Q: Do I need to jailbreak my phone to work with Phone Amego?
A: No. This guide includes detailed instructions on how to configure Bluetooth on your phone and your Mac. There also a video tutorial.
Q: Does Phone Amego work with iPhone?
A: Yes. It supports inbound Caller ID and outbound dialing when paired with an iPhone. Since Phone Amego uses the "Handsfree Gateway" to connect with iPhone, you cannot use a Bluetooth headset and Phone Amego at the same time without some compromise. See Hands-Free Speakerphone.
Phone Amego uses the headset channel and effectively acts like a Bluetooth headset. Bluetooth on Mac OS X can sometimes be fussy or even misleading. Do not be alarmed if it reports your device is not supported or Bluetooth pairing fails. You just need to follow the setup procedure in the order shown.
Q: Will using Phone Amego drain my iPhone's battery?
A: Running the Bluetooth radio on your iPhone will gradually drain the battery. On later iPhone models, Bluetooth uses much less power (relatively), so the drain is less of a concern. The additional battery drain is barely noticeable on my iPhone 4S for example. There is no additional battery drain while your computer is asleep or monitoring your iPhone is turned off.
Q: Can I connect with my iPhone via WiFi rather than Bluetooth?
A: You can dial via WiFi using Push Dialer for iPhone (see Generic Dial URLs, but you will still need to accept the notification on your phone). In general the built-in telephone application is not accessible via WiFi. Phone Amego uses the Bluetooth headset channel to get around these limitations. In addition, WiFi uses much more power than Bluetooth.
Q: Which Bluetooth Cell Phones are Supported?
A: Phone Amego works with Bluetooth phones that recognize AT commands using the HandsFree or Serial Port Profile. This includes many Bluetooth phones such as those by Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, RIM BlackBerry, Google Android, and Apple iPhone. I have tested Phone Amego with these phones:
• Apple iPhone 1G with OS 3.0.1
• Nokia 2760
• Motorola RAZR v3
• Sony Ericsson TM506
• RIM BlackBerry 7290
Customers also report success with these phones:
• Google Android (T-Mobile MyTouch)
• Nokia N82
• BlackBerry Storm 9530
Q: My phone went silent during a call, what happened?
A: The call audio may have been transferred to your Mac which acts as a HandsFree Speakerphone. To restore the call audio, reset the "Audio Source" to be your phone, or enable the speakerphone feature on your handset.
Q: How do I get call audio to play on my Mac?
A: In my experience, Bluetooth Audio does not work reliably on Mac OS X Lion. In order to use the Headset channel (which is the only path the iPhone provides) Phone Amego must acknowledge audio requests and transfer call audio back to your phone. If you configure Phone Amego to "Accept Hands-Free Always", or select "Speakerphone" while a call is in progress, Phone Amego will attempt to route call audio from your phone to the selected audio devices on your Mac. See Hands-Free Speakerphone for details.
Q: How do I send out SMS messages through my iPhone?
A: The iPhone does not support sending SMS via Bluetooth at this time. Apple has kindly provided a web page for feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Phone Amego supports sending SMS using Google Voice. There is also a way to receive SMS sent to your Google Voice number on your desktop.
I am considering adding support for sending and receiving SMS directly for phones which support the GSM standard.
Q: Why did Apple remove support for Bluetooth phone to Address Book integration in Tiger?
A: Apple hasn't said why they removed this feature. I can only speculate it was too difficult to provide a great user experience accross their entire customer base (with so many different phones to support), and they didn't want the ongoing support burden. If it isn't great, Apple would rather not do it.
As a smaller independent developer, I can focus on supporting a small number of devices, work directly with customers to improve the product, and offer more frequent updates.
Q: What's the point of having a Bluetooth phone?
A: You can sync your phone with your computer to automatically transfer your Address Book contacts and appointments from your calendar. No cables are needed. Just have your phone near your computer and ask it to sync.
You can use your phone as a modem to give your laptop Internet access while you are traveling. Again, no special cables are needed.
You can use a Hands-Free headset or use your phone with another device like a GPS to have it call a nearby restaurant you just found.
