Having recently released an Android version of their fring client, fring have now announced an updated Symbian S60 client which offers video calling, allowing you to video call your fring and Skype contacts.  Initially for S60 devices (both touch devices such as the Nokia X6, Nokia N97, Nokia N97 Mini as well as the traditional non-touch Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, and Nokia N82 devices).

For more details, and a video showing it in action, head over to fring’s website here.

fring have in the last few days released their fring client for the Android platform too (which is available from here).  It offers VOIP calls via Skype, MSN, or VOIP SIP providers, as well as chat capabilities with those and other platforms (Yahoo, AIM, and even ICQ).  This is good news for fring, and we should see fring continue to develop their Android client in the same way they have with all the other platforms they support.  Although there is some twitter support, this version doesn’t yet have all the features of the Symbian version.

Although only available for Nokia phones (others, such as Samsung should be available soon), fring have updated their client for Symbian S60 3rd and 5th Edition devices, with a minor update, which brings some stability improvements, and a smoother installation process.  This new version is 3.40.19, and is available now direct from fring.

fring have updated their S60 application (to v3.40).  One of the key features of this new version is the ability to merge your contacts together; so, if you have the same contact on multiple services, you can now combine those entries into a single contact entry.  It can also go through your address book and spot if any of your existing contacts are also fring users, to allow you to be able to converse directly through fring, saving call costs (and in reverse, if they provide it, you will be able to see other people’s fring profile and what other social networks / IM accounts they have).

fring state these new features will come to their other versions, but it’s nice to see them release them in their S60 client first; we’ve been using this version for a few days, and have been impressed by how easy these new functions work.

For more information, and to download the new client, head over to fring’s website.

Up until last week, Nokia were able to offer a handful of potentially useful applications direct to their smartphones via the Download! facility.  Well, this is being slowly replaced by the Ovi Store, and this has now gone live.  This isn’t just some small little launch; selecting a well established S60 3rd Edition FP1 phone can give you over 1000 items to choose from; some are free, some are chargeable (the odd “free” application may use chargeable SMSes to register, which to our mind means it should not be classed as free).

There are videos, applications, ringtones, travel guides (and that’s just within the first few listed items in the most popular free section!), although it’s not perfect; a search for twitter did not list fring, despite it being in Ovi Store and having a twitter addon, and equally, there are a few UI issues which we are sure Nokia / Ovi will iron out.

This has great potential, and should get better over the next few weeks.  If you are interested, head over to the Ovi Store for more information.

With the new OS (v1.5, AKA Cupcake) now rolling out to all UK T-Mobile G1 phones (and coming preinstalled on the Vodafone HTC Magic), there are a number of interesting software applications that have been recently released, which we thought we should mention…

Firstly, Google have added Bar Code Scanning support into the Shopping Search functionality on Android, allowing you to scan a barcode of a product, and Google will then provide you with Google’s Shopping Search for that product (you can also use it on generic items such a “Bluetooth Headsets”, but sometimes you just want details on a single item to see if you could buy it cheaper elsewhere).  The first time you try to run a Bar Code Search, you’ll be asked to install their BarCode Scanner application, if you don’t already have it installed.

To access Google’s Shopping search from your Android phone, simply head to Google.com, type in a query, hit Search, and then select the “Shopping results” link at the top of the search results (or tap More from the Google homepage and select Shopping from there).  This integration of the Barcode Scanning into the Product Search is only available in the US and the UK.

Secondly, we covered WeFi before here where we talked about fring now supporting WeFi, the social based Free WiFi location service, and now WeFi have launched their own Android app for getting information on WiFi hotspots.  As people travel around, the WeFi client records details on WiFi hotspots, signal strength, and how easy is it to connect to those WiFi hotspots, and then allows other clients to automatically connect to the best Free WiFi in the area (this deals with one problem of connecting to what appears to be free wifi that then requires you to login / pay for access).

Although the WeFi website only seems to offer a Windows Mobile download, you can search in the Android Market, or you can download it from here.

Continuing today’s Wi-Fi theme, fring have updated their client (for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60) to now support WeFi, which is a Wi-Fi location service.  WeFi users map areas of all the useable Wi-Fi hotspots, which are then published and shared for everyone to use.  A WeFi client will then automatically look for the best connection available in the area.  With fring’s addon, you will be able to locate the available internet access either via your GPS, or search by typing in the address.  WeFi currently have over 20 million Wi-Fi hotspots discovered in their worldwide database.

