As promised, once Vopium came out with the iPhone app, I was going to review it. Now, after registration at the website, you get a link which brings you directly to the App Store allowing you to download it to your iPhone. Previously, it brought you to the Web Interface.
The main page for Vopium is very VOIP-orientated. The keypad was simple and nice. The great thing about it is that it was very focused around the address book as well, so you could access your contacts as well. There is even a voicemail (which I never tested).
(1) Calls
Calling was nice, there are two ways of calling: via WiFi and by your local call minutes.
If there is WiFi present, Vopium will automatically use it to connect to your contact. However, if there is no WiFi, Vopium will proceed to make a local call, which in turn will redirect it to say… a call to Singapore.
When I tried to use Vopium WiFi to the USA, I could not connect (for some reason, not sure) to two different numbers. So I tried Vopium with my local call minutes to Singapore, and the call quality was relatively good. I would only be able to tell if it is really good if I had a few more test cases.
(2) SMS
Previously, I really liked the SMS provided by Vopium’s web interface. Which turned out to be the same thing here. The + allows you to access your contact list in order to send an sms, which is a really nice thing.
It did not provide the same kind of “conversations” or “sms history” like the sms on the iPhone itself. But it having SMS as opposed to what Skype and Fring did not have, was a nice touch.
And finally, in the “More”, you can both check the balance as well as top-up, making the iPhone app an all-in-one contained app which is really nice.
What I didn’t like? Phone calls still need some polishing. Vopium now offers 30 free call minutes and 30 free smses as opposed to 100 free smses. Although the website still seemed not updated yet. Otherwise, if the call plan and minutes fits you, Vopium is a good choice for making international phone calls.
