First conclusions about WhatsApp calls

Despite being announced on the 21st, the vast majority have had to wait until yesterday night, or even today they still do not have WhatsApp calls activated. The most anticipated VoIP call service (make no mistake, whether we like it or not it is the most anticipated) has reached all mobile devices once and for all and these are my conclusions.

It was made to beg

WhatsApp, why deny it, it goes, it has gone and it will probably always be one step behind the competition for a very simple reason, because it can. Yes, it has a mass of loyal users who are unconcerned about the improvements that other services can offer that guarantee their survival against any other subject that appears in the market. The prediction of a new "WhatsApp Killer" is almost monthly and there they have all remained, in that, mere secondary actors of a single party, that of instant messaging.

The failure of BlackBerry Messenger, the quasi indifference caused by Telegram (relieved to replace WhatsApp only and only when the first is offline) and Line's Asian pigeonhole are clear examples of what I say earlier.

The betas

Those of us who have used WhatsApp betas, having said which, why not use them, overall, I am not biting my tongue to say that it is by far one of the most unstable applications and that it provides the worst user experience in all iOS, so , lost to the river. It was around October when the happy phone appeared for the first time together with the user's avatar. 

We all pressed it with the slightest hope that a VoIP call would come out of nowhere that never came, but the intentions were clear, the WhatsApp calls would arrive and that would be the icon.

Late as always

Here we are, April 23 talking about the subject, knowing that about four months ago we learned about WhatsApp calls and one month that they are available on (I was going to say many…) some Android devices. Finally, it seems that the day has arrived, April 21, 2015 and a WhatsApp update was presented in the App Store without prior notice, and at the rate these guys present updates well deserve an article.

We patiently update the 52 Mbs approximately and ... And nothing. Where is the icon? What's it called? You can't. WhatsApp had decided to launch an update to present a service that lasted online for approximately twenty minutes and which began to disappear completely for the vast majority of users.

However, yesterday evening, April 22, the service began to be gradually available to more and more users, however, We remember that to activate the option more quickly, you simply have to receive a call from someone who already has it activated, after picking it up, the function will be activated forever. It's almost like an invitation system.

In addition, once activated, a lower tab called «recent» will appear, which will act as a list of missed, made and received calls.

The quality of the service, consumption and stability

You all want to know how much data a WhatsApp call consumes, I know, especially living in a time where data on mobile rates are clearly insufficient, but providing an exact estimate is venturing beyond what I would like. However, after various somewhat rudimentary "analyzes" that have been carried out in various media, it is asserted that a two-minute WhatsApp call consumes 1,2 Mbs of data. Do the math.

The quality of the service, WhatsApp has surprised me, and I say it with my hand on my heart, I thought that the gentlemen of WhatsApp would never do it again. I made several calls to colleagues with data at maximum speed, with data in speed reduction, via WiFi… And in all of them the result was satisfactory.

However, let's not claim victory, the service has just been launched and it is a very small proportional part that is currently using the service compared to the number of users who will use it in the future.

Conclusions

Let the phone companies tremble. Now you will tell me that WhatsApp did not invent VoIP calls, I know, Apple did not invent NFC and Apple Pay is succeeding like chocolate and so I could put hundreds of thousands of examples. Apple has what any service of this type would need, users, and if they dedicate themselves to maintaining the service in a half decent way (to be seen yet) allowing non-cutoff calls in decent quality, they will take over the market.

For now and after trying the service, the feelings are good. We will continue to inform.