Nimbuzz is an app that lets you chat with your contacts on instant messaging services including AIM, Google Talk, and Windows Live Messenger. It’s available for PC, Mac, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. And today Nimbuzz seriously powered up its Android app with the launch of Nimbuzz 2.0 for Android.
The biggest change in Nimbuzz 20 is that it now lets you make VoIP calls. That means you can make free or cheap calls using the NimbuzzOut service or SkypeOut if you have a Skype account and Skype credit. You can also use other SIP services including Google/Gizmo5, Sipgate, and others.
Typically VoIP services like these charge you a per-minute rate to call telephone numbers from a computer or smartphone — but those rates can be much lower than those your carrier charges if you’re making overseas phone calls.
The only problem I ran into was that Nimbuzz doesn’t seem to work with my Skype monthly plan. I pay $3/month to be able to make unlimited domestic calls on Skype, but when I made a few calls with Nimbzz, my Skype credit went down by a few cents each time I placed a call.
If you’re thinking about trying the NimbuzzOut service, you can check out the company’s rates at the Nimbuzz web site.
The new VoIP functionality lets you either call contacts in your Android phone’s contact list, or pull up a dialer to enter a number manually.
Nimbuzz 2.0 also has a few other new tricks up its sleeve. For one thing, it will scan your phone contacts and find Nimbuzz users that you might want to add to your Nimbuzz contact list. This will let you make calls over Nimbuzz for free instead of using the NimbuzzOut or SkypeOut service — and it will let you see when they’re online.
There’s also now support for Facebook Connect for connecting to Facebook Chat. This should provide a more secure connection while reducing the number of disconnection errors.
Nimbuzz 2.0 for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.
via Android Central
