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A mock-up of what the Sidecar interface looks like There are a lot of apps out there that allow you to do just aboutanything with today s smartphone, but most of them avoid trying tobetter the good old voice call. That s not to say anyone has not tried: Apple made waves with its FaceTime video chat , but that only works on iOS and only on W-iFi. Skype and otherapps attempted to liven up the voice experience , but they focus on the data side of things first, and theinterfaces are often clunky. Sidecar s focus is strange considering our phone s primaryfunction is to make calls. The Sidecar app duplicates that feature,which could seem repetitious, However, while in a call, users canshare video, photos, location, and contact information instantlyvia the app. That s Sidecar s hook. Take, for example, the process of sharing a picture through Skype. It s twelve clicks, Sidecar CEO Rob Williams says. Sharing acontact with someone during a call requires at least five steps oniOS and Android. In Sidecar that is shortened to two. Similarly, sharing your location is equally difficult: On bothmajor operating systems, it can require the user to take up to sixor more steps: Again, only two steps are needed with the Sidecarapp. His new free app called Sidecar wants to change thatexperience. Here's a video showing how Sidecar works: Williams and his San Francisco-based team see an opportunity invoice that few others have touched. The calling experiencehasn t changed much, he tells PCWorld. We re attempting toreimagine the voice call here. How It Works The Sidecar app interface The Sidecar app interface looks like an old-style rotary phone.Williams said developers wanted an interface that was thumbable, meaning users could access the app major featureswhile still holding the phone in one hand. We thought really big at first, but were surprised to find userswanted to do some pretty basic things, Williams says. Thefunctions that Sidecar provides are things most smartphones canalready do, but many users might not realize they can because ofthe learning curve involved. Another plus for Sidecar is the fact that all features work on both3G/4G and Wi-Fi, and regardless of carrier. This makes the appespecially useful to those on CDMA networks like Verizon or Sprint,where customers cannot use voice and data at the same time. Thoseusers could see the biggest benefits from an app like Sidecar,although it requires the caller and the recipient of the call toboth have the app. To lure users in, Sidecar will offer users free calling within theUnited States and Canada when using a Wi-Fi connection. If the userreceiving a call does not have Sidecar, the company will send atext message with instructions on how to download the app after thecall is finished. Williams says he is aware some may see this as equivalent to spam,but he figures most will likely be interested in downloading theapp to begin with. Chances are the caller is going to mention theapp during the call anyway, he says. For more tech news and commentary, follow Ed on Twitter at @edoswald , on Facebook , or on Google+ . The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Beauty Spa Machine , Wrinkle Removal Machine, and more. For more , please visit IPL Beauty Machine today!
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