ZD's random thoughts » Unified Communications

Video call coming to Skype on iOS

zd — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:22:28 +0000

The latest skype update in itunes app store brings video call capabilities to iOS devices. Now, you can do video calls among your iOS device and desktop. It is better than Facetime because:

Facetime supports iOS and Mac OS X (beta) only, while Skype supports Windows on top of that.
Facetime works with Wifi (if you do not jailbreak), while Skype works on AT&T 3G network.

I am wondering when this feature will be available to the Skype app on Android devices.

While I am writing this, I think Apple is a super fan of Cisco. Not to mention that they licensed iPhone trademark from Cisco (Linksys) in 2007, they also recently licensed iOS trademark from Cisco as well. Oh, they are both headquartered in CA. Plus, both of their names are 5 letters! Just kidding, actually Apple is older than Cisco (1976 vs 1984).

Happy New Year!

Push notification for Google Voice 0.3.2

zd — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:56:48 +0000

The most recent update of Google Voice for Android (0.3.2) brings real-time push notification to the phone. Previously it was a pull rather than push from the server, and Google Voice client needed to poll the server every 5 minutes. With this new feature, you can almost get rid of your wireless provider’s SMS service.

Google Voice for Android goes real-time (computerworld.com)

Gizmo5 now part of Google

zd — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:24:56 +0000

According to TechCrunch, Gizmo5 is part of Google now. That implies Google Voice will have more features.

Yes, it also means I might be able to make VoIP calls on my Droid soon.

Verizon Wireless Droid Test Drive

zd — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:21:11 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

This morning I picked up a Droid from my the local VZW store. My iPhone was out of contract and I have been looking forward to an android phone.

Overall, I like this phone

It seems to be more responsive compared to my iPhone.
Plus it has two apps I have been wanting – Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation.
I like android os.

Issues I am having:

Verizon Wireless‘s 3G coverage is worse than AT&T in my basement, contrary to what they claimed in the commercials.
It seems only one Google calendar is supported (sync-ed), although multiple gmail accounts can be added into the phone.
(normal) Yahoo mails are not supported by default.
On iPhone, you can see the number of unread emails, texts, etc, in a red circle attached to the application. There is no such information on Droid.
I actually do not need the built-in keyboard since I have been used to iPhone’s software keyboard.
Lack of (other) decent apps, compared to what I had on my iPhone.

I will try it for some more time and decide whether to keep it.

Google Voice is coming

zd — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:35:14 +0000

After the annoucement by Google yesterday, Google Voice finally came to my Grand Central account. I saw a lot of improvements from the old Grand Central interface. Things I like:

UI improvements: things look like other Google products such as Gmail and Google Docs.
New features:
- SMS: now your Google Voice number works like a mobile phone, which can send and receive SMSs.
- Voicemail transcripts, especially when you do not have time to dial in and listen to your voice mail. It may not be that accurate though.
- International calling.