Video calling: Qik vs Fring vs Tango vs ???

[slope72]

One of the main reasons I bought my Epic was to take advantage of Qik video calling with my husband (he has an Evo). I was beyond disappointed with Qik... terrible video quality, even worse sound quality, and the app doesn't use the Epic's front camera correctly.

We moved to Fring and things were just as bad.

Tango seems to be the best of the lot, but the sounds quality is still poor and there's a terrible lag between the video and sound.

Am I missing something here? Is video calling just not ready for prime time? Is there a better app out there that I've missed?

Has anyone used Facetime on an iPhone? Does it work as depicted in the ads or is it just as terrible as Android's video calling apps?

 

[chad4359]

I have the exact same problem, except the phone/sex role is reversed (I have an Epic and my wife has an Evo). Tango seems to have the best video quality but like you said the audio is just completely terrible, this doesn't really affect us much because my wife is deaf so we only really need video but it still annoys me that I have to mute the audio everytime because I get a reverberation and the video is still 50-50. Sometimes we have to reconnect 2 or three times per convo.

 

[Devtodi]

they all suck big time- we have tried on wifi, 4G and there is no solution. It's a pure bait and switch plain and simple. They sold us something that just doesn't exist.

 

[BBooDad]

It's cool idea though, straight from sci-fi!

I was hoping Skype would work. So just installed it on laptop and on phone. Skype.com says Android does not support video calls. So uninstalled from my Epic.

 

[Toast95135]

Qik sucks and Fring suuuuuuucks, I would rage everytime I tried to use those two. Tango is pretty good and easier to use, but the audio is pretty terrible and has a bad echo with headphones in or out.

 

[tektoys]

as merntioned qik and fring suck majorly i have used facetime on my ipod touch and it was pretty slick i've yet to try the new skype with video on the touch though, i hopre they include that for android soon, hell just having it work period would be nice! lol

 

[RUSH]

they all suck big time- we have tried on wifi, 4G and there is no solution. It's a pure bait and switch plain and simple. They sold us something that just doesn't exist.

Exactly, video chat isn't ready for prime time as of yet. I don't even use it anymore.

I believe things will get better sometime in the near future(hopefully).

 

[a_c_s]

It's cool idea though, straight from sci-fi!

I was hoping Skype would work. So just installed it on laptop and on phone. Skype.com says Android does not support video calls. So uninstalled from my Epic.

That's a crock... Android supports video calls, Skype just does not yet support video calls for Android... it is a coding and codec issue, has nothing to do with Android or the network... there is no reason we shouldn't have flawless video calling over wifi or 4G on a sprint phone other than the fact developers have focused attention on the iPhone first... I've used facetime and it's a little better than tango, but given ATTs crappy network, that probably sells a lot about the app... I think we'll have true video calling soon on Android, probably via Skype or a Tango upgrade... but I agree with others, right now nothing to write home about...

 

[caleb02]

i found that yahoo messenger with the second app installed for video messenger (19mb) is the best. You can call any of your yahoo messenger friends even if they dont have a webcam. And you can also call to pc as well.

 

[ufergus]

Don't forget about Yahoo Messenger. I haven't tried it between phones but I have used it to chat with my family on a PC. Both audio and video was good. Give it a try, you may be surprised. This was on an EVO....

 

[buzzardjrt]

Skype supports Android 2.2 not 2.1. I do not know if it will support it in rooted format, as I have yet to root. I chose Tango just because I have a lot of fans who have an iPhone and it works on their system. But when Skype works on my Epic I will get rid of tango and so will my friends since Skype works in the iPhone now and on a PC (Hi Mom)

I had thought about Yahoo but I don't know anyone who uses IM's any more since texting became so cheap and we have Facebook

 

[Lockeskidney]

android is way behind in video chatting. Granted apple is wifi only they still blow androids video apps out of the water (even on wifi)

apparently gingerbread includes video chat api so it might help but im not sure. i was disappointed they didnt bake vid chat into gingerbread. That was a huge fail on Google's part considering facetime has been running since June

 

[PHADE]

Free Video Chat and Video Conferencing from ooVoo

 

[Lockeskidney]

oovoo is actually not bad. it works pretty well

 

[hofs1]

+1 for oovoo. tried last night Epic to PC via WiFi and it was not bad at all. Will try it on 3G next see how it looks.

Now who made up the name oovoo??

P.S. stock epic 2.1 no need for froyo for it to run.

 

[rawvega]

oovoo is actually not bad. it works pretty well

Meh, I started getting a rash of reboots after installing it. Plus does it always run it the background? Regardless, I probably won't try it again until it's out of Beta.

 

[huntm856]

I tried ooVoo Epic <-->EVO, Epic on WiMax and EVO on EVDO, and it seemed to work OK, not great. Video was a little choppy and there was noticeable lag but it was definitely usable.

I agree with rawvega though that it shouldn't run in the background once started unless killed, but OTOH all the other videochat apps I've tried at least load a background process at startup once installed. For now I'll just kill it using my task man when necessary.

 

[jrz5024]

+2 for oovoo. It's the only client I've tried that's actually usable, and it allows phone to PC calls, which is important to me (my gf is still rockin' a flip phone but she does have a webcam!)

 

[Butters3605]

tired oovoo out here to, was able to make great quality calls to my PC from the Epic (both on wifi).

 

[vainworks]

Tango and the Motorola Droid

Personally, I've used Tango with the Motorola Droid and the Vainworks Stand (it flips the rear-facing camera into a front-facing camera) and it seemed to work pretty well. I agree that Skype and Android should be coming soon. Can't believe that Skype isn't working on it. On the other hand, why hasn't Google released a native video chat program for Android?!