Friday, October 31, 2008

Do You ooVoo?

I've been a fan of Skype for some time. I've used it in a variety of ways from staying connected to my daughter, who is away at college, to collaborating with teachers from around the world. Although I've used only a few of the features that Skype has to offer, such as audio only conference calls, video calls, and collaborative games, I really like the power of staying connected that it affords.

However, ooVoo, the new kid on the block, has caught my attention. I was looking for a tool which allowed more than 1 video connection to be displayed at once and came across ooVoo. The basic, free account, allows up to 3 video callers to be displayed, while the upgrade allows up to 6. I've found the video to be much cleaner than Skype and with a simple click you can transmit a higher quality image.

There are additional features to ooVoo that make the experience quite fun. Sending video messages and altering your image with the webcam max program that can be installed along with ooVoo, is just one example. Sending files and placing free calls to land lines and mobile phones are some of the features that may be "bumped up" to the paid version soon.

I suppose that you have to take the good with the bad and be willing to put up with the advertising window that runs along the bottom of the interface, but to me it seems a small price to pay for such a quality experience. So in short, if you're a fan of Skype, try out ooVoo and make your own comparison.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Kathleen, thanks for the blog and the kind words. we are working hard at ooVoo (www.oovoo.com) to improve our quality and the overall user experience. if you have any feedback or hear from others we look forward to insights to help us improve. marty walker, oovoo.