ooVoo (for iPhone)

As I first read through its long list of features, I was afraid that ooVoo was far too ambitious. It supports video calls, voice calls, group video, and IM. And that's across a number of major platforms?iOS, OSX, Android, and Windows. Past experience with video chat apps has taught me that more features does not equal a better experience. What it all comes down to is performance, and luckily, ooVoo delivers across the board. Video chat, voice calls, and even group video were all super smooth. It's one of the few video chat apps on which you feel like you can have a real conversation. That, along with the fact that it supports so many different platforms, makes it our new Editors' Choice for iOS video chat apps.

Availability and User Interface
ooVoo is available from the Apple App Store for most users running iOS 4.0 and above. It's compatible with the iPhone 4 ($199 to $699, 4.5 stars), fourth-generation iPod touch ($299 to $399, 5 stars), iPad, and iPad 2 ($499 to $829, 4.5 stars). It's even compatible with the iPhone 3GS ($49, 4.5 stars), though that phone lacks a front-facing camera for making video calls. As previously mentioned, it's also available for Android, OSX, and Windows, but I'm just focusing on the iOS experience in this review.

On boot-up of the app, ooVoo's main interface is clean and simple to navigate. There's a Spring Board strip at the bottom of the screen with icons for your Contacts, History, IM, Phone, and Settings. It can hook into your iPhone address book to help you invite friends to join, but it's also simple to add contacts directly to the app.

The Contacts menu is divided into All Contacts and Online Contacts. You can search for users by entering their ooVoo ID, name, or e-mail address. Once you've got some friends in your address book, simply tap on their name, and you are given the option to start a video or voice call, or send an IM.

Video Calling and Performance
I made video and voice calls with ooVoo using three phones?an Apple iPhone 4 on AT&T, a Samsung Galaxy S 4G ($149.99, 4 stars), and a T-Mobile myTouch 4G (Free, 4.5 stars)?across 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi connections. To my surprise (given my experiences with similar apps) video and voice quality were very good across the board.

Regardless of connection, incoming video on the iPhone 4 was crisp and smooth. It's still not as solid as the quality you can get over FaceTime (Free, 4.5 stars) or Skype (Free, 4 stars), but it's certainly the best video I've seen on an app designed to work across multiple platforms. Audio quality was solid too. There was the slightest lag from time to time, but nothing that would impede on a conversation.

One interesting thing to note is that incoming video quality from the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and the T-Mobile myTouch 4G looked a touch better than video from the iPhone 4. I would chalk this up to differences between the front-facing cameras, but the iPhone 4's video quality looks great over FaceTime and Skype. Either way, it's not a deal breaker.

I was afraid that quality would drop significantly when switching over from Wi-Fi to 3G and 4G, but I was pleasantly surprised again. Video calls were every bit as smooth over the mobile data networks as they were over Wi-Fi. Considering that FaceTime is Wi-Fi only, this is a pretty sweet bonus.

Voice calls were just as good as video calls. Voices came through loud and clear, though again there was just a hint of delay. Still, for placing what is essentially a free phone call, ooVoo does a more than respectable job. I also didn't experience any dropped calls or stability issues throughout my testing.

Group Video Calls, Other Features, and Conclusions
It doesn't end at video and voice calls. ooVoo also offers group video calls. These aren't the same kind of group video calls offered by Fring (Free, 2.5 stars), which displays all parties on screen at the same time, Brady Bunch-style. Instead, you can chat with up to five other people at once, and while you can hear them all, you can only choose to view one person at any given moment.

Initiating a group call is easy. Simply start up a video call, and click on the icon that appears in the lower left corner once you are connected. This will bring you to your address book and allow you to connect other people to your chat. Once they're connected, you can switch back and forth among chatters by selecting names at the bottom of the screen. Again, this did not have an effect on call performance. It was every bit as smooth as chatting with just one other person. I would've preferred the option to see everyone all at once, even if they would all appear tiny on my iPhone's screen.

In addition to group video calls, ooVoo also lets you send IMs to other users, which works exactly like you'd expect. You can also place real phone calls, to actual phone numbers, but you have to buy credits in order to access that option. I suspect that this isn't the reason people will be drawn to ooVoo anyway.

ooVoo is the best multi-platform video calling solution there is. Quality-wise, it's still not quite on par with FaceTime, but FaceTime is limited to iOS and OSX and can only place calls over Wi-Fi. Qik Video Connect (Free, 2.5 stars) supports video calls between Android and iOS devices, but it's hampered by poor video quality. Fring allows you to place group video chats with a number of people on screen at once, but it too cannot match the video or audio quality of ooVoo. So if you're looking to video chat with friends, and you don't want to worry about who has what device or what type of connection you're on, ooVoo for iPhone is the app to beat and is well deserving of our Editors' Choice award.

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