Android App Review: Viber -- Rendering SMS Obsolete?

6.12.11 The Reporter 0 Comments

Filipinos were the trailblazers in maximizing the SMS or Short Message Service feature rolled out for public consumption around the year 2000. SMS technology had been conceptualized way back in 1984. Then on December 3, 1992, the first SMS was sent over Vodaphone UK, from a computer to an Orbitel 901 handset. But it was only in the year 2000 when Philippine mobile phone users figured out the communications potential of the technology. Ironically, it took a few years later for SMS to catch on in first-world countries like the US.

Today, SMS is being prophesied as a technology that may be on its way out, as social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and their ilk serve to connect people in more affordable ways.

Enter Viber. This app unites the Android and the iOS ecosystem and makes these two competing smartphone platforms hold hands. Not only is this one more reason to forget about the Symbian OS, but this is also one more reason why the statement that SMS is a doomed technology may very well come true.

Viber is like Skype for mobile. It lets you call, send messages and even photos, to your contacts. It is actually more of an Instant Messaging service rather than a true-blue SMS service, but since it's on mobile, and it uses a user's mobile number as the account username, it looks and feels 99% like an SMS service.

And since it also lets a user make calls, Viber then, could very well be a mobile service substitute.

However, Viber is an app that uses VoIP technology, thus, it needs a connection to 3G or WiFi in order for it to work.

The bad part: If you're not subscribed to a data plan or will be traveling to places that don't have WiFi, you won't be able to use the service.

The good part: Savings, if you're in a place where WiFi is readily available, or if you're subscribed to a data plan.

The great part: On the other hand, even mere iPod Touch owners can use the app. It's a great way to turn your iPod Touch into an iPhone without needing to spend for a contraption to convert it.

Texting and calling on Viber really feels more like being on Skype for Mobile, without the resource and bandwidth overload. Viber feels like a faster version of SMS, and like a twin brother of IM. It sends photos in an instant, surpassing MMS technology. It also lets you see as your contact types his messages, and keeps these in a threaded archive. Everything you want from IM and SMS, with very few limitations.

We discuss how to save on prepaid credits through Viber in a future post. Watch out for that!