Wifi Calling on Unlocked Phones?

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@lizdance40 wrote:

@pgrey   I've barely scratched the surface of what the Pixel can do, and I'm already lusting after another huawei model.   

https://www.cnet.com/products/huawei-honor-magic/preview/

Wrap Cortana, Google assistant and your momma all in one, the phone is supposed to be predictive.  And face recognition allows for glasses.  Something Samsung failed at.

 

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Yeah, HTC makes the current Pixel, but really it's more about how it's spec'd and licensing, I'd say most manufacturers can/do build excellent mid-high end phones now.

Like @GLIMMERMAN76 says, the licensing can get in the way of a lot of functionality, some scenarios are in the chipset, but never enabled, as a result.

The eye/facial recognition works great on teh 950/950XL, my wife uses hers with glasses, no problem (not so much with sunglasses, not that I expected it to work when I was out riding, but it would've been truly awesome).

My 950XL used to unlock pretty much as fast as my 6P, just by glancing at it, pretty cool.

That looks like a slick phone, and the Kirin 950 seems to be on the scale of the 820/821, which is great, for competition, it'll hopefully make more US manufacturers target higher processors and  chipsets overall.

I think I'm going to wait a bit for 2017 to "settle out", and then I'm really hoping to get an 835 phone, but hoping to hold out for WiFi and VoLTE call/text support too, I really, really hope that AT&T makes the turn here.

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@GLIMMERMAN76 wrote:
One+ 3t is a OK phone. The camera kind of stinks compaired to the pixel xl. Your never going to get full support for most unlocked phones because those OEMs don't want to pay licence fees to Qualcomm to use it.

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This.  I wonder why One+ did such a good job at their first "flasgship killer", and ever since they seem to be mid-high, but always missing a few key features (screen PPI, camera quality, etc).  For awhile I thought they were really going to drive the competition, they had a lot of buzz, but since the One, not so much...

The pixel is not without flaws.  The speakers are pitiful.    And mine has the POT problem, I get distortion even with volume lowered.  Google is claiming it's a software fix.  I just got an update today, we will have to see.  

The Moto pure is my go to for decent audio.   

As of now, the Samsung GS7 edges out the Pixel.  The color saturation on the Moto is pale by comparison.   At $250, the Moto wins.   

I would like to play with the OP3T.  

@GLIMMERMAN76

http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/12/20/the-google-pixel-appears-to-have-a-widespread-speaker-issue-but-a-software-fix-could-address-it/

I have been an AT&Y customer for a LONG time...  A few months ago when my Note 4 finally died, I started looking for a replacement.

I found an unlocked Tmobile S7 Edge.  I popped my AT&T sim card in and everything has been working great.

I recently changed offices, and the new building has HORRIBLE cell phone reception.  So I tried using the Wi-fi calling feature and could not get it to work.

So, after doing a TON of research, I found that the hardware across US GSM variants is identical and you can flash the firmware from one to the other quite easily.  So, last night, I flashed the AT&T (latest build) onto the phone. Everything is working great, EXCEPT wi-fi calling. 

I can use one of the free VOIP apps like Google Voice, of course, but when I call out I need to be able to use my cell phone number and really don't want to have to forward calls to GV every time I go into this particular building that doesn't have any cell reception.

Chatting with support this morning, they said it can't be done. I don't understand - if the hardware is the same across all US Variants, then why can't At&t firmware enable this feature? What am I missing???  Why AT&T, Why????

I'm very interested to see if you can get this working. For the life of me I couldn't. I figured since it was AT&T GSM, it should be easier, or at least a little more open than Verizon CDMA network.

I'm using an unlocked HTC 10 and I started on Verizon, switched to AT&T, and now I'm back to Verizon. All with the same phone, but many different ROMs on both networks, including HTC's stock unlocked ROM.

Here's what I've found so far. VoLTE is easy to get working on either network. On Verizon you just need the Verizon firmware + a Verizon based ROM. Add HD Voice to your account, switch on in Android settings, and it just works. Same thing with AT&T. Use HTC unlocked firmware + any XDA AT&T GSM ROM.

Things get dicey with "Advanced Calling" features since they are vendor specific and proprietary standards. With Verizon, in order to get Advanced Calling with HD Voice + Video Calling + WiFi Calling, you have flash the Verizon RUU. It works from stock just like that. It includes the firmware, boot, and Verizon stock ROM. I chose to install TWRP Recovery > Install an XDA Verizon based ROM and VoLTE + Video Calling + WiFi Calling continued to work.

With AT&T I could never get Video Calling or WiFi Calling to work on an unlocked HTC 10. I think I exhausted all firmware and ROM possibilities. VoLTE was as far as I could get.

I believe the phone MEID / IMEI has to whitelisted on both networks to work correctly with their proprietary features. I think there is a bug in Verizon system, from swapping SIMs, where it leaves the "Advanced Calling" features active between the old phone and new phone. 

Good luck in your adventures!