To get the new WeFi addon on your Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile Device, you’d need to download fring’s latest version here.  More information about WeFi can be found here.

fring have updated their iPhone / iPod Touch app, which should be available now in the iTunes Store.  You can now select to hide offline contacts, but probably the key new feature is offline notifications.  They’ve also added the flag icon to allow you select the country you are trying to dial (via SkypeOUT or SIP calls) and it will automatically enter the country code for you (shown above).  If your contacts (Skype, Google Talk, MSN etc.) try to reach you whilst the app is turned off, it will notify you when you come back online.  This is being slowly rolled across the UK and US right now, and should be “eventually be in line with Apple’s 3.0 firmware and new notification feature”

More information on this version of fring here.

Update: fring have also provided more information their “always-on” system here.

Skype has released their iPhone Skype client, and although it has a few features missing, has been well received.  The main complaint seems to revolve around the inability to make Skype calls via 2G or 3G networks, however, Skype have been keen to point out that it is a license restriction placed upon them by Apple, and hence not within their pwoer to fix.  The other issue is that the client crashes on install or running, although Skype claim this is only happening on jailbroken phones.

Skype on iPhone is available from here in the iTunes Store.

Ignoring the 3G call issue, you can make and receive Skype calls via Wi-Fi hotspots (however, we should point out Skype chats, and setting your Skype status and mood message will work over EDGE / 3G).  Skype have done a lot of good integration work on this client, so it can use the built in Contacts (for SkypeOUT calls), and can use the camera to set your photo.

Of course, with the inability to run apps in the background, as soon as you move away from the Skype client, it shuts down.  Any messages or calls that occur whilst you have the app shut down will be notified to you when you next start it up.  In that respect, running Skype on Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian (via clients like fring), or even the INQ1 and Skypephone all benefit from the ability to leave the app running in the background.

A final point; 3UK have reacted to this release pointing out that Skype has been available on their network (ie via 3G) since 2006, but they also claim that there are “over 1 million minutes of Skype to Skype calls made on 3 every month”. Now, that includes Symbian phones running X-Series (or simply having the current Internet Access) but wow, that’s a lot of Skype support…

fring have announced that they are now supporting a whole range of recently announced Nokia handsets, including the Nokia N86, Nokia 5630, Nokia 5730, Nokia 6710, Nokia 6720 and finally the Nokia E75.  On top of this, they have released a fring symbian theme for S60 3rd and 5th Edition devices (shown above running the fring client) to allow you to customise your device. The theme is available for download here.

It’s been a while since we covered Truphone, so we thought we would summarise some of the news Truphone have released recently.  In no particular order…

Truphone have announced support for Skype on their iPhone and iPod Touch clients.  This will allow you to make Skype calls and send chat messages to other Skype users, potentially for free (if using Wi-Fi).  If you aren’t in the range of Wi-Fi, then the app will use Truphone Anywhere to connect the call; Truphone Anywhere allows you to dial a local (in country) number and use Truphone’s infrastructure to connect the call internationally (or in this case, to Skype).  Truphone have pointed out that at the moment, you can’t call using SkypeOUT (although with Truphone’s rates you may not need to), you can’t add a new contact via their app, and group calls/chats are not available, but for most people, these limitations won’t be an issue.

On top of this, Truphone have added AIM (AOL IM) support into their iPhone and iPod Touch clients, which already covered Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.  Like fring, they also support twitter updates as well.

Continuing their iPhone and iPod Touch enhancements, you can now also topup your Truphone account via PayPal from direct within the client.  This adds on the existing website, mobile optimised web pages and IVR (interactive voice recognition) options.

Finally, and probably the biggest news of all, at MWC, Truphone announced Truphone Local Anywhere.  This will offer users a new SIM with the ability to add multiple mobile numbers (to allow people in each country to call the Truphone user at local mobile rates), yet allow the user to make calls at local rates; ie no more high roaming charges.  To achieve this, Truphone will become a global virtual mobile network operator, which gives them direct control over the charges.  Even better, this service will also include data and SMS support, a failing of some of the other offerings in this space today.  As Truphone will still need to use the local in-country mobile network, the call rates will be a little higher than a local SIM would cost, but they intend to ensure they are much cheaper than roaming rates.

