Viber for Blackberry and for Windows Phone is released

Posted on May 15, 2012 in News and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Viber announced that they released beta versions of their ultra popular application for Blackberry and Windows Phone devices. To be more precises, it will work on Blackberry OS 5 or higher and for Windows Phone 7 devices. Only missing feature in this two versions is that they do not support calls. All other features are here and the new millions of users will finally be able to enjoy in them by installing the Viber.

Here is the official announcment:

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, May 8, 2012 – Viber, the leading mobile communications platform offering free HD-quality phone calls, text and photo messages, today announced the availability of Viber for BlackBerry Beta and Windows Phone 7 Beta. Attracting more than 69 million registered iPhone® and Android™ users in 17 months and growing by more than 200,000 new users a day, Viber is the fastest-growing mobile VoIP and messaging company.
“We believe if you’re connected to the Internet, you should be able to enjoy a free, high-quality communications experience, and Viber is working to make it possible for users of all mobile products to communicate with each other,” said Talmon Marco, Viber Founder and CEO. “We are delighted to add BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 to our growing list of interoperable platforms, providing a universal messaging experience for millions of new Viber users.”
Both Viber for BlackBerry Beta and Viber for Windows Phone 7 Beta initially offer Viber Messaging, allowing users to exchange text and high-quality photo messages and share locations with other Viber users. Viber seamlessly integrates with the devices’ interface, instantly identifying existing contacts who already have Viber installed so users do not need to go through a “friend request” process. The full release for both platforms, including Viber’s signature HD-quality free voice calling, will be released as soon as it meets Viber’s quality standards.
Each month, Viber users talk for more than 1 billion minutes and send more than 1 billion messages. Users choose to share their locations in approximately 10% of their messages. Viber users make more than 7 million calls every day and send more than 40 million messages daily worldwide, with the numbers steadily increasing.
Viber for BlackBerry Beta is available for all BlackBerry devices with OS 5 and above from BlackBerry App World or directly from Viber at www.viber.com/blackberry.
Viber for Windows Phone 7 Beta is available for all Windows Phone 7 devices via the Windows Phone Marketplace and from Viber at www.viber.com/wp7.



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Viber 2.1.3 for Android – ICS support

Posted on February 21, 2012 in News and tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Today Viber announced that the new version 2.1.3 for Android is available at Android Market. Main feature is that Viber from now on can work on Android 4 devices.

Here is the original announment:

Viber users have been asking for an ICS compatible version from the moment it was released by Google. The latest version of the mobile OS is powering the most recent generation of Android smartphones including the incredibly popular Samsung Galaxy Nexus. And now – these phones can also run Viber.

In addition, this version includes significant enhancements to the Viber voice engine, featuring better quality, improved support for low end devices and better handling of poor network conditions.

Viber is committed to the Android platform and has seen rapid growth on the OS over the last seven months since it first released the Android version of its app. Additionally, Viber offers Android users several unique features that aren’t available on the iOS version of the app.

Viber recently announced that over 50 million people have registered for the service. Each month, Viber users make over a billion minutes worth of calls and send close to a billion messages. Android users are playing an increasing role in this growth.



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Viber 2.1 – Photo messaging for iPhone and Android

Posted on October 13, 2011 in News and tagged , , , , , | 303 Comments

Last big update was Viber 2.0 which introduced text messaging. This time, almost 7 months after, Viber 2.1 enhanced messaging with photos, location sharing and new sound engine. The difference is also that this time Viber released two applications at once – for iPhone and Android.

Photo Messaging
Free text messaging (SMS) was a real hit and Viber users are sending literally billions of messages. Now, with Viber 2.1, you can even send photos. You can take new photo, or use one from your existing library. Usage is simple and intuitive, as it should be on smartphones.
Please not that it is not a MMS and you can not compose text with an picture or make slideshow, but those are anyway rarely used MMS features. Much closer comparison would be sending picture by Skype.


New Sound Engine
Although the incredible sound quality was a one of the main Viber features, it usually caused a problems when talking over 3G mobile network with bad signal or over EDGE connection. Now, with new engine, the calls should be much more flawless, even in not perfect conditions.

Other
Here are few more features that can be found in this new version. For more details you can check the official Viber article for this release.

  • Location sharing. Now you can enable tagging your messages with your current location
  • Typing notification indicates that your friend is writing text response
  • Enhanced graphics for Retina displays

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Viber is Available for Download at Android Market

Posted on July 20, 2011 in News and tagged , | 161 Comments

No more waiting, no more beta test subscription, the Viber for Android is finally here and available for download at Android Market. Just to remind, during the closed group beta period, which started this May, Viber for Android was tried by some 50,000 users. In that period, beta version had several releases, so we can assume that this final version is quite much free from critical bugs on most devices.

