Pplconnect your PC into a virtual phone

Walt Mossberg, a senior US technology media Walter Mossberg, recently published a review of the new application Pplconnect, saying the product turned the PC into a virtual handset that supports phone calls and text messages, but there are some deficiencies that need to be improved, If you do not support answering phones, only Android phones, phone sometimes not, SMS can not embed photos. Here's the main article: People are increasingly reliant on smartphones, but most people still own PCs. PCs are still very good devices, but they are inferior to mobile phones in some common tasks: sending and receiving standard SMS messages and answering phones. Admittedly, there are a lot of online chat services available on the computer now. But they usually require that both sides of the communication are users, or require the use of a brand of hardware. The most typical example is Apple's very good imessage service, which can be used to send short messages between computers, mobile phones and tablets-provided the devices are made from Apple. There are services that support voice calls on the computer, but they often use a different number than the one we use on the phone. This week, I tested a new application designed to solve the problem. It builds links between PCs and smartphones through a Web site. Through that website, no matter what mobile network the communication party uses, what operating system, whether they have installed Pplconnect application, you can send and receive mobile phone messages. That information seems to come from a connected phone. You can also use a phone number on your computer to make a phone call, even when you are on a hand machine or without electricity. The service also supports displaying and managing your address book. The application, named Pplconnect, launched its open test last December. Its developer is a company of the same name from Montreal, Pplconnect currently has only 6 employees. During my testing, most of the features of pplconnect work normally, but like other test products, it lacks some functionality and needs to be perfected. It also has some design limitations. For example, while you can make a phone call on your computer--perhaps the most prominent feature of the product--you can't answer the phone on your computer. Calls are charged at 3 cents a minute and are currently only for the Canadian and American markets. In addition, you can call when a connected phone is turned off or disconnected from the network, but when texting, the phone must be on the Power-on network. On the other hand, Pplconnect currently only supports connecting to Android phones. The company estimates that it will take about a year for the app to build links for Apple's iOS phones. But now you can use the Mac as the link Web side of the browser. Pplconnect's specific mode of operation is: first install the Pplconnect application on your Android phone, then log on to the site Pplconnect.mobi, and then enter your applicationRegistration information used on the The application is primarily a link between a mobile phone and a computer, and can be used for texting and making calls. When I tested, I used the Google Nexus 5 phone, which was connected to a variety of devices running the Pplconnect site, including several Windows PCs, several Macs, and an ipad. In which the SMS function in all the tests are running normally, there are few problems. A good feature of Pplconnect is that its Web site supports multiple text message dialogs at the same time. The company recommends using its services in a Chrome browser, but the test found that Safari and Internet Explorer also supported the service. Pplconnect that its biggest competitor is imessage on Apple devices. Its opponents also include more mature mightytext. Mightytext has plenty of photo sync capabilities, and Pplconnect also wants to add this feature. Mightytext is known for its short message function. But unlike Pplconnect, it does not support calling directly from a computer. Instead, it only allows you to direct your cell phone. Pplconnect I am most dissatisfied with, sometimes the phone will not get through, or it will take a long time to connect. The company acknowledges the problem and estimates that 12% to 13% of the phones are out of line. This is why it calls the phone function an experiment. Pplconnect thinks the problem arises because it uses a network phone on a computer to simulate a cellular phone from a cell phone number, saying it knows it needs to improve reliability. The company points out that the call fee is due to the use of VoIP services, but it does not occupy the user package in the voice of the length of calls. Pplconnect There are a few other places to be criticized. On the one hand, you are not able to insert photos or other media in the text message on your computer. The company says it is embarking on the development of this function. The call function for this product also does not have access to the code used for conference calls. Oddly enough, the text on the Pplconnect Web site is very clear on Windows and the ipad, and the two of the 3 Macs I used in my test were a little blurry. The company says it has not received any feedback on this before and is conducting research. Overall, Pplconnect is a promising application and service, and the future is expected to be great. But it needs to keep working. (Hao Hui)