Help Huawei MediaPad M1 8.0 make phone calls

[Bumbellina]

I would like to make and receive phone calls from this devise (I bought it because I understood that could be done). It would be very infrequent but would just like the option and to know that people were able to ring me. What app would make this possible please that would not require anyone calling me to have the same app. I am with Giffgaff in the UK. Thank you

 

[mikedt]

Which version have you got? If you got the 301W, that doesn't have any phone functionality, and can't be added with just an app.

 

[Bumbellina]

On box it says S8-301L

 

[Hadron]

I'm trying to get a clear description of that model. I've found some places which claim it does calls, but Huawei's own site doesn't say anything about it being able to do so. There certainly seems to be a model which can, but I'm not certain about that one.

Does it say anything about this in the manual or on the box?

Edit: I downloaded the English manual, but all it tells me is that the WiFi only version doesn't so this (which I guess is the "W" model Mike mentions) and that to make calls you use the dialer app, which I assume you don't have on the homescreen, app drawer or in Settings > Apps > All.

 

[mikedt]

Seems there's a few different versions, one is a WiFi only tablet, and there's couple of cellular radio enabled ones, one has mobile phone functionality, the other doesn't. Being a Huawei, most info that I can find is Chinese. If it doesn't have built-in phone app, it's not going to be able to make phone calls. And you can't add this with just an app. No doubt it could do VOIP calls, with Skype or Vonage or something, which is using the internet.

This is some of the info I found.

It's in Chinese, but that tells me that the "s8-301W" version doesn't have mobile phone(手机) functionality, it's just a tablet, whereas the 303L and 301U versions do. You got a 301L, which I can't find much about, so I'm guessing that hasn't got mobile phone functionality either, it's data only.

 

[sowerbya]

I just bought the Mediapad M1 S8-301L 4g and no dialler app to make calls even though the product manual says it should only the Wi-Fi only model does not support that feature but after speaking with Huawei uk they confirm it should have this feature so they arranged for it to be sent in to be serviced under warranty last Friday today I have been informed that it's been fixed and is on its way back to me and i should have it back on 20/02/2015

 

[GemBro]

A few months ago I bought my Huawei MediaPad M1 8.0 (16Gb version S8301L) from the flea market (brand new & unlocked to all networks) for £115 on the basis it could make phone calls ... we've all seen the reviews on the Internet (showing the dialler working in the images) ... I was a bit gutted when I got it and found out I didn't have the Dialler icon and therfore no voice calls possible ... I left it as is as I wasn't too miffed about it ... the unit is a nice bit of kit regardless ...

Anyhow Yesterday (Wed 25th Mar 2015) my MediaPad popped up with a firmware upgrade notification from UI Emotion ... so I thought great ... and it wasn't till I looked at the release notes that I realised the upgarde would enable voice calls ... wicked ... I had already rooted the pad, so I hoped it would update ok ...

Here's the release notes that came with the new Firmware update:

Upgrade to S8-301LV100R001C257B012
Major progress:
1, Support voice call
2. Improve system's stability and performance
3. Merge Google security patch

Well it worked and I now have voice calling capabilities on my Huawei MediaPad M1 8.0 ... happy? ... you betcha ...

My mate has the same MediaPAd but he hasn't had the notifiaction ... any of you have had the update yet? ...

cheers,
GemBro