I want to make free calls from my Google Android mobile phone, from anywhere in the world to anyone, anywhere. I don’t want to pay too much for it. Am I being ridiculous? No, you’re not being ridiculous. All you need do is get yourself an Android compatible VoIP application.
It’s basically using your connection to the internet (provided by your network) as the medium for your voice call, rather than a regular phone line, which, of course, your network provider would usually charge you for. For example, if your phone is registered in the UK, you’re travelling in the US with a friend or colleague and you want to call them while you’re there, it’s going to cost you over £2 a minute to make the call. But with a VoIP call it could cost you a tiny fraction of that, or even nothing. The benefits of VoIP for mobile phones is clear.
There are now applications which enable those phones using Android (the operating system developed by Google) to access cheap calls as well. Initially it was only the T-mobile G1 (the first Android phone issued in the UK and the US) which enabled customers to access these applications. Coming in 2009, however, are new phones from Motorola, Huawei Technologies, Lenovo, HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung.
Here are few applications to consider for your handset.
TruphoneTruphone [Recommended]
Truphone Anywhere is a brilliant free VoIP app for Android-enabled mobile handsets and is available to download now on the Android Marketplace in the UK and the US. A German version of Truphone Anywhere is also available and will be the first native language multi-communications application in the Android Market in Germany and Austria when it launches later in 2009.
Truphone Anywhere for Android allows customers to take advantage of low international call rates, plus the cost of a local call. Truphone customers can also easily instant message their friends across a variety of networks including MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Twitter from within one Android application.
The app is available now on Android, the Apple iPhone, the Apple iPod touch, Blackberry and Nokia devices.
Getting Truphone setup is easy: download their application and install onto your phone. The service uses your mobile phone’s WiFi connectivity to route calls over the internet. All calls between Truphone users are free, no matter where you are in the world.
SkypeSkype Lite
Skype (the company behind the world’s most popular online voice communication tool) also has a lite version of Skype, a ‘thin’ client for Skype, that can be downloaded on Android-powered devices and more than 100 other Java-enabled mobile phones.
This not only allows users to make and receive Skype-to-Skype calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world, but also send and receive instant messages to and from individuals or groups. In addition, it also allows users to see when their Skype contacts are online and available to chat.
The lite version of Skype works wherever your mobile phone works, without requiring a WiFi connection. It uses local air time and a mobile internet connection, so you need to have both a calling plan and a data plan as part of your mobile phone contract to use it. In addition to new Android handsets, this product also works on more than 100 of the most popular Java-enabled phones from the world’s top five handset manufacturers: LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Skype lite is available globally for free, with the ability to make Skype-to-Skype calls and low cost calls to landlines and mobiles abroad currently available in ten countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Brazil (Rio and Sao Paolo), Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand.
iSkootiSkoot
Since 2007 iSkoot has helped to power the 3 Skypephone, the first ever mass-market Skype-enabled mobile handset offering integrated Skype as part of the standard package on the handset. iSkoot worked with Skype to develop software for the handset, which gives customers push-of-a-button access to their online Skype accounts. iSkoot launched the first and only carrier-grade, carrier-deployed Skype-for-Mobile application in 2006, and now powers the Mobile World Congress award-winning 3 Skypephone.
iSkoot for Android takes advantage of the voice-optimized circuit-switched network for delivery of voice communications, in keeping with its mission to engineer elegant and operator-friendly solutions to the challenge of bringing resource-intensive internet services to mobile handsets.
VoxofonVoxofon
Voxofon promises to be a real cost saver for anybody calling or travelling abroad. The system works seamlessly with your mobile phone, allowing users to place calls as usual using phone’s dialer or contact book. Voxofon simply re-routes any international calls.
After installing the application, all users need do is enter an international number into their phone and initiate a call. A Voxofon window will pop and display the exact rate you can expect to pay for any potential call. Customers then pay their individual operators for the cost of a local call and the application will use, on average, 1-2 KB of internet data for setting up the exchange. Voxofon accounts then get charged for the international part of call. But, of course, the exact Voxofon rates for the call will be displayed before the begins so all users know how much they are likely to be paying.
It’s not the cheapest of all the options here, but it’s an incredibly straight-forward Android VoIP solution.
MyGlobalTalkMyGlobalTalk
The standard MyGlobal Talk package works on any cell phone. When users sign up for the MyGlobalTalk package they are given a phone number to call allowing them to connect to their international contacts over the internet. All users then need do is call that number, wait for a prompt and then key in their international telephone number to be connected.
Android users can now download a special application from the Android Marketplace allowing them access to this service without having to make a phone call first and then punching in their international number. No need for a dialing code, a phone card or any complicated instructions. The application will the hard work for you. MGT are being cagey about how this works, however. Perhaps they’ll release their secret soon.
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