Virtual Walkie Talkie Pro

Pro Version Hints

-click on a user in the user list to send a privacy invite (the user will be able to see the privacy code you have invited him to)
-use camera button as PTT when VWTPro is in foreground
-use camera button to bring VWTPro to foreground when connected(switched on and net indicator green) and running in background
-enable VOX in the menu to activate voice controlled sending (you will not have to press PTT to talk)




General Hints

-touch left side of the channel display (where the talk and net indicator is located) to enter a privacy code(lock) or to accept or dismiss pending invites(blinking i)
-touch top right of the speaker(left of the 3 buttons) to hide/show userinfo bar which shows who is talking atm
-touch channel display to show users on channel




FAQ

1. How do you use this app. ? Do my friends have to have the same app installed ?
Your friends will have to install the same app which is only available for android.
You will all have to use the same server to be able to communicate together.
This could also be one of your mobiles. To do this start the in-built server on one phone and give the ip of this phone to all others.
The phone the server is running on will use "127.0.0.1" which means localhost and loops back to this device you are on.
You could also use services like "dyndns" to make ip sharing easier and substitue it with a constant name.
Switch the power to on after setting the ip in options. Wait until "NET" light has turned from red to green which means connected.
Hold PTT button while you are talking and the others on this same channel should hear you.


2. What is the server ip(Host)?
If you are hosting the server on your mobile by starting the built-in server, you need to use the localhost(127.0.0.1) for yourself to connect and your mobile lan or internet ip for your clients. For e.g. "192.168.1.1" is a common lan ip, you can get your internet ip by looking into your internet router configuration or by pressing the Info Button in Virtual Walkie Talkie's Options Tab.

3. So what is the server ip in LAN ?
You can determine it by simple pressing the Info Button in Virtual Walkie Talkie's Options Tab or clicking Menu Button->Settings->Wireless & networks->Wi-Fi settings and click on your wlan connection, it will display your phones wlan ip or look into your wlan ap log to find it.

4. I gave my clients my internet ip but nobody can connect ?
If you want to allow incoming connections to your mobile from the internet you have to enable TCP Port Forwarding for your server port (default 8575) in your wlan internet router configuration. The server ip would be the (w)lan ip of your phone in your local network (like 192.168.1.1 for e.g.)

5. I want to use the built-in server on my phone. But i dont know what ips i need to use ?
If you want to use the built-in server on your phone, start it and use host 127.0.0.1 and the port which is displayed below the red/green server indicator between the start and stop button (should be 8575 by default). there are 3 cases now:
Case 1: you are on 3g and nobody will be able to connect to your phone. so you will just be alone on your server. You have to be on wifi/wlan connection to be reachable for other phones for incoming connections to your built-in server.
Case 2: you are on wlan and other phones in the same wlan want to connect to you, so they need to use your phones wlan ip (eg 192.168.1.101, look for it in your phones wlan preferences)
Case 3: you are on wlan and other phones from the internet want to connect to you, so they need to use your internet ip of your wlan router (get it by pressing the info button in Virtual Walkie Talkie's Options Tab after you started your built-in server) You need to forward the used port (8575) to your phones wlan ip (eg 192.168.1.101, look for it in your phones wlan preferences) in your wlan router configuration if you want other phones be able to connect to your phone from the internet.

6. What can i do if nobody got wlan(only 3G/egde) or my mobile can not take the load of the server?
In 3G/Edge Mode people wont be able to connect to your mobile by an ip. You need to setup a standalone server on a dedicated/virtual host for this purpose. It is pure JAVA, the same as the built-in server, download it -> here <- for free and run "startserver.bat" to start it. Always update this server when you update your App, protocol will change often.

7. Can I use another server port than 8575?
Yes, simple add your preferred port as argument, for e.g. "startserver.bat 8575" and don't forget to set this port also on your mobile.

8. Does this work with real walkie talkies?
No, mobile phones are lacking the functionality of transmitting on this frequency(27MHz). However if someone is interested in building a real cb gateway feel free to contact me.

9. There appears an error when i push PTT?
Raw recording(sending) is not supported on all phones but should work on all phones with android 2.0 or greater.

10. It stops sending after 15 seconds?
This is a limitation on most phone touchscreen surfaces. Just release the button and press it again to continue talking.

11. How much traffic is generated?
While receiving or sending it should not exceed 8kb/s (16kb/s when receiving and sending at the same time).

12. What are the differences between a common analog scan and the scan implemented in virtual walkie talkie ?
-it will keep receiving on last channel while scanning (on an analog device you would need 2 receivers for this)
-if you press ptt while scanning it will break and you will transmit and receive on your last channel
-it will find the next channel, from where you started scanning, which was active in the last second
-it doesnt really scan itself, it just asks the server for the next active channel and will scroll to it
-if you break scanning by up or down button it will change the channel

13. What is the wake lock option used for?
It prevents your phones cpu from going to standby after 15 minutes of no user interaction when VWT is turned on and connected.
This avoids VWT from crashing after waking up from sleep mode and makes you able to keep receiving in the background the whole day if you want to.

14. Is there a widget?
No, you can already use the app icon of VWT as a widget.
Just drag and drop it to your home screen, when you click it, it will bring the running VWT to the foreground.
In the pro version you also can use your phones camera button to bring a running VWTPro to the foreground.
VWT is able of running and receiving in the background, so you are able to continue working with your phone until there is a need to talk.

15. How can i make conversations private?
you can already setup your own private server with the free version on your phone/pc or a virtual/dedicated host.
It can be any platform but it needs Java (Sun JRE) to run.
download it -> here <- for free and run "startserver.bat" to start it. there is also a privacy code feature available in "Virtual Walkie Talkie Pro", it's behavior is like having your own free channel and being able to only talk to one or more specific persons.

16. On which phones will this work?
It will work on nearly any android phone (for e.g. HTC Dream (G1),HTC Hero (G2), HTC Magic, HTC Legend, Motorola Droid, Google Nexus One, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, HTC Desire, Acer Liquid, Samsung Moment ).

Exceptions (problems occuring on following devices):
-Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700 (audio is skipping, sending does not work sometimes)
-Samsung Moment SPH-M900 (sending does not work sometimes)
-Acer Liquid with android 2.0 (random force close happening only when "TTS Extended" is installed)

17. I accidentally pushed the ptt button to many times, sending is blocked, what should i do ?
This happens when you press PTT to often in a short period of time.
Just use Menu Button->Exit, wait a few seconds and start it again and it should work fine again.

18. What does the lock symbol in the user list mean ?
It indicates that a user has set a privacy code and will only be able to hear you when you have set the same privacy code.
A red lock means the user has set another privacy code, a green lock means the user has set the same privacy code as you have.

19. Why is my flag showing a pirate flag and not my country's flag ?
the pirate flag will remain until your phone has retrieved your coarse location, this can take a while.
on some occasions it wont work in the first 150 seconds after starting VWT and the pirate flag will remain.
this should in no way interfere with the functionality of VWT.
just try to enable/disable gps or network provided locations.

20. why does it show a different id number every time on connect?
The id is not user or phone based, it is just a random linear number the server assigns to your connection.