This is called VoIP and works not differently from other VoIP services like Skype. Well, not strictly free as you do need to pay for a data plan. Viber calls are free because phone calls are routed through WiFi or packet data (GPRS, HSPA etc.). You can enable pop up notification for new texts. For a more complete free text messaging system, I suggest getting WhatsApp. Unfortunately it only supports basic texts. Finally, as Viber also supports free data messages, there is a separate tab for it. You can pin contacts into a favourite sub menu. The contacts tab shows you contacts that are on Viber as well as everyone else who isn’t. You get to see all recent and missed calls (including those made via Viber and normal phone calls). In fact the dialler is a straight copy off the one on the iPhone with a different colour scheme.

Viber features a tabbed based UI suspiciously similar to the iPhone phone app. The neat thing about Viber is the app also a universal phone dialler, allowing you to dial other none Viber users on a traditional phone line. Once activated (a process that took me a couple of seconds), the app scanned my phone book and found 12 of my contacts that was also on Viber. This would mean having to give out your number to people. Viber is different from many other VoIP services in that instead of requiring you to create a new login, it uses your phone number as an identifier, not at all dissimilar to WhatsApp.

The Android version recently graduated from beta and is now available to the Android Market. In fact it has been downloaded over 12 million times on Apple’s app store. Viber is a popular VoIP and free messaging service on the iOS platform.

Viber apps android