By Those “features of the future” that are becoming possible with smartphones these days definitely aren’t going to be cheap. If some of you HTC EVO 4G owners were turned away by the extra $10 premium needed to even use the smartphone with Sprint, then you’ll be angered if you were planning to get the most out of that front-facing camera: Qik’s going to be charging an extra $5 for the luxury of using their two-way video chat feature.
AndroidGuys got their hands on an internal screenshot (which looks like an FAQ document) from their Sprint insider showing that $5 would be tacked onto your monthly expenses via PayPal (Engadget was able to confirm this with a clearer shot of that internal screen later on). It seems as though this decision was made (mostly) by Qik as the $5 premium is not being billed by Sprint.
All hope is not lost, though. Just yesterday Fring updated their mobile chat and voice calling application to include video calling for supported devices, and it was revealed by our friend Andrew Kameka that you could definitely use it to do two-way calling on Skype. It might be worth it to check that out if Qik just dropped to the bottom of your “must-have” list.
So much for my Everything plan actually meaning everything :(
And with that, Qik has killed any chance of video calling becoming mainstream or remotely popular. I understand charging for the app, but peer-to-peer services like this should not require an exorbitant monthly fee.
Honestly, $69.99 + $10 for the additional data you MIGHT utilize, $30 for wireless tethering, and $5 for video calling. What happened to “simply everything”? And what the hell is the extra $10 for then? paying $115/month, thats verizon territory now.
#2 is dead on.
Qik will make some money off this, but nobody’s going to want to use it.
shows that some developers are so desperate for thinking that there must be an android honeypot for cash that they’ll throw away long term potential just to make some money.
Here’s how I think of it: Instead of instantly uploading my videos to Qik, I will just record them and up them to YouTube instead and have everyone check out my YouTube page. No?
Doesn’t Qik video conferencing only work to other devices using it as well? If my family and friends all had the same ability having a front facing camera on their phone running the same software, then I might consider, but right now the only phone that fits that bill is the Evo, and that is quite an assumption of market penetration.
Qik just killed a feature that could have spurred a revolution.
Sad really.
First: this headline is badly misleading. Sprint isn’t charging the fee. Qik is.
Second: Skype is coming to all Androids. Fring is out and free NOW for video chat. This is where the platform succeeds…in providing OPTIONS.
I downloaded Fring and I think they will get more users as their video chat is free.
@Keanon the headline never stated Sprint was charging the fee.
Qik ruined a good thing. Let’s hear it for third party apps!
So it seems we have options. No worries people. If more apps like “Fringe” come out we wont need to worry about Qik and there 5 dllr monthly charge “through paypal”.
hhhmm let me think….should I pay for something nobody else really has and I won’t be able to use……no, I think I’ll pass on that.
Qik you just failed big time.
“Hi, my name is Qik and my favorite hobby is 6-chambered Russian Roulette.”
Maybe “chambered” is not the right term…
6-loaded? 6-rounded?
Stupid revolvers.
Basic video chat will be free for all EVO users. Please post an update to original story. Thanks.
http://qik.com/blog/about-the-new-qik-video-service-on-the-sprint-evo-4g-phone/
Well you should update this. Qik said that the core of 2 way chat is free to use but the more advance features will cost extra.
http://qik.com/blog/about-the-new-qik-video-service-on-the-sprint-evo-4g-phone/
hi there apple has free video calling called face time too bad they dont offer unlimited video calls for life time of $5 $10 or $15 infact i am waiting for my iphone 4 too show up any day