get the settings file to download eventually succeeded. The program installed ok, the problem was at the d/l of settings file that the problem occurred. For some reason the text would go, the program would spin and whirl and then it would fall over. Eventually it seemed to like what ever it was doing and I got a "settings saved" message and that was that. But it took a few determined efforts and repetitions to get it to work.

[lark]

@Sirox,
I had exactly the same Tools/Settings/Call menu bug when I installed Truphone. Nice to know that I was not the only one. Does the v3 of the Truphone get rid of that problem? It might be worth re-installing if it does and I can do a pinch call over 3G.

@Katieb
The Internet Telephone/Options/Settings/Default Call solution has only been available in E-series since the v 3.xx firmware. I had the problem in Dec 2006 when I first trialled your service on the v 2.xx. I found doing a hard reset+ reinstall (when you have to put 8-10 apps back on the phone plus resyncing the music player) to be annoying enough that I didn't bother trying it again - I just went to another service.

But it is nice to know that this works to break the bug.

[wouterk]

Did any of you notice the big battery drain?
On my E61 I had Truphone installed yesterday morning and about 4 hours later my battery was down to one unit....
And of course my phone was completely charged (as usual) in the morning.
Must have been Truphone. This was in a non WIFI environment with Truphone running on the 3g network. I didn't make any Truphone calls exept for one realy short one to test on the normal GSM network.
I'm always connected to the 3g network so this can't be the case.
Somehow it drained my battery really fast. This isn't the case when I use fring....
Wouter

[sirox]

Originally Posted by wouterk

Did any of you notice the big battery drain?
On my E61 I had Truphone installed yesterday morning and about 4 hours later my battery was down to one unit....
And of course my phone was completely charged (as usual) in the morning.
Must have been Truphone. This was in a non WIFI environment with Truphone running on the 3g network. I didn't make any Truphone calls exept for one realy short one to test on the normal GSM network.
I'm always connected to the 3g network so this can't be the case.
Somehow it drained my battery really fast. This isn't the case when I use fring....
Wouter

I think you have something wrong there. On my E70, which has a much smaller battery than the E61, my phone lasts the whole day with Truphone permanently on and connected to my WiFi router (also doing few calls and a few other things with the phone). On 3G, the consumption should be less, in theory, although I have never run VoIP on 3G for more than an hour or two.

Fring is a separate application that does not use the Nokia proprietary hardware to perform VoIP efficiently, and it permanently runs. So it will consume more battery than Truphone by definition. Truphone does not consume any battery per se, because it is not an application that runs permanently, it is just a wizard which configures the settings, nothing more. Then it relies on the phone's native VoIP functionality embedded by Nokia.

One interesting test that I have done is comparing Fring and Truphone (meaning the embedded VoIP feature of E-series phones) in terms of bandwidth. This can be easily done by looking at the Connection Manager details during a phone conversation. And I noticed that the CODECs used are totally different. The CODEC used by Nokia for its internal implementation takes about 400KB per minute during a conversation (200 up and 200 down), while Fring takes half of that. This also explains why the voice quality in Fring is so much lower, because it uses an extremely compressed CODEC.

In any case, I have found Fring unusable for proper conversations, due to the poor quality, even on WiFi. It is not bad, but cannot be compared to a cellular call. While the Nokia/Truphone system has the same quality (or better) than a cellular call. I also found it impossible to receive VoIP calls on Fring via my Truphone number. I can make them, but not receive them. I guess this might be down to the lack of SIP parameters in Fring. For example, there is no field to define the SIP proxy, which is needed by most VoIP services.

[wouterk]

Originally Posted by sirox

I think you have something wrong there. On my E70, which has a much smaller battery than the E61, my phone lasts the whole day with Truphone permanently on and connected to my WiFi router (also doing few calls and a few other things with the phone). On 3G, the consumption should be less, in theory, although I have never run VoIP on 3G for more than an hour or two.

Fring is a separate application that does not use the Nokia proprietary hardware to perform VoIP efficiently, and it permanently runs. So it will consume more battery than Truphone by definition. Truphone does not consume any battery per se, because it is not an application that runs permanently, it is just a wizard which configures the settings, nothing more. Then it relies on the phone's native VoIP functionality embedded by Nokia.

One interesting test that I have done is comparing Fring and Truphone (meaning the embedded VoIP feature of E-series phones) in terms of bandwidth. This can be easily done by looking at the Connection Manager details during a phone conversation. And I noticed that the CODECs used are totally different. The CODEC used by Nokia for its internal implementation takes about 400KB per minute during a conversation (200 up and 200 down), while Fring takes half of that. This also explains why the voice quality in Fring is so much lower, because it uses an extremely compressed CODEC.

In any case, I have found Fring unusable for proper conversations, due to the poor quality, even on WiFi. It is not bad, but cannot be compared to a cellular call. While the Nokia/Truphone system has the same quality (or better) than a cellular call. I also found it impossible to receive VoIP calls on Fring via my Truphone number. I can make them, but not receive them. I guess this might be down to the lack of SIP parameters in Fring. For example, there is no field to define the SIP proxy, which is needed by most VoIP services.

Hi Sirox,

Fring actually works well with WIFI on my E61. I use it to call Skype out. The call quality is acceptable.
I don't about no services running with Truphone. I noticed that after the install and the wizard, that there was a new icon on my Today screen. Also was the Truphone program connected all the time on my 3g connection.
Because of the big battery drain I completely removed the app. and restarted.
Even after the restart the new icon remained on the Today screen.
I then went to connections folder in my phone and to Internettel. (dutch word..). There I turned off the TruVoip services and then the icon went away.
Does this make sense?
Wouter

[sirox]

The icon that you are referring to is Nokia's VoIP icon I believe. It has nothing to do with Truphone, it tells you that the VoIP functionality in the phone is active.
Of course there is a bit of battery drain, but as I said my E70, with a 1,100 mAh battery (against your 1,500 mAh) lasts the whole day with VoIP PERMANENTLY on, and sometimes receiving calls.

Only yesterday's Truphone 3.0 keeps itself in memory, but this is only to manage the new presence functionality and to capture your SMS activity, so that when you sens an SMS it will have the Truphone caller ID. So it doesn't really consume CPU cycles all the time like Fring does.

Try using the embedded VoIP functionality on the E61 without installing Truphone. For example, create a free account at Voiptalk.org and configure your E61 with their settings. And then see if you still get the battery drain. If you do, then you know it has nothing to do with Truphone, and probably it has to do with some other conflicting software on your phone, or perhaps even the concurrent use of Fring and VoIP. In fact, have you used them at the same time?!? That might explain the big battery drain.

With regards to Fring, I really use VoIP for both my home landlines, and now for my mobile thanks to Truphone and their +447624 numbers and SMS functionality. Skype is not something that can replace any of your lines, this is why I don't use Skype. But of course, if you are interested in Skype, then Fring is the only way to go.
As I said, I need my VoIP lines to be as good and as reliable as proper lines, and the quality delivered by Fring is not acceptable when you are trying to replace your main land/cellular line. For example, you can't really have a business call on Fring! While with the embedded VoIP feature of E-series phones (whether configured by Truphone or another SIP provider like voiptalk or others) you can actually replace your normal cellular or land line, and nobody will notice the difference. I know, because I use it everyday, ad my Truphone number is the only mobile number that I give around. And nobody even knows that I am on VoIP.

Anyway, make those tests, and then we can understand better where you battery problem comes from.