video-calling

Slash your long-distance bills

After Skype's previous offering took it a step back on the feature set, it's a relief to see version 4.1 reinstate some of those missing baubles--like accessibility provisions, birthday alerts, and the ability to send a contact to other Skype users. Version 4.0 saw Skype reworked, stripped down to its core competency (and most formidable challenge) of delivering high-quality audio and video calls over the Internet. The improved sound and video quality, were notable in our tests, the result of Skype 4.0's sound engine and bandwidth manager.

Public chats have also been temporarily omitted … Read more

Slideshow: Voice chat for free on your PC

You don't need a fistful of dollars to make an international call, just a computer with a microphone, speakers, and one of the six applications we gathered together for you in this collection of free voice-chat apps (some offer upgrades to premium services.) As a bonus, all of these fine downloads offer video calls to let you put a face to a voice.

Slash your long-distance bills

In some ways, Skype's latest offering takes a step back, but in many, it's a jump forward. In version 4.0, Skype's VoIP app for text, audio, and video calls refocuses on Skype's core competency (and most formidable challenge) of delivering high-quality audio and video calls over the Internet. A new sound engine and bandwidth manager helps keep calls clearer and more stable as talkers reach out across the world, using the spectrum of high- and low-end equipment. The improved sound and video quality were notable in our tests.

Many of Skype's secondary features remain … Read more

Second Prada phone gets QWERTY keyboard

We reviewed the original Prada phone more than a year ago and loved its style but weren't happy with its lack of support for 3G. On Monday, LG announced the second generation of the phone, and guess what? It will support 3G and more.

Design-wise, the new Prada will look almost identical to the original, with one major difference: a QWERTY keyboard that slides out from under the handset. The keyboard is very thin and therefore won't make the phone much thicker.

The keyboard is definitely a welcome addition for those who like typing on the phone. You … Read more

Video calling on mobile phones to go mainstream

If talking over the phone is not enough (as it's never enough for me, personally), you will probably soon have the option to place video calls, too. That is, of course, if your mobile phone supports VideoEngine Mobile platform Global IP Solutions (GIPS), the company that introduced the VoiceEngine for iPhone recently, announced on Monday.

The technology enables peer-to-peer video calling as well as multipoint video conferencing on mobile phones. GIPS says that its VideoEngine Mobile pave the way for wireless carriers, application developers and mobile handset manufacturers to provide high-quality video calls, even under adverse network conditions.

The … Read more

Skype and Logitech promise better video calling

Skype and Logitech have partnered, hoping to do for video calling what Loggins and Messina did for yacht rock. The beautiful music the two companies hope to create with their union is high-quality video calling, with promises of VGA (640x480) resolution and a smooth 30 frames per second. To get the goods, you'll need one of three Logitech cameras: the QuickCam Pro 9000, the QuickCam Pro for Notebooks, or the QuickCam Orbit AF and the latest version of Logitech's Webcam software, QuickCam 11.5. You'll also need the latest Skype client, version 3.6, along with a … Read more

AT&T Video Share now available in 160 cities

After months of waiting, AT&T has finally made its Video Share service available nationwide. It launched the service in three cities back in June--San Antonio, Atlanta, and Dallas--but it is now available in 160 cities across the country. The video-calling service is pretty limited for now--it only supports one-way video streaming--but it's still a first in the country. The service is supported on only a few handsets: the LG CU500V, the Samsung Sync, the Samsung A717, and the Samsung A727. Also note that both the sender and the recipient will have to have 3G phones on a … Read more

Cingular to bring video calling, with the LG CU500v

You'll probably see more about this as CES 2007 progresses, but Cingular (or is it AT&T?) announced a new video calling service, which makes it the first carrier in the U.S. to offer live mobile video calls. The video calls are one-way for now, however, meaning only one party can stream the video while the other party watches. The first phone to feature it is the LG CU500v, which is a slightly upgraded version of the HSDPA-capable LG CU500. I received confirmation from an LG representative that existing LG CU500 users can simply upgrade the … Read more