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Can this device make a phone call? (shkspr.mobi)
3 points by pimterry on June 8, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments



Any computer could make a phone call; having a handler in place for "tel:" is certainly the first step (but not even really necessary!) No amount of probing whether this is a mobile device, or has a SIM card, or has properties of Android or whatever, is going to generously include all devices that are capable of placing PSTN calls.

I mean, yeah, check and see whether it has a microphone and audio output - that's fairly mandatory for telephony operations. Other than that... dunno.


Microphone is not strictly required for telephony. After all, if you're willing to add a few processing steps, (recording and file transfer), even a near audioless computer can handle marshalling a telephony message.


Granted, yes, but I think that most developers who ask "can this device make a phone call?" are actually asking the question whether the human operator of the device can have a conversation over the telephone, so yeah.




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