So is this gizmo amazing or what? That’s obviously a rhetorical question because its pretty damn brilliant. I’ve had my trust blackberry bold 9000, my small and portable android enabled, Motorola Spice, and my versatile and entertaining iPod Touch 4Gen with me for over a year now and thus with already 2 phones and an iPod Touch, I felt it would be a waste to buy an Iphone 4 when all the features of the device were easily handled by my iPod Touch sans making actual phone calls. Furthermore, I couldn’t justify paying $400 more just to add the ability to make and receive phone calls (albeit SMS, and 3G data were also missing).
Then this device shows up on my desk and I’m like “Huh? What is this? … Wait a minute. This does what?? Seriously?!?! No way! That’s awesome. I’m trying this right now!”
*UPDATE* The Gmate now works for almost all android devices that have Android 2.0+ OS or higher. This includes both smart phones and tablets*UPDATE*
And suffice to say, my excitement was tempered by the fairly simple, but some-what time consuming process of installing the necessary software to allow my iPod Touch to be a full-fledged iPhone 4 that can receive and make calls and SMS and mms and also surf the web and use 3G.
And how about the approximately 35million iphone (4 and 4s) users around the world (plus the millions that are unreported but still using iOS devices) ? How can the amazing Gmate help them out?
Well that’s a fantastic question. Gmate can allow your iPhone 3G/3Gs/4/4s to also be Dual-SIM. Now that’s a fancy way of saying that you can use two sim-cards simultaneously. The benefits of this feature are great:
First, those who normally have a business phone or company phone that they have to lug around can enjoy carrying and using their iPhone instead. You can also keep a global roaming sim-card in your phone for travelers (either business or pleasure) and for those that don’t fall into the previous two categories, you can sign up for a cheap unlimited data plan on one sim-card and a voice plan with a company that offers superior coverage or a cheap unlimited talk/text plan but no data.
In other words, you can have your cake and eat it as well! For (a Canadian) example: I would sign up with Chatr’s unlimited talk/text plan for $25/month (after $10 monthly credit using autopay) and also grab a Wind or Mobilicity Unlimited Data plan for $25/month. Thus I would be getting unlimited talk/text/data plus the usual frills (voicemail, call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, etc.) for about $60/month. Let’s compare that to a plan withBellorRogerswhich would be 200 daytime min, unlimited evenings/weekend minutes, 1GB of data, and 500 text messages for about the same price. Unlimited plans with those companies have prices in the stratosphere ($200+).
Anyways, the best feature in my opinion is the ability to convert almost any Apple device into an iPhone. And today’s In-Depth Guide will show you just how to do that:
Step 1: Go over here and order the amazing Gmate!
Easy enough step. I think anybody can do it. And $86 is a bargain compared to what Apple is charging for its most basic iPhone 4s (649.99-16GB) or iPhone4 (549.99-8GB).
Step 2: Jailbreak your device so that it has Cydia.
Don’t worry. Jailbreaking does not void your warranty (easily reversible). It’s also completely painless and simple to do provided that you are competent at following directions. Since you are now on Step 2 and are reading articles on our SW-Box Blog, I’d imagine you’re probably one of the brightest people on the planet J
How to jailbreak an iOS5 device: http://www.pcworld.com/article/242116/how_to_jailbreak_your_ios_5_device.html
Or you can google “How to jailbreak (iPhone/iPod) (OS number)”
Step 3: Within Cydia, add the Skyroam manager
So go to Cydia ->User-> Manage Sources -> Edit Sources -> Add Source -> http://m.skyroam.com/cydia ->Click Add Source
Step 4: Install Gmate App
Go back to Cydia -> Sources -> Skyroam -> Gmate –> Install -> Confirm
*Ignore any error interface boxes and click Okay*
Choose “Complete Upgrade” when you get the prompt
Step 5: Insert a SIM card into the Gmate Device
Step 6: Enable Bluetooth on iDevice and pair
The device default name is “Gmate” and the default pin (advised to change it within settings asap) is “1234”
Step 7: Start making/receiving calls, SMS, and browsing the internet all on your iPod, iPad, or iPhone
For those that have a smartphone, download Google Sync and sync your contacts with your gmail account (make one if you don’t already have). Then enable contact syncing within your iPod/iPad: Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars-> Add Account -> Gmail -> Sync Contacts and Voila! Now all your contacts are loaded onto your iDevice.
The entire process took me about 45minutes but I was using a VPN wifi access that was sludge, so with a decent internet speed (300kb/s +) you should be up and running within 10minutes or so.
If you have any further questions – Hit me up via comments below. If it’s a personal question you can email me: jayb@cellphonezone.com
Check out the Gmate in Action on Youtube!:
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Can i use gmate to share my internet on motorolaa xt300 (mobilicity sim card) with galaxy or playbook tablet?
Hey Ash,
Thanks for your question. As of right now, the developers are still in the process of releasing the Gmate software for android platforms. One of the main difficulties lie in the fact that android phones differ greatly in their hardware specifications and this causes a challenge to release a broad spectrum software that will be compatible with almost all android phones. Hopefully, this will be available to Androids and even Blackberry OS systems soon.
Gmate can accept mobilicity or wind sim cards? Telus, Rogers, Bell sim cards work on different spectrum than mobilicity/wind sim cards.
Hey Ali,
Haha. Actually, that’s a fantastic question. As I am not in Toronto at the moment, I wasn’t actually able to try this out. After contacting the manufacturer, I have confirmed that the Gmate hardware does not support the AWS bands at this time but as that band gains popularity world-wide, support for those bands will most likely follow. Luckily, Fido, Virgin, ChatR, and Koodo offer similar and comparable unlimited packages as Wind and Mobilicity and should be viable options that WILL work with the basebands that the Gmate supports. Hope that helps!
