If you are the proud owner of the Google Nexus 7 tablet, and would like to turn your Android slate into a phone so you can receive and make calls, there is a way of doing so by using Google Voice, although you will need to be comfortable with tinkering with your tablet and root is required to take advantage of Google Voice to enable incoming and outgoing calls, and the method apparently doesn’t only work on the Nexus 7, but any tablet.

The way to turn your Google Nexus 7 or other slate into a fully fledged soft phone with free incoming and outgoing calls across the United States comes our way courtesy of the guys over at Talk Android, and by way of XDA-Developers, and the method uses the dialler app voice+ to connect via Google Voice and make a call.

Apparently incoming calls on your Android tablet are handled by any SIP app like CSipSimple that needs you to set up a call number and rooting via other online services like ipkall or callcentric, and then couple those with Google Voice along with a recompiled and edited framework-res.apk.file along with flashing an update.zip, and you are ready to go in sixteen easy steps.

However the guys do say you could always opt to download the Groove IP app from Google Play and skip the rest, but the XDA-Deveopers method does enable you to receive calls in your Gmail on your PC, whilst the Groove IP app is one or the other.

Still if you are one of the Android faithful that doesn’t mind tinkering with the system files on your Google Nexus 7 tablet, and wish to give this method a whirl, you can grab all the necessary along with instruction by hitting up the XDA-Developers forum, and of course if you do you do so at your own risk, but feel free to let us know how it all goes if you do, by dropping us a line to our comments area below.