Summary

Mobile phone service providers have been getting a lot of competition of late—WhatsApp and company make sending standard texts and making standards calls look pale in comparison. But the problem is that WhatsApp does not provide a call-making service, and other ‘make calls for free’ apps don’t support texting… Which is where Viber : Free Calls & Messages comes in. The app’s name sounds promising—does it deliver? Find out in today’s review.

Test device: LG Optimus Speed / 2x
Android version: 2.3.4
Mods: Root

When using the app for the first time, you will have make some initial adjustments. First, enter your phone number, which will be used to log you into Viber. You will receive a verification code that you will also have to enter in Viber.

A little peak behind the scenes: I was able to enter a phone number even though the SIM card was in another device. Who cares, you ask? Well, the thing is that the SIM in my Optimus Speed / 2x only supports data connection—but now that Viber is connected to my ‘real’ number, my contacts will still be able to reach me.
A lot of other apps will only accept the number that corresponds to the SIM card in the actual device.
Viber will then compare your address book with a data bank so that you can see which of your contacts are already using Viber. In order to make a Viber call, all you need do is tap on the contact—easy as pie! And it works with both Wi-Fi and 3G data connection.
A connection is established in the blink of any eye, meaning that your contact’s device will start ringing almost instantaneously. The sound quality is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Users have several options whilst making a call: set the microphone to mute, set the call to hand-free talking, or continue the call via GSM (for instances when the data connection isn’t good).

I should also mention that Viber uses a lot of data; this is especially important to know for those of you using 3G—a flatrate would be strongly advisable.

Sending text messages also takes but a millisecond; you can even attach images to messages, though sending videos or other files does not (yet) work.
Pictures can’t be sent straight from the gallery, only via the app itself.

Also, there’s no character limit for sent texts—yay!
You can inform your contacts about Viber via SMS, Facebook. Twitter or email.

On to the settings options: you can activate a pop-up window to notify you about new messages, or to tell you that one of your contacts joined Viber. Activate the Bluetooth option in the settings in order to conduct calls via Bluetooth headset. Lastly, there’s an option for hooking up your Facebook account and Viber, but my jury’s out on what that could be good for.

Bottom line:
Viber : Free Calls & Messages is a great app that provides users with s service that lets them makes calls and send text messages for free—provided that some if not a lot of your contacts are also using Viber. If none of your contacts are using the app it won’t do you much good, so get your friends to download the app if you want to make free calls.

The only thing that’s missing is an option that lets you send video or other files via text message.
 

Controls for Viber : Free Calls & Messages are very intuitive, and the assistant that helps you set up the app does a good job. I also quite like the Viber design.

Initiating calls using Viber : Free Calls & Messages is done in a jiffy, and text messages are also sent and received very fast. The app itself does very well in this category, too.

Viber : Free Calls & Messages is completely free of charge and does a great job.