Android version has several features which are not available on iPhone, such as a running at full screen when Viber call is received, pop-up text message notifications which enables user to replay directly from itself and possibility to set Viber as default call provider.
You can find it for download at Android Market or if you are reading this with your Android device just click on this link.
Important notice! If you already have Viber beta installed (beta testers), you have to uninstall previous version before downloading version from Android Market.

Viber also announced that currently they have 12 million active users (20 millions registered) which are talking 11 million minutes per day with average call length of 6 minutes. Compared to over 500 million of Skype users it still looks small (note that Skype is primary desktop application). But knowing that there is 120 million of Android devices out there, it seems that things are getting little bit more interesting.

What is next? Blackberry version is in works and probably will be next in line. Viber said that they are planning versions for Nokia and Windows Mobile devices, but this will probably not be soon as those two platforms are struggling on the mobile market. Android as a currently most growing mobile platform is supported and this is probably most important for Viber future. I hope that after this we can hope for some new features for existing users, like conference calls, group messages and video calls.

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Viber for BlackBerry First Look Photo

Posted on July 14, 2011 in News and tagged , , | 141 Comments

Viber for BlackBerry has status “in works” for a while. Actually, from the beginning of all this Viber buzz. Well, there was big rush about Viber 2.0 for iPhone and Viber for Android beta program, so it seemed that Viber for Blackberry will never come to focus.

Today, Viber Social Media Manager announced that:

After the long wait and expectations, in the past several weeks we started focusing on the development of Viber on Blackberry, and we are now excited to give you a first look.



What to say? It looks OK, just as Viber do. What worries me is that it is showing a text messaging feature, which is much easier technology than the actual voice calls.
On the other hand, there is also one photo inside this conversation. Does it means that we can expect photos sending (some kind of MMS) on the iPhone and Android soon too?

Another good news is that the Viber for Android Beta with closed group of testers is at final stage. It means that Viber for Android Beta will soon become free for download without any subscriptions and waiting for mail invitations. Thumbs up for this one too!

I hope that will hear more good news soon.

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Viber Android – Beta Version Review

Posted on May 20, 2011 in News and tagged , , | 161 Comments
Updated on July 20, 2011
Viber is available for download at Android Market.
If you want to know more about installation and activation process, please check out How do I install Viber?.



It took a while, but we finally received invitation mail for beta testers. Besides some general information regarding private beta period and few support links, it contains the link to form where you’ll have to fill in little bit more specific data, like exact device version and your phone number. After submitting it you’ll be forwarded to download page where you can download and install the viber.apk.
Installation procedure is like on the iPhone version, easy and straightforward. Just enter your phone number, and type in the activation code you received by SMS.

iPhone vs Android version
Why change something that is proven as good? So basically, Viber for Android is the same as the one for iPhone. Concept is the same, with slight Android like adjustments; buttons, arrows… Information about the missed calls and unread sms messages are also done in Android like way (icons on the top of screen). On Android version, you can set Viber as default call application! Right now it is not usable to much as the Viber itself is a only 6 months old project and there are not enough users on it, but still this is a cool feature.
When Viber is in background, incoming text message (SMS) on Android version will pop up in a small window. Unlike on iPhone, here you can type in your answer and send it without bringing the Viber to front. This popup can be disabled in Viber’s settings (under the “more” tab).
The settings view is also something what iPhone version currently does not have. There are only few settings to set: Enable popup, Contact images, Vibrate for messages and Vibrate dial-pad.
What is missing? Not much. There is no bluetooth support at all. We hope that this will be added in final version.

Bugs and issues
We are using Viber on HTC Desire S with Android 2.2, and we had no crashes or strange behaviors. It seems it is more stable than iPhone version which can crash from time to time. Really great experience.
On the known issues Viber’s page, there is a list of bugs that users reported. Mainly the issues which are already seen on iPhone version, like problems with activation code, sound quality etc.

As conclusion, we can only hope that we will not have to wait too much for final Android version.

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Beta period for Android is finally started

Posted on May 5, 2011 in News and tagged , | Comments Off
Updated on July 20, 2011
Viber is available for download at Android Market.
Check out the Viber for Android Beta Review



Yesterday Viber Media Inc representatives sent a notice which says that the Android beta period officially starts. In a short, users who applied for beta testing, will receive email with download link.

