Smart Phones and Scanner Streams? Which ones work?

[AZScanner]

My mobile carrier (t-mobile) recently informed me that I am eligible for a substantial discount on an upgraded phone as of the 16th (payday being the 15th - how convenient! ) So I'm shopping their selection and looking at all the nifty new toys. The discount is pretty much half off whatever phone I want, so I'm thinking of dropping a couple bills on something that will allow me to surf the web and sync with outlook, etc. Naturally the ideal choice would be something that would allow me to connect to windows media audio and video streams - how cool would that be to be able to listen to LAPD and watch the latest police chase on my phone??? muwahahaha, the possibilities...

At first I was looking at the blackberries, but I don't see anything that mentions the ability to connect to live streams, so I thought I'd ask the group and see if anyone here is able to do it. The only real limitation I have is that it has to be a t-mobile phone since that's who my service is with.

Thanks in advance for any help,
-AZ

 

[NYRHKY94]

AZ:

I connect to my scanner stream all the time using a Pocket PC/Phone. I have the XV-6700 model and use Verizon. I can listen to the stream using the media player that comes with Windows Mobile 5 or with any internet radio utlity made for WM5.

I prefer Resco Radio. I just set up the scanner stream address as one of the radio stations and from there it's one click to listen to my home scanner on my phone whenever I want to. While driving, I can listen to it using a Blue Tooth earpeice so that I can answer calls if they come thru.

I attached a picture of the Pocket PC mounted in my car with Resco Radio running. It's a lousy picture, but the scanner station is the one in the lower right of screen (says My Scanner).

Mike

P.S. I use Icecast/Oddcast to stream my scanner feed from home.

 

[AZScanner]

Sweet. I'll have to google that Resco Radio app you mentioned - sounds perfect.

After reading reviews on all the various smartphones T-mobile offers, I opted to go with the T-Mobile Dash. Looks like it has all the cool toys I want, even 802.11G wifi so I don't have to eat up data minutes when I'm at home or near a hotspot... too cool. Can't wait - I love new toys.

 

[NYRHKY94]

AZ:

Here's a much better picture of the Resco Radio app on my Pocket PC/Phone. You'll see that I have 5 different streams stored as stations. These are all at my home shack. I listened to the PSR-600 stream in the car on the way home tonight ;-)

P.S. I have it hooked up to the car stereo thru a cassette adaptor from RS.

Mike

 

[AndersonMBK]

Now that's pretty slick. How much of a delay is there.. if any?

NYRHKY94, I have Verizon's new 6800. Pretty neat little phone. I'll be trying this soon.

 

[NYRHKY94]

AndersonMBK:

I'm streaming with Icecast server & Oddcast encoder from my home PC. The delay to the phone or another PC typically runs in the 20 second range.

Gotta love technology ;-)

 

[NYRHKY94]

Guys:

Just wanted add another picture with one of my streams actually running on the Pocket PC/Phone. This one shows the alpha tags as part of the stream.

 

[AZScanner]

OMG that is so cool. Can't wait to get the new phone and play.

Thanks again for the info!

 

[matthewtomek]

It sucks that Blackberries aren't up to par yet on playing live feeds. Nice setup you have there.

 

[airforceflyr]

I'm looking to pickup the new Verizon Voyager. Anyone had luck receiving streams ?

 

[DonS]

I have the Sprint PPC-6700 (same as the VX-6700). I use the included WMP to play my PSR-600 stream, encoded with WME. In fact, that's why the "Win500 separate LCD window" is 320x240... WMP on the phone wanted a 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

[Dubbin]

It sucks that Blackberries aren't up to par yet on playing live feeds. Nice setup you have there.

Blackberry's are more of a business type of a tool, they are not meant to be a play toy like many phones now a days. I'll take my blackberry over my play toy cell phone any day.

 

[NYRHKY94]

FYI - The PPC-6700 & XV-6700 are pocket pc's.....not cell phones per se. They have a full feature set like the Blackberry, a nice Windows GUI and are becoming quite common as a business tool. Mine is used in a corprate IT environment.

 

[DonS]

Blackberry's are more of a business type of a tool, they are not meant to be a play toy like many phones now a days. I'll take my blackberry over my play toy cell phone any day.

To each his own.

Personally, I'll take my WM5 device with all of its "business" tools (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint), GPS interface (Bluetooth to Garmin GPS, address-level routing with voice prompts), Terminal Server client to my desktop PC, etc., even if it means I have to put up with the occasional "play toy" application (monitoring my scanner remotely, seeing "Solitaire" in the Programs menu, etc.).

 

[AZScanner]

Well, just thought I'd pop in to answer my own question... not only can this thing monitor feeds but thanks to Resco it displays the alpha tags as well! It's quite simply the coolest little gadget I've ever seen. I see now why people call these smartphones "crackberries" - I'm totally addicted. All I can say is get the unlimited internet plan because trust me, you WILL need it.

Back to adding more feeds to Resco...

-AZ

 

[fi18re]

Can someone name a few verizon smart phones that support live audio streams ?

 

[SCPD]

Blackberry's are more of a business type of a tool, they are not meant to be a play toy like many phones now a days. I'll take my blackberry over my play toy cell phone any day.

Blackberry's can stream audio with 3rd Party apps. I have streamed using a BB 8100 "Pearl" Search www.pinstack.com soon the devices with the new OS 4.5 coming out soon I believe will natively support streaming. Business & Pleasure now serving Crackberry's everywhere!

 

[AZScanner]

Can someone name a few verizon smart phones that support live audio streams ?

Just about anything running Windows Mobile 5 and up can do it via resco radio. That's what I use on my T-Mo dash. Works great!

Earlier in the thread Mike (NYRHKY94) mentioned he uses the VX-6700. Check Verizon's website for others.

Just wish T-mo's edge network was a little beefier. If so I'd be able to stream video too. Youtube works with the flash plugin for TCPMP but not well unless I use wi-fi. I get better results if I download the video to my storage card first and then play it. My kids saw me watching anime off Youtube the other day and totally freaked "WHOA YOU CAN WATCH YOU TUBE ON YOUR PHONE?! I WANT ONE!" Keep dreaming kids... this is daddy's toy.

-AZ

 

[lbpd719]

I noticed your stream is on icecast / ogg.. are you runing linux. If so would love to discuss the text tags with you more..

 

[MBECKNELL]

will the moto q phone due the live feed stuff you guys