VOXOFON Grows Up on Palm Pre
VOXOFON, a company based in my hometown of Houston, has released its app for the Palm Pre. The app accesses the company’s service that provides low-cost international calling. In addition to the cheap phone calls, VOXOFON users can also place calls to Skype, Google Talk and Gizmo5 without an account on those services.
Users can make calls through the VOXOFON account, or directly from the IM/ VoIP services listed above. In addition to the new Pre version, there are versions for the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. Calls can also be originated from a PC. The Pre app can be downloaded free from the App Catalog. If it looks familiar, the app had previously been available in the Homebrew catalog prior to the actual release.
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“Users can make calls through the VOXOFON account, or directly from the IM/ VoIP services listed above.”
I don’t know what you consider to be “directly through the VoIP services” but when it goes through the phone application and uses your plan’s minutes, I don’t consider that to be directly through the VoIP services.
Fact is that unfortunately there’s no microphone access in the webOS SDK yet, which makes a real VoIP app currently impossible.
You are correct – Voxofon app routes a call through the nearest access number and uses your plan minutes. There is no way at the moment to build a pure VoIP app for Palm webOS. However the app allows you to call an IM or VoIP destination from anywhere.
“…directly from the IM/ VoIP services…” refers to the fact that you can make calls through Voxofon _from_ IM systems. For example, you can call to a phone number or a Skype contact from Google Talk or to a SIP destination from Skype.
Are the people spending $100-200 on a smartphone (with the associated pricey data plan) really that worried about saving a few cents a minute on an international call?
I don’t really see the market for this…
It all depends on the convenience vs. savings.
People (even smartphone users!) go through all the hassle of entering PIN codes for calling cards to save on international calls.
Voxofon app tries to be as seamless as possible – there is a familiar looking dialer, access to phone contacts etc.
And the savings can be VERY substantial compared to the default international rates of the mobile carriers.
because this app is not pure voip it only provides half the advantage. I travel overseas a lot and having pure voip is great because you can make a lot of use by connecting to wifi networks which are quite abundant. Unfortunately this is not possible with the pre. It is useless outside of america for calling. Iphone beats the pre here.