It's still a shockingly open question exactly how the world's carriers plan on transporting voice over LTE -- which is something everyone who loves 4G should be freaking out about, considering that it threatens launch schedules and interoperability among unlocked handsets. A vibrant array of possible solutions are currently on the table, including everything from SIP-based IMS (which is already approved by the 3GPP, helpfully) to the controversial thought of leaving legacy GSM and UMTS networks live for the sole purpose of running voice. T-Mobile International is putting its bets on VoLGA -- Voice Over LTE via Generic Access -- by participating in the VoLGA Forum, which has just published the second version of its specifications and aims for 3GPP consideration later this year. The technology routes circuit-switched (that is, old-school) voice over data packets, but the problem is that there are a bunch of companies proposing the same thing in slightly different ways; Nokia Siemens Networks, for example, is working on its own proprietary standard that'll go head-to-head with VoLGA. Currently, T-Mobile's the only major network actively participating in VoLGA's development, though it apparently has the support of every major infrastructure vendor except Nokia Siemens. Whether it's VoLGA or something else, let's hope everyone gets on the same page on the double before everyone gets too entrenched in incompatible technologies that make roaming difficult and handset variety lame.

If you've never heard of CSoHSPA, we can't say we blame you, but the concept is surprisingly simple, the benefits are pretty clear, and odds are good the technology's coming to a network near you. Short for Circuit Switched over HSPA, the standard -- part of 3GPP Release 7 which covers HSPA+ -- seeks to improve handset battery life and significantly boost network capacity (something many carriers desperately need) by moving voice from the traditional circuit switched voice channel found on legacy GSM networks to packet data. This means that all forms of connectivity your phone exchanges with the network get treated as the same payloads of bytes -- the same concept employed by any VoIP system and the strategy employed by LTE, WiMAX, and some EV-DO networks -- so the old-school voice channel can be repurposed for pure data. Long story short, phones end up running longer on a charge, networks end up with more capacity, and everyone sleeps a little easier. Nokia Siemens and Finnish carrier Elisa have just completed the world's first CSoHSPA call, which is a nice landmark on the road to wide-scale HSPA+ deployment; the technology is essentially a software upgrade for a lot of existing infrastructure, so we'd expect this to get rolled out all over the place as long as handsets support it in kind.

When they said "Tuesday," they meant it. Not long ago, the clock struck midnight in the Land of the Rising Sun, and sure enough, the bona fide Skype application (v1.0.0.63) for Apple's iPhone has gone live. It's absolutely free to download, and early reports from Japan have been pretty stellar in regard to sound quality. We're fully expecting it to roll out elsewhere as Tuesday (March 31st) arrives in various time zones, so make sure you (and at least one Skype buddy) stay up late to try 'er out. [Warning: iTunes read link may not work for all time zones yet.]

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Windows Mobile 6.5's presumably going to be the big news out of Redmond here at MWC this week, but Microsoft's also using the show as an opportunity to launch the "technology preview" of its Recite software, an ultra-simple voice note app for WinMo 6.0 and above. The concept is one of those "I can't believe I didn't think of that" moments, actually: one button records your quick notes, and the magic happens with a second button that you use to search your previously recorded notes by voice. For example, you can record "Sean Cooper's birthday is May 22" and later search on "Sean," "Sean Cooper," "birthday," or any combination of words you've mentioned in the note to recall it. Doesn't get much more straightforward than that -- and happily, you'll pay a big, fat goose egg for the privilege of grabbing it. It's a beta product, but that's not necessarily a bad thing: Microsoft's trying to gather feedback on how awesome (or not awesome) it is before deciding how to use it going forward, so give it hell and let 'em know what you think.

We've yet to hear any definitive plans out of Sprint for getting voice flowing over WiMAX-equipped handsets in the States, but it's bound to happen eventually -- and South Korea, one of the torchbearers of the standard with its long-operating WiBro network, is kicking off the party. The Korea Communication Commission has officially ratified a spec for voice over WiBro with service expected to start next year, though there probably wasn't a heck of a lot to ratify since it's essentially the same principle as any other VoIP tech. We're thinking the next challenge is probably getting enough battery juice to yap for longer than five minutes at a time, so yeah, good luck with that, guys.

[Via SlashPhone]

Just imagine -- yapping for hours on end to your dream lover could actually leave your cellphone with more juice than what it started with. This completely bizarre scenario could theoretically become a reality according to new research from a professor at Texas A&M University, and it's all thanks to the magic of nanoscale piezoelectrics. If you'll recall, we've seen this technology generate energy in wearable devices before, so it makes sense that sound wave energy could also be captured and converted into electricity. Of course, we're still a good ways away from this being ready for commercialization, but who knows how quickly this could come together if placed in the capable (albeit unpredictable) hands of Dr. Walter Bishop.

[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of Rutgers]

Truth be told, Fixed Mobile Convergence still isn't talked about much (comparatively speaking) 'round these parts. Yeah, we've seen a few FMC routers scattered about, but Vodafone's taking a stand by rolling out its Station in Italy. The box, which was developed in cooperation with Huawei, is an integrated switch / router with ADSL2+, WiFi, UMTS / HSPA (via a removable USB key) and four Ethernet ports. Essentially, it's designed to combine voice with fixed and mobile broadband services, and it enables users to make calls on their handset through a fixed line connection when they're kicking back at home. We're also hearing that the device will eventually make its way to other Vodafone markets, but there's been no word yet on future rollout dates.

