Fring Fring review

Fring is a mobile messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) application for Nokia Series 60 smartphones.

Like PC instant messaging applications, you can have text chats with other users or make a VoIP call. Fring recommends a 3G or wireless network connection for voice calls, but it works over GPRS, too.

Fring also integrates with your existing services, so you can call or talk to your friends on MSN Messenger, Google Talk and Skype. If you want to use VoIP to call standard telephone lines, Fring can initiate a Skype Out call or integrate with your SIP service (such as Vonage) and let you make calls that way. There's no charge from Fring for this and you'll be billed in the usual way from Skype or your SIP provider.

Setting up the software is simple. After registering on the Fring website with your phone number, you're sent a text message with a link to download the software. After installation, you're prompted to choose your username and password, and choose whether you want Fring to connect to your Skype, Google Talk, MSN or SIP service. We found we had to restart our phone before the software would work properly.

Once it's up and running, Fring displays all your messaging contacts on one screen, and you have the option to call any of them using VoIP or start an instant messaging chat. For regular telephone numbers you have the option to make a standard GSM call, or use Skype or SIP.

Although the Fring application and service is free, using it isn't. Unless you have an unlimited data account, you'll be charged by the megabyte for voice calls and instant messages by your mobile operator. Bear in mind that even 'unlimited' accounts may be subject to a fair-use policy.

Fring's website estimates that it costs less than a penny a minute in data to make a call. Even if you add in the cost per minute of a Skype Out or SIP call, Fring phone calls are very competitive, especially if you're making international calls. However, we'd recommend using your bundled minutes where you can, as it's cheaper and Fring's voice quality is very poor.

Even though our test phone had a full 3G signal, calls to our Google Talk account were barely comprehensible. Fring-to-Fring calls between two phones were better, but the half-second delay on the line made flowing conversation impossible. Chat also suffered from significant delays, sometimes taking as long as 30 seconds between sending a message and it arriving on a PC.

Fring is a bold idea, and it's useful to be able to communicate with a variety of messaging programs from your mobile. Unfortunately, the poor voice quality and huge delays on both calls and text-based chat cripple the program.