How to check if an Android device has voice capabilities

Question

Does anyone know a good way of programmaticaly checking if an Android device, phone or tablet, has voice capabilities? By voice capabilities I mean capability to make phone call

Answer 1

I know this question was posted a long time ago, but I still thought I would post the solution I came up with that works for me so far, just so anyone with the same problem can benefit. (Because it seems like lots of people are having trouble finding a solution).

I just checked for the device's voicemail number, and obviously if it doesn't have one, then it is not a phone. In my code, to check this, it is tm.getVoiceMailNumber();

Here's what I did:

callButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

        public void onClick(View v) {

            TelephonyManager tm = (TelephonyManager)getSystemService(TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
            String ableToMakePhoneCalls = tm.getVoiceMailNumber(); //check device for voicemail number (null means no voicemail number).

            if(ableToMakePhoneCalls == null){ //If the device does not have voicemail, then it must not be a phone. So it can't call.

                //I displayed an alert dialog box here


            }
            else{

                String phoneNum = "tel:8885554444";

                Intent intentPhone = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_CALL);
                intentPhone.setData(Uri.parse(phoneNum));

                startActivity(intentPhone);
            }
        }
    });