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GLOBAL – New to the Ovi Store this week comes an app that could well change the way we use our devices to interact. The latest update to the uber-popular VoIP app Fring comes with the facility to video chat with Skype users (using the Skype API) from your mobile. What makes this different, and utterly unique (and potentially ground-breaking) is that the other user doesn’t have to be on their mobile – yep, you can video call from your mobile to someone on their desktop (and vice versa).
Mobile video calling, it’s fair to say, never really took off. At least not in the UK. But I think that could change, and quite fast. Video calling over VoIP using desktops and laptops, particularly through Skype, has become hugely popular over the last year or so. I for one know two grandmother’s who, with their wireless networks and fancy laptops, love to spend time video calling their grandkids.
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By bringing the mobile into the equation, Fring has drawn a line between the second screen (computer) and third screen (mobile) which we’ve simply not had before. From our devices we’ve been able to send messages (the new Nokia Messaging’s addition of Instant Messaging revolutionises that) but adding video to the equation creates a direct link that I for one find quite exciting.
We’ll be catching up with the folks from Fring next week so watch out for that, meanwhile here’s Omri from Fring giving a brief demo of the all-new version of the app. Download it now for free from Ovi Store or from Fring.com. The new version works with a variety of Nokia devices including the N97 (and other touch devices) and the N95 (amongst other S60 3rd edition devices).