[Via GigaOM]

Well screw us -- T-Mobile's 3G network debut tomorrow? It's going to be voice only. That's right, you heard us, VOICE ONLY. So trepidatious is this company to actually get their 3G data rollout, um, rolled out, they're launching first with kneecapped voice-only service, keeping only EDGE for those demanding data. Here's the snippet from the memo we received:

"3G is the next generation of our wireless network, following our current GSM network. In this early phase of our network evolution, 3G is a new technology for carrying wireless voice calls and supporting existing data capabilities on our network. In future phases, this next generation network will power 'high-speed' (3G) products and services that connect customers in new and exciting ways. ... Inform customers who are interested in high-speed data that the first phase of our 3G roll out supports voice only." [Emphasis ours]

No word on when T-Mobile actually plans to turn on the faster data, but for everyone who hasn't already jumped ship -- hoping against hope -- the wait continues.

P.S. -Don't believe everything you hear about this kind of thing being status quo. Every single major US 3G network -- including Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint -- went live as either data card-only (with phones added later), or data and voice together.

Callers, your worst nightmare is coming true... maybe. According to a report, a group of hackers at the Black Hat conference in Washington D.C. claim that they're able to hack GSM calls with equipment costing about $1,000. If you believe the team (and we're inclined to at least have a listen), they can decrypt GSM phone conversations and text messages on a network using inexpensive tools called field programmable gate arrays. Until now, the cost of the technology required to hack GSM transmissions has been prohibitively expensive for all but your government and large-scale snooping operations, but that's beginning to change. Not only can this technique allow access to calls, but some of the tech demonstrated at the conference might also enable a user to pinpoint a phone's distance from the surveillance hardware, and find out what type of device is being used. There was no mention of CDMA hacking, so you might want to move over to Sprint for all your seedy activities. Er, we mean stay on Sprint.

A terminal app not quite to your liking? No worries -- as expected, unofficial iPhone apps have been flying fast and furious, and thankfully, they're getting more and more useful by the minute. Latest is a rudimentary voice recorder crafted by Erica Sadun of sister site TUAW, an app that the iPhone arguably should've never left the factory without. Notes are saved as AMR files that can be played back in QuickTime, and as Erica points out, this is a possible first step toward VoIP on the iPhone. Nice work!

Apart from Steve's not-so-subtle hatred of buttons, Apple has traditionally been a fairly accessibility-aware company, and its latest patent application, for the "Multimedia data transfer for a personal communication device," outlines a method by which the visually-impaired can use services like SMS. The system eliminates the need for backend servers and data transfers by having the transmitting device first read the text and then send it over a voice channel to the receiver. The application also details an extension of the system where received voice transmissions are forwarded to a mail server and stored for later retrieval -- kind of like reverse voicemail. As always, Apple's pretty vague about how we might see this patent applied, but that doesn't make trying to read the patent tea leaves any less entertaining.

[Thanks, Brian]

[Via MacNN]

While Microsoft sure has its hands full with that other search engine, it looks like the mobile flavor of Windows could be getting a welcomed extra. Apparently, a questionably obtained CAB file has been acquired that enables users to vocally search for terms on Live Search for Mobile, and better yet, to input text via your voice "on any field that supports text entry." Of course, the application is indeed stuck in beta, which practically guarantees that you'll hit a few bugs if you load this up, but if you've got nothing to lose or you just can't resist a good challenge, be sure to give it a whirl and let us know how it goes.

[Via BoyGeniusReport]

In the continual quest to make depleting your wallet entirely more convenient, Voice Pay's online payment system actually expects you to vocally confirm your next decrease in fundage. Dubbed the "world's first payment system interlinked with advanced voice biometric technologies," the system records and stores your "vocal fingerprint" so you can phone in a payment or purchase products on-site that support it. Of course, it's entirely likely that you'll be repeating all sorts of random numbers, passwords, and mother's maiden names in public in order to get that bill paid, but we're sure the hardcore yappers won't mind a bit.

[Via Textually]

The actual process of encoding and decoding voice for transmission over the air is probably one of the less appreciated sciences (arts?) in the phone game, so we've got to take our hats off to NTT DoCoMo for circling back and taking another look at the process. It seems our favorite FOMA carrier has gotten together with DoCoMo Communications Laboratories USA (who else?) to lay the groundwork for a new vocoder that takes about half the processing power as methods currently in use, allegedly without sacrificing call quality. It's far past the theoretical stage, too: HTC Zs were used to demonstrate the tech at Wireless Technology Park 2007 last week in Japan. Of course, less processing power means less juice drain, so we're happy to throw our support behind this little initiative.

A young lad by the name of Ben Cook might be able to school his pals with his lightning-quick text messaging skillz (he even prefers plain ol' multi-tapping to predictive text) but one company set out to prove that the world's fastest texter is still no match for voice recognition. Nuance Communications is gearing up to release its Mobile Speech Platform to carriers -- a system that'll ultimately allow users to dictate SMSes, among other tasks -- and they obviously needed some high-profile way to get the word out, like picking on Ben Cook, for example. For the contest, Nuance pitted its software against Mr. Cook and two Nuance employees packing QWERTY and T9 devices, throwing them each this little tidbit of everyday conversation: "The razor toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygo centrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human." Our world record holder finished in 48 seconds -- not bad, considering he was doing it without any predictive assistance -- but the software spanked everyone with just 16 seconds on the clock. Now we just need to take a hard look at why one would dictate an SMS (versus, say, placing a phone call) and we'll be jumping right on the bandwagon.