Hands-on: Qik Video Connect for Android and iOS Unites Cross-Platform Face Calls
Apr 27, 2011 01:59 PM EDT by 
Think Apple is Apple and Android is Android, and never the two shall meet? Think again. Qik, the mobile video chat software that facilitates visual phone calls on mobile devices, released Qik Video Connect today. The application is the only mobile video chat service that lets members of the Apple and Android camps communicate face to face across the divide.
Qik Video Connect works on smart phones running Android versions 2.1 to 2.3.3 and iOS devices with a camera including the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and recent models of the iPod Touch. If you’re itching to call your cross-platform friends, you can download the app from the Android App Market and Apple App Store for free. However, the price jumps to $2.99 later this week, so buy now.
Want to see how well the app works before you download? Check out our hands-on thoughts:
We made a Qik call using a Sprint HTC Evo smart phone connected to 4G and an iPad 2 surfing the Wi-Fi network in our office. The connection quality was noticeably better than other Qik calls we’ve made in the past. (We used two Android devices with the now-dated version of the Qik app for previous calls.) Our video froze less than previous calls and the audio consistency was much better. A slight sound delay remained, but at least all our words came out the other end of the call.
The visual quality was slightly better too. There was less pixelation in our caller’s facial features. Then again, when we turned on the back-facing cameras, objects in the background were very fuzzy. Still, Qik’s close-up video looked cleaner than we’ve seen it before.
Other Qik features have made it to iOS as well. That includes video mail for sending short video messages to other service users and the ability to broadcast live video to your own URL (qik.com/yourusername).
Want to get your video on with some close Apple or Android pals? Let us know what you think in the comments when you do.
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