Patent ID: 7650170

Claim:
A mobile wireless cellular communications device comprising: a wireless cellular transceiver and a controller for cooperating therewith for receiving text messages from a wireless communications network; and a headset output connected to said controller; said controller for switching between a normal message mode and a hands-free audio message mode based upon a connection between said headset output and a headset, and when in the audio message mode, outputting via said headset output an audio message comprising speech generated from a received text message; said controller being settable to an override mode in which said controller remains in the audio message mode irrespective of a connection between said headset output and the headset; said controller also for generating a conversion request for converting the received text message to the audio message, and cooperating with the wireless cellular transceiver to forward the conversion request to the wireless communications network and receive the audio message from the wireless communications network based thereon.