We’re very excited about AT&T’s announcement today (confirmed by Apple) that its 3G wireless network will be open to third-party Internet voice applications on iPhone.

Until now fring users could only use fring on their iPhone over Wi-Fi, so this comes as great news for us and our iPhone fringsters.

fring’s dev team is hard at work, making sure we will be ready to go once 3G iPhone gates are open . We will be live before you can even say “fring for iPhone over 3G on its way!” with the new feature-packed version we released just today… but also over 3G!

fringTEAM

fring’s latest iPhone & iPod touch version (2.0.0.4) is now available on the App Store, with a new look, more integration between social networks, improved voice and much more!

The new version includes a new user profile, which allows you to update your fring nickname, avatar and mood text, and broadcast it back to your IM friends. You can also see your friends’ avatars and mood texts from other networks – currently on Skype, others coming soon.

You can also now use SkypeOut & SIP to call your friends directly from the fring address book with a much clearer line thanks to our voice team’s big effort to improve voice quality!

If that’s not enough we added- copy/paste & linking capabilities to save you time while chatting away with your friends and speakerphone support for all voice calls.

German users, we got some great news for you too – fring on iPhone/ iPod touch is also now available in your native language!

As you can see, we’ve been busy fringbees – improving features, introducing new capabilities and always staying ahead of the pack to continue being the ultimate social community hub for your iPhone/ iPod touch.

So go get the new version today and as always, feedback is much appreciated!

The fringTEAM

Hey guys, here is some breaking news I personally think may be very exciting for fringsters across South Africa. First National Bank has just launched a shiny new and exciting service called FNB Connect.

FNB is, as far as I am aware, the first VoIP provider in South Africa to let users make and receive calls via VoIP at local South African rates. What this means is that using FNB Connect you can now, not only make cheap local calls, you can now also receive them using your very own 087 number.

The local calling rates are very good:

What makes this service even cooler is the fact that you can use the FNB Connect service via fring. All you would need to do is add your FNB Connect details to the SIP connection settings inside of fring and away you go. Cheap local calls within South Africa using the 3G or WiFi connection on your fring handset.

Ok so whats the catch? This sounds to good to be true?

Firstly you would need a FNB bank account to make use of this service. The entire service is managed by linking your telephone to your bank account, this makes it easy to purchase additional airtime and up to 4 additional 087 numbers for the rest of your family. The second thing is that there is a once-off account activation fee of R49.00, this fee includes calls to the value of R49.00 and your very own 087 number.

I have had the priviledge of testing the service for the last week and I think it’s well worth the jump.

Hey guys

Did you know? With the free fring mobile application you can take all your friends, mobile.

If your favourite network is not yet supported, please drop us a line and we will work on adding it

Having just upgraded my handset to the shiny new Nokia 5800 Xpress Music aka Tube, I thought it good to do a post showing the applications I have personally found to be the most useful on my 5800.

There are currently not many applications that support this sexy handset but given some time I am sure many new apps will become available.

Please note that my list of top 10 must have apps for the 5800 includes both free and premium services.

1. fring - Lets you talk, chat and interact freely between: Skype, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, Twitter, Facebook, GoogleTalk, AIM, SIP, Gmail Notifier, LastFM, Orkut and Yandex
2. JoikuSpot - Turns your mobile handset into a secure WLAN (Wi-Fi) HotSpot.
3. Gmail - Google’s free email service - this is the best email service on earth.
4. Google Maps - Possibly the best free mobile mapping software available.
5. Opera Mini - The world’s most popular mobile Web browser
6. File Zip - Easily zip and unzip files on your 5800 - Get it from the download menu on your handset.
7. Accuweather - The best weather application on the 5800. It’s also in the download menu on handset.
8. Best Screensnap - A cool application for taking screenshots. In the download menu on handset.
9. Photoflow - This is a great application for viewing images. In the download menu on handset.
10. Paint Pad - For those of us who love to draw. Available from the download menu on handset.

This is my current Top 10 and when more applications become available the list will change