HI! DOES GMATE WORKS WITH IPOD 2ND GEN?
Hi Onin Santos. Thanks for reading the post and for asking questions.
According to the apple site:
“iOS 4.2 is the latest version of iOS for iPod touch (2nd generation).”
So it does satisfy the system requirements to pair with Gmate provided that you have it updated to iOS 4.0+.
The main difference between the functionality of iOS 4.0 on 2nd Gen iPod compared to 3rd/4th Gen iPod is that it does not have active multi-tasking.
This may or may not require the Gmate app to be active before placing the ipod on standby for it to work. Although it is most likely that this will not be required, it is still something I would caution just in case.
Unfortunately, we do not have access to a 2nd Gen iPod at our lab thus we can not test this for you, but I would still encourage you to consider it as the likely hood of it working is quite high (90%) and the benefits should outweigh the costs. Also, the price of 3rd Gen or even 4th generation iPods are dropping every month. You should be able to pick up a 3rd gen in relatively good condition for under $100 as a welcome upgrade to the 2nd gen that you may have.
I hope this has answered your question and if you have any further, please don’t hesitate to ask.
All the best,
Is an iPhone data plan required if I want one for my itouch or can a basic phone data plan be used? (AT&T)
Hey Daniel.
I have great news for you. It doesn’t matter which kind of data plan you have because your iPod Touch will use the Gmate to access data and thus does not have the same restrictions as an iPhone. Thanks for dropping by and please check out our other blog entries for cool app reviews and other tidbits!
When I’m done adding the URL for Gmate I cannot find the apps. Help me please iPod 4G running on iOS 5.0.1. Thanks
Hey Arnel.
It could be a variety of issues and it is very difficult to troubleshoot it without having a lot more information. However, I would try to make sure your device is updated to the newest iOS. Also try and copy and paste the link from your device as sometimes a period being a comma is all it takes to get the wrong url. Again, I am not assuming anything but it would be good to try a variety of methods systematically in order to troubleshoot the issue properly. I have installed the Gmate app on 4 devices now and have not had an issue in any of them. If there is a particular step with in the guide that you have a question about please let me know.
I just bought a gmate device and there is a problem using it when somebody si calling me : it’s quite impossible to answer the call….
As you can imagine, it’s a bit annoying… Do you have any solution to suggest? I use it with jailbroken iphone 4 and iOS 5.01
Other fonctions seems to be ok…. yet.
Hey Sebastien,
It’s often a very hit-and-miss process to troubleshoot products remotely. I would recommend trying to install and pair up the gmate with an iphone 4 that has been factory reset because sometimes certain cydia apps or hacks/mods can interfere with either signal or sound/voice quality.
I would also try reinstalling the app on your iphone 4 or re-jailbreaking your device and then reinstalling.
Recommended Order of Troubleshoot:
1) Reinstall Gmate App
2) Re-jailbreak iphone 4 and then reinstall gmate app
3) reset phone to factory settings then jailbreak then install gmate app
Please let me know if the above has helped.
hi my hackulous sources keeps giving me a error while downloading and it seems like that is stopping me from download the gmate package
Hi Shyguy,
As I wrote to Sebastien:
It’s often a very hit-and-miss process to troubleshoot products remotely. I would recommend trying to install and pair up the gmate with an iphone 4 that has been factory reset because sometimes certain cydia apps or hacks/mods can interfere with either signal or sound/voice quality.
I would also try reinstalling the app on your iphone 4 or re-jailbreaking your device and then reinstalling.
Recommended Order of Troubleshoot:
1) Reinstall Gmate App
2) Re-jailbreak iphone 4 and then reinstall gmate app
3) reset phone to factory settings then jailbreak then install gmate app
Please let me know if the above has helped.
hi! just want to ask if i could use gmate in blackberry playbook? thank you!
Hi Anika,
The Gmate is currently available to the iOS and Android operating systems and thus is not yet available for the blackberry operating system. I am unsure if Skyroam will release a Blackberry OS compatible software as the future of Blackberry is unstable at best.
We will keep you posted if there are any developments on Blackberry compatibility.
Thanks
Thank You for such a helpful post..:)
Does Gmate Plus work in India…
I m planning to buy An Ipod Touch 5th Gen…
hi! just want to ask if i could use gmate in ipod 5?thnx..
please help! I am having a hard time installing gmate plus on my ipod touch 4thgen. when i’m installing it, it crashes and returns to home screen. i tried re-adding the source, http://m.skyroam.com/cydia, it was fine but then when i install it, same problem occurs. I’ve reinstalling the source several times. I also tried jailbreaking it again but same problem occurs. “i have an ipod touch 4g running on 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak.”
while installing the gmate app..at the end it gives an error saying ‘size mismatch’ wat do i do abt it ?
Hi just want to know if i can use gmate for a cdma iphone with bad esn. If yes what are the steps. I’m in Philippines and we are using gms tech rather than cdma. Hope you can help me out. Regards
Hi
I’ve bought gmate+; I have Iphone 4 and ios 5.1.1.. Software of gmate has been updated..But I have problems for calling and receiving calls..
1. Sending and receiving text message are ok… No problem/// BUT
2. When I receive calls// the RING TONE only lasts for about 10 seconds (one cycle)
After that , the call it will be considered as MISSED CALL already, and I cannot answer the calls..
3. When I want to make calls by dialing or from contact list,, I get a sign “Dialing Failed”
That means I cannot use Gmate+ ..
Best Regards
Aycan Sengil
How can i connect my ipod with g-mate? my ipod doesn’t have the internet, so when i add source it’s order me to connect to the internet via wifi. pls help me