Given that you can have multiple incoming numbers assigned to the single SIM, Truphone are also planning Smart CLI management, presumably allowing control of which number to present when an outgoing call is made.  All this, and no lengthy contracts either.  On top of all of this, Truphone allows you to call other Truphone users for free, and their iPhone / iPod Touch client even has presence indicators to allow you to see if your friends are online or not.

When Truphone announced this, they suggested some examples of people who would immediately benefit from such a service; airplane pilots (and the rest of the crew!), the international business traveller who visits lots of different countries, people with homes in more than one country, ex-pats living abroad, and the armed forces personnel.

This service looks very interesting, and would seem to compete with the likes of MAXroam, who offer something similar, so it will be interesting to see how this service works when it’s released later this year.  The Truphone service is built on their purchase of SIM4Travel last year, and should allow them to be very competitive for those who want a single SIM covering multiple countries.

Truphone Local Anywhere story courtesy of Mobile Industry Review.

fring yesterday announced and released their VOIP and IM client for Symbian S60 5th Edition phones, which is mainly limited to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic today.

They produced this demo video of it in action:

The fring client can be downloaded from here.

After we covered the news that Skype will be pre-installed on many Nokia smartphones, including the Nokia N97, it seems some UK network operators aren’t so keen on this news, with Mobile Today reporting that O2 and Orange have both indicated they will not stock phones with Skype built into the firmware.

Well, although this has picked up as a big news story, we’re not so sure.  Firstly, if Nokia adds Skype into every high-end smartphone it produces from this Summer onwards, these networks will look pretty second rate if they have to stop stocking all Nokia smartphones.  Secondly, it’s possible to install Skype onto these devices today, and with the launch of the Ovi Store (to replace the current Download! App) this Summer, it’s likely that Skype, TruPhone and fring will all be easily accessible from within the Ovi Store.  However, it appears the operators are claiming it’s that extra step of actually pre-installing on the phone that these operators take offence at.

If you ask us whether this will stop them stocking these phones, the answer has to be no.

We have already seen at least one UK operator ask Nokia to remove the SIP/VOIP client and support from their operator specific branded firmwares in the past, and if the networks objecting to Skype maintain their anti-Skype position, they will simply continue to request these VOIP applications are removed from their firmwares too (although whether they will have sufficient sway to get it removed from the Ovi Store for these devices as well we’re not too sure).

However, doing this will simply encourage more people to “rebrand” their phones as generic models, and then they will be free to utilise the Skype client anyway (rebranding does not affect the SIM lock status, so the phone is tied to the network it was brought on, and of course, it does not remove the contractual commitment the user has signed up to either, so this does not even impact the network’s revenue).

On the plus side, T-Mobile and 3UK seem to be supporting the Nokia initiative, although 3UK’s current Skype offering, which allows outgoing calls to be made via SkypeOUT does not allow you to use the service for UK mobile and landline calls, a limitation that may not be possible to control with a full Skype client…

One interesting snippet from the Mobile Today article; “The row centres around ownership of the customer, as well as potential lost revenue”; others have said the networks are scared they will simply become dumb internet pipes; it’s time these companies realised the customer was key, and they want to have more flexibility and openness from the networks (including the removal of the term “unlimited” for capped offerings).

In fact, maybe that’s the answer; if the mobile network offered better value for money, and reduced their call and data charges (both for UK calls, international calls and even calls whilst roaming), maybe their customers would not look twice at Skype, and would stay loyal to the network.  How about it guys? … actually start caring more about your existing customers, instead of always chasing after new customers at the expense of the ones you lose each month.

Update: It also appears part of the problem will be that the Skype call options will appear directly in the Contacts app, as additional options, so the mobile networks are worried instead of placing a video call (at great expense across their network), people will use their “unlimited” data tariffs and select the “Skype video call” option instead.  Well, here’s the thing; we don’t “do” video calls because of the price, so again, simply make it more cost effective to use your services and we won’t think twice about those additional Skype options…

fring have negotiated that their multi-IM / chat client will be pre-installed on the new Samsung OmniaHD we covered last week here.  fring have a similar arrangement with the current Samsung INNOV8 S60 phone, but since then, fring have extended their client to now provide add-ons, which include support for facebook and last.fm.

fring have also recently announced that they support xpenser, a free online expense recording tool which allows you to record your expenses via IM, Email, SMS and even twitter.  In fact, you have two ways of linking fring with xpenser, as fring can either provide the information to xpenser via GTalk or via twitter.  As fans of both fring and xpenser, we’d like to see even more support, where fring offers an add-on which provides a template to complete and then sends the information to xpenser.

fring is constantly developing it’s client, and things are looking good for the future.

