Hoiio Blog

A little over a year ago, Hoiio introduced Internet Call (Beta), a cheaper alternative to call friends and loved ones through the use of VOIP technology.  Since then, we have logged more than 300,000 minutes of internet calls!  This is absolutely encouraging to us and we’d like to extend our deepest gratitude to our customers for making this possible.   This year, we’ve decided to put more icing to the cake and we are excited to share with you what we have been doing for the past few months to enhance your internet call experience.

1. New Year, New Look!

Charles Lamb once said that New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.  We think that it is also true for Hoiio! In this new release, we’ve given the Internet Call module a facelift.  We’ve also added a new feature in this screen where the quality of your call is measured real time.

2. New Year, New Upgrade

In using the new Internet Call, you will immediately notice the improvement from the old one.  We have updated some modules to reduce the amount of outside noise during a conversation.  You will also notice a significant improvement in the voice quality.

3. New Year, New Feature

We do not want to charge you for something you won’t enjoy.  And so prior to starting an Internet Call, we do a quick check of your network connection to see if it is good enough to initiate an Internet call.

Hoiio Phone v2.2 for Android is now available in the Android Market.   If you haven’t done so, now’s a good time to download the app!

Oh!  And did we mention that we’ll be very happy to interact with you and know what you think? Come and join our Facebook page!

Cheers!
Hoiio Team

Have you ever realized that you’re actually paying more than your monthly subscription plan from your telco?

Your plan may have some free outgoing call minutes, but once those are used up telco generally charges $0.16/min for your calls.

We’ve got some tips for you:

1. Downgrade to the lowest possible plan
2. Use Hoiio after your free minutes are consumed with your telco or whenever you want to.

How Hoiio callback works?

Here at Hoiio, we are committed in delivering powerful applications that revolutionize the way phones are used.  In this new release, we have made many improvements to our Android app.

If you are interested to know what those improvements are, read on.
Otherwise,

or search for Hoiio Phone in the Android Market

1. Improved Internet Call

We have updated our Internet Call feature to be more robust, allowing a more engaging / care-free conversation. Simply connect your phone to WiFi or 3G and dial away. Singapore to Hong Kong calls is just SGD 0.029/minute. Singapore to Singapore calls is even cheaper at SGD 0.019/minute! For a Smarter Hello, Use Hoiio!

2. Improved In-app Phonebook Data Synchronization

In v2.0, we designed an in-app data synchronization. It has come to our attention that some of our users have been experiencing some problems with this feature… and so we made sure to address this issue.

In v2.1, data synchronization now happens instantly! If you are among those who ran into this problem, you will surely like this new update. We’ve made it such that even for a phone with thousands of contacts, not only won’t you feel the weight of loading… you don’t even have to wait for loading.

3. Increased SMS Limit from 160 to 450 Characters

Our team also have a lot of great things for you in our SMS module. For those who needs to send an SMS message with more than 160 characters, we upgraded our app to increase the capacity to 450 characters. Oh, did I mention that Singapore to Philippine SMS is just 1 peso/SMS (SGD 0.03)? That’s International SMS for the price of local.

4. Resend SMS

Further, we’ve added a Resend option for SMS. In cases where you need to resend an entire SMS such as greetings and reminders, you don’t need to key in everything once more. Just select which SMS you want to resend and you’re good to go.

5. SMSes Sent via Hoiio Now Appears on Native SMS App

In v2.1, all messages sent via Hoiio is now reflected in your native SMS app. This will help you keep track of all the SMS messages you sent.

6. Home Screen Shortcuts

Finally, we thought that Home Screen shortcuts are valuable to you. In v.2.0, in order to send SMS, you need to go inside the app. Now, you can do it faster by setting up this shortcut. Simply click Menu > Shortcuts > Hoiio – New SMS.

What are you waiting for?

Cheers!

Hoiio is nominated in Asia’s Top 50 Apps, organized by Singtel Innovation Exchange!

Cast your vote before 10th October, and help us be among the top 50 apps! Simply go to asiatop50apps.com, and like or +1 for Hoiio.

If you have both Facebook and Google+ accounts, do both and give us your two votes. Woohoo!

For your convenience, you can just click “like” below :)

We said that we could only slash one country at a time, but this week, we slash four countries. All in one single stroke. Now, from Singapore, you can call/send SMS cheaper to Philippines, India, HK, and Australia. Below are some highlights on our amazing slash promotion. Check out the full rates by logging in to www.hoiio.com.

Philippines

• Call to Philippines fixed line at SGD 18 cents/minute (slashed 28%), and mobile at SGD 22 cents/min (slashed 12%)
• Piso Text. Send SMS from Singapore to Philippines at One Peso/SMS (SGD 3 cents/SMS).

India

• Call any destination in India at SGD 4.8 cents/minute (slashed 40%).
• Global SMS at local rates. Send SMS to India from Singapore only at SGD 5 cents/SMS.

Hong Kong

• Call any destination in HK at SGD 4.5 cents/minute (slashed 42%).
• Global SMS at local rates. Send SMS to HK from Singapore only at SGD 5 cents/SMS.

Australia

• Call to Australia fixed line at SGD 6.8 cents/minute (slashed 19%), and mobile at SGD 18 cents/min (slashed 22%).

We hope that you like this, and share this to your friends. The more people using Hoiio, the more competitive we can be!