If you need a little face time with friends and family that live far
away, firing up a video chat has never been easier. These days you don't
even need to install an app or download a heavy client—many services
let you open a browser and within seconds see your friend's face, no
matter where they are in the world. This week we're going to look at
five services that give you the best, fastest, and most hassle-free
video chatting experience.
Earlier this week we asked you which web-based video chat services—that
is, services that operate in a browser and don't force you to download a
client to operate—were the best. We tallied up your nominations, and
here are your top five:
1.
Google Hangouts
 |
| Google+ Hangouts |
Google Hangouts almost doesn't need a description. When it was
introduced back in 2011, we praised it as one of the most seamless, easy
to use video chat services we'd ever seen. That's still true: If you
have a Google account, you can use Hangouts, and while it was initially
only a part of Google+ (and remains an integratl part of it), Hangouts
is available as a stand-alone Android app and iOS app and accessible
from inside Gmail. You'll need a browser plugin for Hangouts to work,
but that's it—no desktop installation, no client you have to run at
startup, and no additional accounts. Inviting other people to hang out
is as easy as emailing them, and if they have Google accounts as well,
it's even easier. Add onto that the fact that Google Hangouts lets you
share your desktop, has built-in drawing, collaboration, and other tools
and apps, supports screen sharing, and wants to be a unified video,
photo, and chat interface, and it's your favorite online meeting
service, and you have a pretty powerhouse tool. Impressive for being
just over two years old.
2. Facebook Video Chat
Facebook Video Chat launched in 2011 as a simple and easy way to stay in
touch with the friends you already have on a social network you already
use. It too requires a tiny browser plugin to work, and while it
doesn't offer the battery of tools that some of the other services roll
in, it does offer a massive built-in friends list that you don't have to
re-add or invite to a service in order to video chat with you. Since
it's powered on the back end by Skype, Facebook didn't have to reinvent
the wheel. Depending on who you ask, that's a good or a bad thing, but
some of you clearly thought Facebook Video Chat offered smooth video,
crisp audio, and of course, access to all of your Facebook friends.
Plus, being powered by Skype means that Skype desktop users can video
chat with Facebook users, share their screens with them, and enable full
HD calling if you have an HD webcam attached to your computer.
3. AnyMeeting
Strictly, AnyMeeting is more of a videoconferencing service than it is a
video chat service, but it fills the role nicely enough that some of
you nominated it. It's lightweight, and only requires a browser plugin
to work. It's free (although it's ad-supported), and you'll get nagging
here and there to upgrade to the $18/mo "Pro 25" account or the $78/mo
"Pro 200" account, which both remove the ads, bump up the number of
people you can have in a videoconference simultaneously to 25 and 200
(respectively), and the option to record your meetings and web
conferences for future playback. While Google Hangouts can go "On Air"
on YouTube, you're still limited to 10 active participants and 100
people in a group Hangout (if you're broadcasting, more people can
watch). With AnyMeeting, even free accounts can bring 200 people to the
party (you just can't record your meeting). Screen sharing, presentation
uploading, YouTube video sharing, and a custom URL for your account and
all of your meetings are just some of the features the service offers.
You can check out their plans here, and if you ever need to host a
webinar or large online conference, AnyMeeting can give you a way to do
so affordably.
4.Meetings.io
If the other services are too much for you, and all you really want is a
hassle-free way to video chat with a loved one—perhaps a
technologically challenged loved one—Meetings.io may be perfect for you.
We've highlighted them before, and praised them for offering no-signup
required, no plugin or install required, easy to access, one-click video
chats, and the service has only gotten better since then. Sure, you can
log in and create an account if you want to, but its real beauty is
that you don't have to get people all using the same service or signed
in to Google or Facebook for it to work. Click a button, start a
meeting, send everyone the link via email or SMS, and when they click it
they're dropped right into it. Chat organizers can approve or kick
people as they see fit, share video, audio, and notes with other people
in the chat, and more. All you need is Flash for the service to work,
and if you already have that, you're set. It's not the most feature-rich
or robust of the services in the roundup, but it's definitely one of
the simplest.
5. Tinychat
TinyChat is part free videochat service and part social network. There's
a massive, thriving community of people all over the world using
TinyChat's free chat rooms and video broadcasting services. Starting a
chat couldn't be easier—just click the button at the top of the page for
an instant chat room, and you're off and away. TinyChat, like many of
the others, doesn't require you download and install anything—it uses
flash to access your camera and microphone. When you do start a chat,
you're prompted to share it on Facebook or your other social networks.
If you opt to sign up for a TinyChat account, you can add friends,
connect with other people, connect your social networks, and more.
Upgrade to "Pro" for $10/mo or $85/yr to strip out the ads, get camera
filters and effects, get higher quality video, and get your broadcasts
(if they're public) bumped up in the global directory. TinyChat is a
tough sell—it can be a powerful tool and it's a huge network, but it
does a lot of nagging for you to share and annoy your friends on
Facebook, and regardless of their site policies, a lot of the content
over there can be questionable too. Your mileage may vary.
