Will the iPad allow for emergency calls? Probably not.

John Brownlee ()

There’s enough left over bits of iPhone-specific functions diffused through the iPad SDK to be skeptical of any claims of unannounced telephony “features” in Apple’s forthcoming tablet, but this one’s getting a bit of bit of press: enable passcode lock on your iPad, enter your code wrong five times in a row, and you suddenly have the functionality to slide for an emergency call, just like on the iPhone.

It seems just like residual iPhone functionality crawling around the iPad SDK, but 9to5Mac thinks it could be something more: they point out that FCC regulations mandate that all cellphones must be able to place emergency calls even without a contract.

I seriously doubt that’s what is going on here. 3G is not the same as voice, and the FCC doesn’t enforce the “emergency call” functionality on 3G-only devices. If they did, your 3G netbook or Kindle would have to be able to make emergency 911 calls. This is just residual code… but hey, it makes for a good headline.

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in iPad |

  • Peter

    Um, it’s not a phone. My coffee mug doesn’t make emergency phone calls either.

  • CaryMG

    This is ridiculous ….

    Of *course* iPad will make phonecalls — emergency ones or whatever else.

    There’s an app — among MANY — called “fring” that does this.

    Some prefer “Skype” — I like “fring”.

  • http://www.combiboilers.info William Roberts

    our local shop is giving away some free coffe mugs that are also of high quality,.~.

  • http://www.arthritistreatmentlab.com Maya Bailey

    i always use Ceramic Coffee mugs because they are quite tough, i dropped them on the floor without breaking:,*

  • Anonymous

    Hello

    It’s a nice article it will help my research.

    Thanks