Gamer geeks rejoice. You can now use Ventrilo from your Android.

TNW Quick Hit

Mangler brings the ability to use Ventrilo VoIP on your Android device.

Love It: Especially handy for those long road trips when you miss your gaming friends.

Hate It: Some options are lacking, making it impossible to do truly hands-free.

Overall: 4/5

The Details

Chances are that if this article caught your attention, you’re already familiar with what Ventrilo is. However, for those that aren’t, the quick and dirty version is that Ventrilo is a voice-over-IP client that is very popular for communication while playing video games.

While there are a couple of options in the Android Market for Ventrilo clients, I’ve become instantly fond of Mangler. Overall, it’s a very robust client, with a wealth of options. The down side, however, is that there’s no ability to speak without a push-to-talk button, so you’ll always have to have your phone in hand’s reach.

What it lacks in hands-free, though, it makes up for in other features:

• Fullscreen Mode
• Sleep Prevention
• 8kHz Transmit Forcing

The fact is, Mangler has been around for a while as a Linux-based Ventrilo client. With that length of experience, the developers have had time to get it right, and the Android version of Mangler is no less fantastic.

It’s free, so well worth your time to download if you’re one of us gamer geeks who have a reason to use it.