I just had a videochat over 3G and it was the most amazing thing I've experienced all day. There was some lag, voice quality wasn't perfect, and video was sometimes jittery. But I loved every minute of it.


Why am I so excited about something so ridiculously simple? Because as much as I adore my iPhone 4 and its FaceTime feature, I hate that I have to rely on Wi-Fi and can only call friends who own iPhone 4 devices. But with the updated Fring iPhone app I can now call anyone who uses Skype or Fring—on their computers or mobile devices. I can even call from a beach without a single Wi-Fi spot near.

Depending on what type of connection you use and who you call, the video quality changes.


Fring Wi-Fi to Fring Wi-FI: Best case scenario, with slight voice delay but nothing major

Fring 3G to Fring 3G (or Wi-Fi): More noticeable voice delay, but video quality doesn't degrade THAT much

Skype Wi-Fi to Skype Computer: Not too shabby, with decent voice delay and relatively OK video quality

Fring Wi-Fi to Fring Wi-Fi on Android: Strangely, we could only get voice one way, so one person couldn't hear the other person. Could just be a bug or issue with our network configuration

Of course, this app also means that my boss can randomly call me and show me his bunny throughout the day, because Fring runs in the background and popup alerts will notify me of incoming calls. Ah well, at least the app's free. [iTunes - Thanks tipsters!]