Samsung OmniaHD information from Symbian Freak; xpenser information from fring and xpenser.

After mentioning the Truphone G1 Android client earlier in the week, but having no additional information about it, Truphone have now provided this information and more!

The Android app allows you to make low cost international calls from your home country, but will work even when you are out of reach of Wi-Fi as it also supports their Truphone Anywhere service.  As well as supporting voice calls, you can IM your MSN and Yahoo! contacts, and with GTalk (Google Talk) you can IM or call your contacts.  Truphone also support twitter within their app, allowing you to tweet or see your friends’ tweets.

If that’s not enough, Truphone have also announced an update to their iPhone client, which now adds those IM capabilities to that version too.  Inline with the Android version, you can IM your MSN and Yahoo! contacts, and IM or call your GTalk contacts.

Finally Truphone have stated they still plan to bring Skype calling and IM to their iPhone client, but are not yet happy with the user experience, so it’ll be a little longer before it’s announced and available.

It’s been a good week for Android apps, and with both fring and Truphone now starting to roll out twitter support, it’s been a good week for twitter mobile clients too!  The Android and iPhone Truphone apps are available from their respective application market websites.

Although initially only available for their S60 client, fring have now added last.fm support into their client.  They have provided the details here, but basically you have access to the majority of the last.fm functions within the fring client (search & tune-in to your favorite artists, view album artwork, skip tracks you don’t like, even show your love or ban them).  Their article also brings out a couple of interesting other things coming soon:

• They plan to offer twitter support within the last.fm addon
• They are finalising their S60 5th Edition (ie Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97) client which will be available soon

As part of this, they have released a YouTube video showing the fring client in action…

To get this last.fm functionality, you need the latest (currently v3.37) fring client, and then you need to subscribe to the last.fm addon in the Add-on tab.

Thanks to FreshPlastic for the screenshot.

fring have just updated their S60 client (now v3.37.16).  “fring is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM® friends using your handset’s internet connection”. fring will also automatically log into your WiFi hotspots for you.

The changes in this new version are mainly bug fixes, although they have received mixed responses since the introduction of ads into the client in the previous update.  However, they have also stated they will soon have a client for S60 5th Edition phones, such as the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the Nokia N97.

As always, the client can be downloaded from here, with the release information on fring’s blog here.

fring had a small problem last week, the latest iPhone / iPod Touch firmware, v2.2 broke their app ever so slightly, but not to fear, they’ve now released an updated version which should fix the connection issues with the previous version.  If you use fring, head over to fring for more information; to get the update simply go to the App Store.

Tesco I hear you ask…? Yes, Tesco have had an Internet based Talk service for quite some while now, but have supplemented the traditional Internet Phone solution (which requires one of a number of custom SIP phones), and also added Tesco Talk Wi-Fi.  This works on S60 phones, and uses the Wi-Fi connection at home (or possibly via your phone or broadband dongle **) to access the Tesco service and allow you cheap calls.  Tesco have stated it’s currently only available for the Nokia E51, N81, E65, and N95 phones, although why only those phones we’re not sure.

Although we applaud the idea of offering a SIP based service from mobile phones (like many others, fring, Skype etc. offer), the £1 premium rate text charge to download the application in the first place is a bit rough.

We recommend you keep an eye on it, but unless you are an existing Tesco Internet Phone customer, it may not be cost effective to sign up.

More information here.

We’ve covered fring before, but the latest version of the client has a new feature; add-ons. This allows connections and data from systems to be integrated into the one application. The key add-ons so far are facebook, Orkut and a GMail notifier, with more due over time. This facility could make fring even more appealing to new customers; not just the ability for free chat and calls, but now the ability to interact with those same friends through a variety of online social networking sites.

If you want to try these add-ons out, get the latest fring client, and then select Options / Select / Manage add-ons.