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Background:

I'm currently looking into building an Android VoIP app for work (we sell VoIP services as one of our products) and have come across the android.net.sip framework.

At a glance it looks like they've taken care of all the hard stuff already & I can in theory get a VoIP client up & running in just a few lines of code. This seems far too simple to be true, considering apps like Bria sell for ~$7 in the Android Market. I also can't seem to find any OSS apps in the Market that use the android.net.sip framework.

I've compiled the sample SipDemo that comes with the SDK & dropped in the right network settings, username, etc and it seems to work fine. I'm hesitant to start work down this path though as it seems too easy.

Question:

What potential pitfalls are there using the android.net.sip framework? Why don't more apps use it? If I use it, will I get bitten in future?

Mark McDonald
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1 Answers1

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A bit late but I'll answer anyway.

The android.net.sip framework is quite limited in features it offers. For example, I think (that information is hard to find) it only supports G.711. This is important if you need a codec using less bandwidth.

There are some apps available that uses proprietary VoIP frameworks that gives them more features and control over what they offer (Security, broad codec choice, video, presence, file sharing, etc.). There are also SIPDroid and CSipSimple, which are open source. That makes quite a lot of choice for a softphone app.

So you could use the framework but you'll be limited if your customers start asking for more features. You won't be able to match your competitors offer unless Google adds features.

plmaheu
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