Skype and Yahoo Messenger are the most popular A/V chatting software on the market. I love using both, but I’m really sick and tired of sexy bots bombarding users, it’s so annoying. I’ve decided to look for alternatives and here is what I’ve found.
Gizmo5
If you want to stay in touch with a small group of friends and want to avoid bots but at the same time you want good sound quality, Gizmo5 is the right choice. Gizmo5 is a very decent VoIP software with free PC2PC calls. It’s user interface is similar to Skype and very intuitive with large icons. Unlike Skype, Gizmo does not have video support so if you really can’t live without having video in your chat, better consider some other software. Sound quality is good and no additional settings are required. Gizmo also supports conference calls and free numbers can be called without having to use a voucher for external calls. Call rates towards landlines and mobile networks are slightly cheaper then Skype. If you need fast and reliable VoIP software, Gizmo is well worth a look.
OoVoo
OoVoo is advertised as a video conferencing software. It allows video conferencing with up to six people. OoVoo allows A/V calls and supports conferencing from web interface. Special features include video effects, video call recording and video messages. Web cam image quality is decent. I needed more light for webcam otherwise the picture is quite bad. Make sure the room has enough light. I had to play with light and audio settings to ensure decent A/V quality. The sound is decent but it’s breaking up from time to time. You need to have a good mic and zero background noise. If you are mac user and want to video conference with PC users, give this software a try.
Camfrog
Camfrog is A/V chat client with chat rooms. You have to pay for premium features and as I didn’t pay, I was unable to fully test it. Camfrog is chat room oriented software which has limited video capabilities until you register it. The cam window is small and can’t be enlarged in it’s demo version, Also, cam feature is disabled in 1on1 conversation. If you want to go into the chat rooms and meet new people and at the same time have limited video features, you can try Camfrog. If you like the software I highly recommend to register it to gain extra features.
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