Nimbuzz Makes VoIP a Very Pleasing Experience [App Review]

Many Android users are still trying to pinpoint the best VoIP client in the growing Android market. Competition is getting fierce, but version 2.0 of Nimbuzz being released this Thursday gives us more than a quick reason to believe they might just deserve your attention.

While I didn’t have much time to test it out over 3G (due to shoddy coverage in my area), Nimbuzz didn’t give me a problem while I had a decent signal. Call quality was clear and I couldn’t find anything to complain about with that. This is probably due to them using the Jingle XMPP protocol which allows them to deliver unrivaled audio clarity for VoIP calls. I could tell that this wasn’t just a marketing bullet: it performed just as great as using Skype on my laptop.

This app is more than just Skype, though. Nimbuzz is introducing support for their own VoIP service – NimbuzzOut – which you might want to take a gander at if you aren’t satisfied with your current provider. Their rates seem competitive enough, but it depends on the package that’s right for you. I wasn’t able to test NimbuzzOut myself, though, so I can’t give any sort of analysis in any regard (quality, satisfaction, etc).

Nimbuzz does even more with allowing you to tap into other VoIP providers, as well. All of the major providers are supported, and even if your provider isn’t on the list the app gives you the ability to plug the connection details in yourself. Again, I can’t test this service but it’s great Nimbuzz decided to go all inclusive with their latest version.

List of contacts already on your phone

Some VoIP clients might only present you with a list of contacts already on your phone. Nimbuzz does this just great and takes it a step further. The app gives you the option to pull your phone’s contacts in to sit alongside contacts from various messaging protocols (Skype, Facebook, AIM, GTalk, Yahoo, MSN, and more). They give you several display and sorting options to choose from that makes for a seamless calling and chatting experience across the board. I could’ve done with just a bit of extra flexibility – namely being able to toggle display options for individual chat networks – but that’s just me nitpicking: I might as well sign out of the service anyway, at that point.

Chatting with your friends on various protocols is quick and simple, but the ability to send multimedia is truly invaluable. Unfortunately, trying to send a file over WiFi took quite some time (I tried sending different pictures to contacts on different protocols). I wasn’t confident that video would be any better considering the difference in filesize between a video and a photo. I would’ve also loved to be able to send any file stored on my phone’s SD card, but that may just be a technical impossibility as I don’t think there’s any other messaging app that can do this.

Nimbuzz 2.0 emerges to become one of the first options you should look into if you need great VoIP features, great messaging features, or both. If you’re on Verizon, I’d suggest sticking to the official Skype app for contacting your friends through that protocol due to its support for group conversations, but that’s the only thing one-upping Nimbuzz in my eyes. If Skype isn’t your VoIP provider of choice, have no need for Skype’s group chat features, or you can’t get Skype period, then Nimbuzz is calling your name. If you’ve been needing something to help you connect to all of your peers – whether they’re on your “buddy” list or in your phonebook – Nimbuzz will prove to be a real money saver if you’re willing to adopt the VoIP lifestyle and all of the joy that comes with it.