Voice over IP? Skype? Nimbuzz?
Two cellphone users living in different countries want to communicate for free without paying the mobile phone carrier huge amounts of money. Voice presents the main interest but text chatting and even video chatting are welcome.
Both users have smart phones. One owns an iPhone 4G, the other one a Nokia N97.
What's the best app that allows you to do just that?
First word in mind? Skype! Let's see if both phones support this one... Yes, they do.
After a little search we found Skype in Apple's AppStore and in Nokia's Ovi Store.
We installed the app on both devices and - drum roll - it's not working as it should...
Why? Where's the problem?
Installed Skype on Nokia C7 and called the iPhone. Worked like a charm. So... it's not the iPhone, it's something wrong with the N97. It's the latest Skype version...what to do?
Let's try an alternative. Quick google search: Nimbuzz. Sounds familiar, never tried it 'till now. Installed it. It works! The sound quality is impressive. I like it. Easy to create an account.
BUT
Most of our contacts use Skype. Fix available? Yes: Nokia N97 firmware upgrade!
After the nagging process of creating another account, this time on Ovi, the Nokia Ovi Suite upgraded the N97 firmware without any data loss (all the contacts/photos/messages... everything was there). That's impressive! Thumbs up Nokia!
Installed Skype on the newly updated N97. Now it works! Yeey! But... still a faster feedback from the Nimbuzz app.
Conclusions:
- alternatives to Skype exist and they seem to work just as fine
- firmware updates may make a difference
