As you might be aware, HTC’s first 4G smartphone – the HTC Evo – launches today, allowing owners to take advantage of Sprint’s superfast mobile network to make high-quality calls, transfer large amounts of data and also try out two-way video chat utilising the app Qik Video.
In the past few moments Qik has released details of its video app on the Qik Blog, drilling down all of the features that Qik hopes will stand it apart from other video apps available on the Android operating system and all other smartphones:
Simple Video Chat
Qik has been designed to be very easy to use. To start a video chat all the user needs to do is launch the app and then select the person they wish to call from their contact list which is loaded within the app itself. If the recipient of your video chat invitation is also running Qik on their phone, one click is all that is needed before a video chat connection is established.
If they don’t have Qik, a unique URL is generated which is then sent via SMS so the recipient can watch the live video via their mobile browser.
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Whilst chatting, the user can toggle between front and back cameras on the HTC Evo, choosing to chat face-to-face or stream action live and when finished will be stored inside the app for later viewing.
Qik embedded a video also, which can be viewed below:
Video Mail
It seems Qik has factored in that not everyone wants to chat face-to-face with people and has enabled users to send video mail, a feature that will again utilize SMS to share the link with your friend no matter what network they are on or device they use. If the recipient is a Qik user, the message is sent to their Qik inbox.
Social Sharing
If you want to stream a quick video (geddit?!) and want to share it with all of your Facebook and Twitter friends, Qik has quite a few social sharing options incorporated into its interface so you can post links to your favourite social networks and online services with a click of a button.
Qik currently supports Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, Livestream, Brightcove, VMIX, Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, Tumblr, Posterous with IM support coming in the near future.
Premium Features
Qik came under fire when details were released around its charging for premium features. Today Qik has also released a rundown of what premium features are included in the app. For $4.99 a month Qik premium subscribers can expect high video quality, unlimited video archiving, automatic downloads to a users computer, the option to take pictures whilst recording video, unlimited video mail and advanced support.
Qik have introduced a special offer for Qik users on Android, allowing all “Qikkers” to try out all the premium features until July 15th.
For Qik users who don’t have the brand new HTC Evo, there is some good news for you too. Qik for Android has been given a bit of an overhaul and now includes Video Mail and the My Videos option. If you want to try video chat it is only available on the Evo at this moment in time.
Qik Video and Qik for Android are both available to download via the Android Market.
Have you bought an Evo? What are your thoughts? Is Qik Video really as good as we are being led to believe? Let us know in the comments.
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