PSP VoIP on the horizon?

[wraggster]

Source - PSPFanboy (http://www.pspfanboy.com/2006/01/19/psp-voip-on-the-horizon/)

Will we see a phone feature appear on the PSP soon? Tom Keating of the VoIP and Gadgets blog seems to think it will. In fact, he considers this more an inevitability than mere speculation. He also suggests that companies like Google are in line to come up with some sort of VoIP service for PSP considering that intergration of IM applications like Google Talk are already headed for handheld devices. And since Google Talk, like the even more widely used Yahoo! Instant Messenger, already has voice built in, it's only natural to expect that a microphone peripheral (say the SOCOM headset) will take advantage of that avenue and allow for phone-like capabilities on Sony's prized portable.

Having a phone attachment on the PSP, especially a free one, is such a neat idea it makes me feel like donating to charity. Of course, several issues need to be addressed. One, the phone attachment needs to be reasonably sized so as not to make the PSP unmanageable. Two, power usage needs to be improved since the PSP's WiFi feature is notorious for its energy suckage. Also, if this development gets pushed back a a year or two, there's always the chance that Sony will do a redesign and integrate these enhancements. Come what may, we're just oh-so-happy that even if Sony isn't maxing out the PSP's abilities, other people are at least trying to on their own.

[urherenow]

Does SOCOM PSP come with a headset? I baught PSP Talkman just because of the microphone. I haven't taken a look at the 'game' portion of it yet but from the few minutes that I tried it out... the main operation for which it's indended... is garbage. Pre-defined phrases, and even if you say a phrase word for word that's in the program, it will still give you a list of options of phrases that you have to pick from anyway, for it to translate. Basically the program isn't much different using it without the microphone.

Garbage...

[AtariFreek]

Hmmm.. I Think The PSP Is To Big To Be A Cell Phone Personally.

[PSP_Newbie]

But not too big if you imagine it as being in your pocket with a headset.
If you're carrying it around anyways, otherwise I agree that it would be quite big to carry around everywhere like a normal cell phone.

[Athlonman74]

Why would you need a phone attachment for VOIP service? All you need is VOIP software on the PSP that supports the socom mic...now Cellular would be a different story, you would definitely need an attachment for that, but that would make the PSP way too bulky...I prefer the Idea of VOIP in software I think...

[benn]

at E3 last year, in a tiny booth, around the back of the Nintendo stand there was a tech deom stand. there was no-one manning the booth. it sat idle. no-one even looking at the kit. lets put it this way, the booth was so bad it looked like someone had forgot to put a desk away before the show started. i went over anyway... they had a working version of VoIP on a DS. i was amazed. i was more amazed that in my opinion it was one of the most amazing thing at the entire show and yet i did not read about it anywhere and even nintendo had it shoved out the way to showcase some of it's tired library titles.