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1. #Viber messenger for android vs skype for android windows 8.1#
2. #Viber messenger for android vs skype for android Pc#
3. #Viber messenger for android vs skype for android plus#
4. #Viber messenger for android vs skype for android windows 8#
5. #Viber messenger for android vs skype for android free#

Text messages with smilies, stickers and photo attachments. What it doesn't offer is video-calling, like you can get with Skype or Tango. This means you can save on carrier costs for SMS messages or voice calling minutes.

#Viber messenger for android vs skype for android windows 8#

One final Windows 8 interface nicety is that when you snap Viber to the side of the screen, it reformats itself conveniently, showing just, for example, the current conversation or rearranging its home screen tile groups vertically.įeatures In a nutshell, Viber offers text messaging and voice-over-IP calling. Facebook Messenger actually lets you know when the message was "seen."Īs I mentioned, you can easily create a Start screen tile for a conversation, but oddly, not for a contact but that may be more a distinction in terminology than functionality: your ongoing conversation can be with just one contact. This change occurred in my testing simply when the receiving phone displayed a lock screen notification with the message, not when the app was actually opened to view the message, so it's a little misleading. When you send a message, first a clock icon appears below it, then a double check mark. It's actually a pleasing, simple, straightforward interface: Just three buttons sit on its right edge: Compose, Keypad, and a Share Viber Facebook button. Its main interface even looks a lot like the Windows 8 default People app and like the official Skype app, with tiles representing your contacts, and swiping to take you through the various sections, including Recent, Contacts, and Groups. Interface The Viber app makes good use of many Windows 8-unique features: live tiles, lock screen notifications, pinning specific conversations to the Start screen, the search and share charms. But the permission granting isn't done: you next have to agree to let Viber run in the background. The installation process sends a four-digit message to the phone, which you enter in to the Windows 8 app setup. A "Phone Number Verification" message bar appears, in which you can Edit or OK the entry. Once that's taken care of, you simply enter your phone number into the Windows 8 app.

#Viber messenger for android vs skype for android windows 8.1#

Since Windows 8.1 devices aren't phones, the only way to get going with the Viber app on this platform is to have a cellphone you've installed and activated Viber on. But Skype and the other mobile communication apps I've used can also find your local phone's contacts, so that's not much of a differentiator.

#Viber messenger for android vs skype for android plus#

On the plus side, the real phone-number approach does make account setup easy, and it means the app can find contacts on the phone. With Kik, Skype, or Facebook Messenger, you simply use your account username, avoiding those pitfalls. It also means you'll have to create a new Viber account if you get a new phone number. There are two concerns with this: you're giving out a private personal detail that links to your financial, personal, and contact data to a startup tech company and any Viber contacts can see your real number. Like WhatsApp, Viber is one of those services that require your actual phone number and uses that as your identifier.

If the answer is No, you're told that you must have the app installed on your smart phone. Next, you're asked if you have Viber on your mobile phone. The first thing you see after installation is the message bar asking you to allow the app access to your webcam and microphone-fair enough, for a communication app. Viber apps are available for just about every mobile platform you can think of (and some you can't): iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Windows, Mac, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Bada.

#Viber messenger for android vs skype for android Pc#

I tested on both a desktop PC and a Surface RT tablet. It works on both Windows 8.1 x86 and Windows RT ARM-based tablets.

#Viber messenger for android vs skype for android free#

Installing and Signing Up You get the free Viber app by downloading it from the Windows Store. Let's take the app for a spin and see how well Viber works at what it can do. It doesn't, however, replace Apple FaceTime or Skype's similar video capabilities. Giving you the same messaging system and ID on your phone, tablet, and PC means Viber is in effect a cross-platform version of iMessage, which is restricted to Apple devices. The Windows 8.1 Viber app (free) is its latest incarnation, having landed in the last month of 2013. Viber doesn't add a whole lot to the Skype model, actually lacking several of the bigger player's major features, but it's a well designed and economical way to send text messages and place VoIP calls. First there was email, then instant messaging, then Skype, then WhatsApp, then Facebook Messenger, and on and on.