Mod Restores VoIP Calling to Samsung Galaxy S II

One of the features present in most devices that run the Android operating system is the ability to place and receive voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls through a built-in UI compatible with many VoIP providers. While third party VoIP solutions have been available on Android for some time, Google recently introduced this feature in their 2.3.3 release. Cellular carriers are not so keen to allow VoIP on their systems however, as they see it pulling customers away from their higher-tier packages that include more minutes, or long-distance packages. Samsung decided to pull VoIP support from the Android build provided with it's Galaxy S II, leaving third party apps as the only solution available to SGS II users.

Mobilegalaxy at XDA has written a guide that not only allows restoring the native SIP (session initiation protocol, which allows VoIP) stack, but further allows it to operate over 3G connections in addition to the default WiFi support. Activating Android's SIP stack requires modification of the system framework, requiring the program "APK Manager" to decompile and recompile the framework APK. In addition to the provided instructions, an update.zip compatible with ClockWorkMod recovery is provided that allows easy activation, however 3G support is not provided with this method and must still be manually activated if desired.

Reports are that incoming calling is currently not functioning, but outgoing calls are working fine. There is also a problem with the native Google SIP using the wrong microphone on SGS II. Mobilegalaxy is currently working on a patch to correct this issue and will update when it is available.

Source: XDA
Via: XDA Portal