Fring 4.0 enables free mobile video calls on Symbian S60 smartphones
Today, one of the most popular mobile VoIP/IM software on Symbian S60, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android and Maemo platforms, Fring announced an important update to version 4.0, which enables free mobile video calls on Symbain S60 smartphones.
Fring is not the first mobile VoIP/IM software supporting video calls as OctroTalk has been providing this feature for quite some time, it is even not the first one to provide this feature for free (at least TiviPhone could be used to make free mobile video calls). But considering the users base of Fring is much bigger than OctroTalk or TiviPhone and it provides more features, this is really an exiting news for heavy users of mobile VoIP/IM software like myself.
The update option is not available in the previous version of Fring yet. User have to visit the website of Fring to download the new version. The new version is still only available on limited models of Symbian S60 smartphones. Fortunately, my Nokia N82 is on the list 
But when I wanted to try the new video call feature, I got a message saying “fring video calls are available on 3G or WiFi”. As I only have the EDGE connection (OctroTalk supports video calls over EDGE and works quite well), I could not test it at this moment 
Though it was said that the video calls are only possible between Fring users or Fring and Skype users, I found the video call option is also available for MSN and Google Talk contacts. I would like test it ASAP to compare the quality of video calls on Fring and TiviPhone.
As the competition between different smartphone OSes is becoming tough and tough, a killer application would helps a lot. Since Fring implemented the new video call feature on Symbian S60 first, Nokia got some points for one of their platforms. Because the delivery of N900 has been delayed many times, I guess Maemo would not be the next platform to have new the Fring version with this feature. Due to the fact that Fring just released their first Android version, iPhone is more likely to be the next one though it doesn’t have a front camera. Windows Mobile is something to be forgotten…
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