Messaging services such as Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger have become extremely popular in recent years, and are slowly changing the way we contact each other via smartphones. However, there is one option lacking in these application - sending video messages in real time.
While there are applications for sending live video chats, such as Apple's Facetime or Skype, the picture quality is usually poor, and the streaming tends to stick or the call is cut off in the middle. In most cases, the system is too complicated and feels unnatural.
A new Israeli iPhone app called Glide is seeking to combine the convenience of messaging with a video chat feature by creating the first platform that sends instant video messages, what the app's developers call video walkie-talkie.
Glide is basically a messaging app which can photograph and send video clips (up to 42 seconds long) in the same way as sending a text message. An important advantage of Glide, compared with video chat apps such as Facetime, is that the video message can be sent to several people simultaneously, and it is also possible to create fixed groups, such as on Whatsapp.
Another important advantage is that there is no need for the user receiving the message to be hooked up. In other words, you can send a message, and the recipient can view it whenever he or she enters the app. It is important to note that the video messages are saved on the app's cloud server, and not on the handset, so the messages do not take up the handset's storage space.
Glide's developers have not forgotten to include regular text messaging options, and a wide range of emoticons can also be attached to messages, so that, apart from the unique video messaging feature, there is almost no difference between Glide and other messaging apps currently on the market.
Glide has one big disadvantage: it is not possible to send pictures or video clips to users or groups via the app. In other words, if you want to send existing pictures or video clips from your device, you will have to use a different app.
If Glide wants to become a worthwhile alternative in the crowded messaging apps market, it will have to include this feature in the future. Except for this, Glide is an easy, efficient, and innovate app that is worth checking out, and it is to be hoped that an Android version will soon be available.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 2, 2013
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