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You’d think that with all of the recent BlackBerry OS updates, RIM would have provided the ability to record phone calls. This can be beneficial for many purposes. Often, people have to take notes when on the phone. That’s no good if you’re not sitting down. Having the voice recorder makes it easier to have the conversation and pick out the important parts later. For others, like me, it is a great tool for interviews. It feels embarrassing sometimes when an interviewee asks for your number, and you have to explain that you must dial in, since the only way you can record the call is via Skype. Is there any way we can record calls on our BlackBerry?
Voice Recorder Notes
If you have a newer OS (mine is 4.3.0.127), you’ll have the Voice Recorder Notes application. When I first saw this, I thought it was a great way to record phone calls. However, as you can see from the screenshot, that just can’t happen. I didn’t expect much of it, anyway. I figured it just used the built-in mic, which means that the caller on the other end would be horribly muffled at best. Instead, the application simply won’t work while the phone is active. So much for that idea.
There has to be a way, though. Right?
Ring2
Back at WES, I ran into a company called Ring2. They deal with conference calling, and have an application built for BlackBerry. In addition to a host of other features, they offer the ability to record conference calls. Since you technically can hold a call with just two participants, you can utilize the feature for your basic call recording needs.
The downside is that it costs. They don’t publish their prices, but expect a monthly fee rather than a flat-rate download. This looks like one of the easiest ways to record your calls.
Grand Central
In searching for an answer to the call recording question, I stumbled across Grand Central, a Google project. Among its many features is the ability to record incoming calls, simply by hitting the number 4 on your keypad. From what I’ve gathered, this only works with incoming calls. Still, it’s better than nothing.
(By the by, does anyone know which weighs more: All of the trees cut down to make U.S. dollars in one year, or all the trains traveling through Grand Central Station in one year?)
Limited options
So it looks like we don’t have a ton of options for recording calls on our BlackBerry devices. RIM didn’t include such an ability in OS 4.5, or at least as far as I’m able to tell. We might see updates to third-party applications like VR+, but even then we can’t be sure if this is on the developer’s agenda.
Anyone have a better solution out there? Please, please leave it in the comments if you do.
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9 Comments ↓
I been looking for a solution this this problem as well.
I thought mVoice, from Motionapps, was able to do it.
But now it seems, from what I’m learning, that it’s an OS challenge, and not developers in general.
I have a Treo 680, that has an amazing program called Callrec. That program and Natara’s Bonsai (outliner program, similar to Ideamatrix from Rexwireless), are literally Dealbreakers for determining whether I use my Treo 680, or my blackberry bold!
the best solution: Callrec and Bonsai, remade for the blackberry!
Wouldn’t such an application/use require notification of the other party that the call is being recorded? Or at a minimum issue the recurring “beep” across the line that indicates a call is being recorded in the absence of full notification?
Recording phone calls without consent is illegal in some states, which is why you will never see the functionality built into the blackberry, I’m sure that law extends to far more then the US as well.
One solution is to get a digital recorder like this one http://www.telephonecallrecorder.com/fsv256-133hour-phone-cell-phone-digital-recorder-p-56.html that comes with a earbud that is a microphone. Even though it’s in your ear, it picks up both your voice and the other person’s voice. You do have to be sure to keep the phone still on your ear otherwise you’ll pick up “rubbing” noise from the phone rubbing on the microphone. It’s not the highest quality recording because it’s not a direct connection to the line, it uses a microphone, but it’s a great way to record your calls.
It’s possible on some cell phones, and a few have had them built in. I know some of my older phones had the ability to record conversations for short durations, usually about a minute. They didn’t indicate a beep of any kind to the other person on the line, just to me when I would hold the notes button down.
As one poster stated, in some states it’s illegal to record a conversation without the other parties consent. In the state I live in, the law only requires that one party be aware that the recording is going on.
Im not sure exactly how it works but take a look at recordiapro.com my brother used it for recording incoming calls… somehow. i know u might have to get a new number
just addming my 2 cents.
Recordedcalls.com says they’re coming out with a solution to record calls on rim’s blackberry platform.
Well, I still haven’t found a suitable app for this. But I wanted to address your little riddle
“(By the by, does anyone know which weighs more: All of the trees cut down to make U.S. dollars in one year, or all the trains traveling through Grand Central Station in one year?)”
Neither, they are both fictional amounts. Dollars are made from fabric, not paper. No trains pass THROUGH grand central, they all stop there.
Recordedcalls.com has got to be some kind of scam phishing for emails.
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