Here is the whole message:

Today we have launched for the first time the Beta version of Viber for Android!

As we promised throughout the past few months, we will now start sending out emails with the Beta version to those who subscribed to be beta-testers.
There order of sending of emails will be first-sign first-get, in daily groups.

We believe that within the next few days, up to a week, all those who subscribed will have received the email with the instructions and the download link.
After installing Viber on Android, we ask our testers to report bugs (or suggestions) to this link: http://blog.viber.com/viber-beta-support
Users who didn’t subscribe in time can still do it in this link: http://eepurl.com/bW1Ln

We wish you and your readers fun use of Viber-for-Android :)


Viber for Android Beta - blog.tmcnet.com

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Viber for Android Beta is moved to May

Posted on April 20, 2011 in News and tagged , | 2 Comments
Updated on July 20, 2011
Viber is available for download at Android Market.
Check out the Viber for Android Beta Review


It seems that the public beta will be available soon. Viber tweeted that the Android Beta version will be available in some two weeks.

Why Viber for Android is so late?
Public beta was initially planed for end of the February. Latter, it was moved to March and after that, “bang!”. It just snapped, and postponed android beta period to an unknown.
Android is a good platform, but it is stretched much more than iOS is. Android is working on different hardware which is made by different manufacturers. That usually produces problems. Especially if you are trying to optimize application performance and work with low level functionality.
It means that if you are trying to make an excellent application for Android, you’ll have to spend much more time for testing it and adjusting it for different devices.

Lets hope this time it is for real ;)

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Viber 2.0 for iPhone is Released

Posted on March 31, 2011 in News and tagged , , , | 82 Comments

Viber 2.0 with text messaging support is finally here. The real drama: It was originally planned for February, at last released two days ago and just few hours latter removed from App Store due to critical bug.
OK, now it is here and there are few features you will rely enjoy on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Free text messaging (SMS)
Major feature in this version is ability to send free textual messages to other Viber users. Again it is done in manner like it is done in original iPhone Messages application. Clean and easy to use, with few specifics. Every message has a icon which describes its status: Sending, Sent, Delivered, Pending Connectivity.
Do not forget that this are not real SMS messages and that you can write them only to Viber users.
viber 2.0 with text messages suport
Instant account deactivation
There was many complaints regarding holding private data (address book, call logs) on Viber servers and unclear deactivate account procedure. Now, under a More tab, you can click on Deactivate Account option. It will deactivate application on your iPhone and remove all associated data from Viber servers.
Deactivate Viber Account
Improved call mechanism
During the outgoing call, till now we could see only Calling and Answering statuses. Now, we there is new status “Ringing” which indicates that the connection is established. Note that this new status is available only if the other party has it’s Viber started (running in background is OK too). Otherwise, communication relays on iPhone push notifications and in that case there is no technical possibility to know is the Viber actually ringing.
Viber 2.0 call status
Other goodies
Now there is “Continue and don’t show again” option when switching to regular carrier services – placing a call or sending a message to an non Viber users.
Favorites are moved up to Contacts tab.

Optimal usage reminder
As we already wrote on Official announcement – optimal usage of Viber for iPhone, Viber again reminds that it is best to keep application in background.
Viber optimal usage

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Viber 2.0 for iPhone is right around the corner

Posted on March 13, 2011 in News and tagged , , | 2 Comments
Updated on March 31, 2011
Viber 2.0.1 is available for download at App Store. If you are viewing this post with your iPhone, just click on http://www.viber.com/dl
For further details check Viber 2.0 for iPhone is Released


According to Viber on twitter, in next few days we can expect Viber 2.0 for iPhone. The servers were under the maintenance last few days to be prepared for new version and as a result users could notice some connection issues during the calls.

As the major feature, Viber 2.0 brings the free text (SMS) messaging. You will be able to send free text messages to all your Viber contacts. We do not have any previews, but as usual, we can expect that it will be as close as possible to original iPhone Text application.
Originally it was planned for end of February, but the Viber guys decided that it is better to be late than release a not finished and buggy product. There was much complaints on early Viber versions regarding poor country codes handling, so this seems to be reasonable decision.

Free text messaging might not be considered as a revolutionary feature. We seen it before on Skype, but as already proven, Skype desktop origin is a big disadvantage on the mobile devices. They tried to move desktop service to mobile device and that just don’t holds the water (to many and to often chat messages, people are sending files …). Viber 2.0 will give us a true mobile SMS experience for free.

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