Voxer Walkie-Talkie review [iPhone]

It's a wonder anyone still uses text messages, given the ever-increasing number of messaging apps out there for smartphones. That said, the proliferation of such applications is making it increasingly difficult to ensure your regular contacts are all connected to the same network, so for the most part we tend to choose one we like, and stick to it like glue.

Which is all well and good, but these apps are constantly evolving so it's good to take a look around once in a while and see what the others - that you're not using - are now offering. Latest on our list is Voxer Walkie-Talkie, which is unbelievably and is hard to pigeonhole as a messenger, VoIP app or social networking app. Really it's a combo of all three, but blends them seamlessly enough that it's not immediately recognisable as any one in particular.

Firstly, signing up to use Voxer Walkie-Talkie is beautifully simple. Your best option is to allow it to tie into your Facebook account, as it pulls in your own profile details, including photo, and scans through your friends list to add any contacts who are already using the app.

Put your phone number into your profile, and the system cross checks it against the address books of other existing users to find anyone who has you listed in their iPhone's, iPod touch's or iPad's Contacts app. It literally takes seconds to not only sign up, but to populate your Voxer contacts list with anyone you know who's also signed up.

The text messaging works as you'd expect, with messages sent over the Internet for free, and using any of the iPhone's connectivity options. If you're offline, messages are sent and received next time you connect. Photos can also be sent over the network and slot into the chat timeline. Further boosting its social aspects are a simple Google Maps integration that pinpoints your current location for other members of the chat, which is quietly and efficiently built into the background.

Group chats are equally easy, with a neat, horizontally scrolling bar across the top of a chat window showing who is currently joining in. This includes names and faces, and you can add in other participants at any time. A particularly sweet feature here is opening a second, private chat window with anyone in the group simply by tapping their profile thumbnail, giving you a one-to-on while the group carries on talking.

Most prominently, Voxer Walkie-Talkie includes a rather unique audio component. It's a push-to-talk system that sends audio clips to whoever you're currently talking to whenever you press the "Hold to Talk" button. The beauty of this option is that - as long as you're connected -- they don't have wait until you've finished recording to listen.

The audio is streamed as you talk, and your recipient or group can begin listening straight away. They can also reply in exactly the same manner, essentially creating a kind of weird, but very effective asynchronous phone call. Should you not be there to listen straight away, you can play back their message at any time, and an identical timeline of audio clips is built just as it is with text messages. Indeed, it doesn't have to be one or the other, so you can simply choose whichever messaging option is best at that moment.

This all adds up to an incredibly slick and powerful messaging app that shames many of its closest competition. But there are two vital features missing. The first is no landscape keyboard when typing, which is entirely unforgivable.

The second is a lack of delivered and read notifications, which as anyone who has used the likes of WhatsApp Messenger will know is a very useful aspect. Knowing that your message has arrived, and that human eyes have crossed it is massively helpful, and something as feature-rich as Voxer Walkie-Talkie really ought to implement this valuable system.

But with an Android version on the way, cross-platform compatibility could still put this app in the running for the top of the messaging charts, and deservedly so. Given that it's free, there's absolutely no reason you should overlook Voxer Walkie-Talkie. No iOS device is complete without it.