Originally Posted by
flymetokix
From BLI-Flyer's comments, it looks like the Apple product works well, but I have been leaning toward products that let me use my own headphones rather than the crummy Apple phones. Any additional experience or thoughts on any of these (including the Apple product)?
I have a
Shure MPA-3C, which is a mic that goes in-line between my headphones and the phone.
(Cheaper at
these guys, with whom I've had nothing but great experiences and support, or
Amazon, and a
Macworld and
Engadget review.)
I use them with my [glorious!] Shure SE530s, but I see no reason why they wouldn't work with any other headphones with a standard 1/8" TRS stereo plug.
I'm not familiar enough with the iPod Touch to confirm it'll work with it, but if the Touch has the same kind of jack the iPhone does, it should do fine.
As for VoIP apps, I, too, had positive experiences with TruPhone while traveling in Southeast Asia and Australia. I was going to complain to the developer about freezing screen problems (when I pulled my face away from the phone, it sometimes took awhile before the screen "woke up")...but then I finally realized it was my screen protector getting so dirty the phone's proximity sensor was basically constantly engaged. (I didn't realize it until I got back home and actually used the regular phone function, which I had not been using overseas, and the same thing happened!
)
Sometimes touch tones wouldn't transmit well through the VoIP call, but for the most part, it was easy to use and offered pretty good call clarity (given the kinds of connections I was using in places like Thailand and Vietnam).
Skype and iCall (which I had been a "fan" of on Facebook, waiting for the release announcement) weren't out yet (this was in [northern hemisphere] fall of 2008), so I couldn't compare those, and I didn't realize until after I got home that Fring actually worked with Skype.