They made instant messaging look like a stone-age process and made it obsolete, they made us become 3G addicts, they came up revealing the “last seen”, they introduced the much debated “blue ticks”, they came out on the web and now they are in news again!!! With all these blatant hints, you must have guessed that we are going to unveil another new aspect of WhatsApp. Looks like they have been thinking constantly on what feature to update and suddenly it struck that they will come up with a voice calling feature for Android users.
WhatsApp Free Voice Calling
But before you break you head on this update, be noted that the feature works only on selected handsets. Few users have intimated that there appeared a voice calling option in their WhatsApp application. The company is perhaps testing its new feature to keep the steady competition from its rivals like Skype and Viber. One of the users had shared the screen shots and video of the voice calling feature which was activated in his phone when a friend of his tried to call him. So we can understand that it is an invite-based feature.
A Reddit user ‘pradnesh07’, who posted screenshots of this service claims that a combo of a WhatsApp version v2.11.508 for Android on a Google Nexus 5 running Android 5.0.1 Lollipop is successful to avail this feature. However, although a user has the above combination the voice calling feature wouldn’t be possible unless he received an inviting call from another source. And to top the list, once a user get this feature enabled, he may not be able to place further calls. So we better understand that WhatsApp is still holding the voice-calling feature in the testing mode and isn’t full fledged.
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From the screenshots given by the user pradnesh07, the app will have a new “Calls” tab on the top along side of the “Chats” and “Contacts” tab. This would essentially allow the users to place voice call to their WhatsApp contacts. Few users mentioned that they had options of placing a call with Google dialler but not the WhatsApp calling option. The user pradnesh07, had also uploaded a video on this feature.
The shared screen shots showed the call disconnect button and mute buttons also. The released screen shots were similar to the ones which were previously got in December. Perhaps, as said, as the application is in its developmental or testing stage, little can we assume about its performance and characteristics. Moreover, we still have not got a credible announcement from the WhatsApp authorities. It cannot be dismissed that they had promised about this voice calling feature to be released in Q1 of 2015. All we need to do is to patiently wait for the feature to miraculously appear on our phones one fine morning!
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I know it’s quite a test for patience, but it is going to be worth it! But before the announcements are made official, if you happen to come across any additional feature in your WhatsApp, do hit on us straight. But beware, you are going to make so many out there jealous!!!
Pavithra Ranganathan
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