By The Popular VoIP client Fring looks to be one-upping Qik a bit early as they’ve announced they’ll be bringing video calling to their Android app. While Qik demonstrated the feature far earlier with Sprint and the HTC EVO 4G, they’ve yet to release the final version that adds this functionality.
There are no details yet (we expect they’ll be updating their blog detailing the new release shortly), but watch the whacky video above for a demonstration from Fring. I expect as we see more phones launching with a front-facing camera (like the Samsung Galaxy S and the EVO 4G), more companies will be bringing video calling to their clients in droves.
[Update]: At the time of this posting, the updated application wasn’t yet available. Fring’s confirmed that it’s now available in the Android market. Go ahead and check it out if you happen to have a phone with a front-facing camera and a friend to try it out with.
[via Android & Me]
Wow… that guy was super enthusiastic.
I’ve had a front-facing camera for about 8 months with no user for it until now!
(T-mobile Pulse)
I made my first video call in 2005 in super audio and video quality on a Japanese standard mobile phone. Never used it again after that, it just wasn’t that useful.
Who needs a front-facing camera? I’ll just stand in front of a mirror with my Droid. Or maybe even keep a pocket mirror with me…
I travel a fair bit for work and would love to have video calling so I can see my son and he can see me. Any word on phones coming down the pipe with a front-facing cam for Verizon?
The problem is you need 2 people with 2 video phones and 2 high speed networks. iPhone users will be VC’ing EVO users.
Gil from fring here. Wanted to let you know that the version is now live. Check out http://www.fring.com/android
Enjoy guys!
i don’t get it, can i use the camera on my N1 even thought it is not facing the front??
@ Ratnok-Not the case. Fring offers Messenger plug-ins, such as Skype! I have a G1 (hacked and modded with Eclair), and although the Fring app initially disable the video option, I went into the menu settings and re-enabled it.
Then, I did a test call with VIDEO. Now, I can Skype my fam from my phone. THIS IS GREAT!
Fring, great work! iPhone, stick that in your pipe and smoke it!!!
@Gil
thanks for the heads up, definitely going to check it out, looks very promising
This looks good.
I was looking for something like this.
I just updated my Fring.
You can use it for video calls even if you don’t have a secondary (front facing) camera, but then you won’t be able to see your touch screen.
Skype stopped working on Fring a week ago… they should fix that first
As i remember there are video calls in SipDroid (popular sip client) for a long time. So Fring can’t be “the First Platform to Bring Video Calling to Android”. See for example here http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/FAQ#What_types_of_video_calls_are_supported?
Can I buy credits from Fring directly? I do no wanna sign up with any SIP company.