Viber for Windows 8

With Viber for Windows, you can now turn your computer into a cell phone that lets you make calls, send text messages and do even more.

Nearly every person living in the United States today has and uses a cell phone. Whether you spend much of your day communicating with your boss and coworkers, or you use your phone to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, you probably spend a lot of time chatting or sending texts. Many people spend more time texting and less time actually talking on their phones. Viber is a fun little app that lets you send funny messages with those you love, and it's now available in a form that you can use on your computer.

Viber is available for a number of different phones, including Windows, Blackberry, Apple and Android devices. After saving a copy on your phone, download the app for your computer. You'll need to have a registered version of Windows running on your computer, and you'll need to add your phone number to the app. It will then access your phone and create a list of all your contacts that you can use from your computer.

This app lets you do all the things you would do with the mobile version from your home or work computer. After accessing your contact list, you can send stickers or funny messages, call your contacts and even start a chat. Though Viber considers Skype one of its main competitors, this app won't let you make video calls in the same way that Skype does.

One of the best features of this app is that it retains a copy of everything you do on your phone app for use on your computer later. This means that you can chat with a friend while taking the bus home, plug in your phone and then pick the conversation up again on your computer. This is great for those who have weak batteries on their phones. You'll never again miss out on girl talk or a guy chat just because your phone died.

Viber will only work with contacts saved in your phone, and adding new contacts via the computer app is difficult. Though it's a fun app that lets you do a lot, it's quite similar to other apps. You may find that you prefer sticking with Skype or using Facebook Messenger to stay in touch instead of downloading yet another app to your phone.

Pros:

• Lets you make phone calls via your computer
• Helps you stay connected with contacts on your phone
• Allows you to send messages when your phone is dead
• Automatically syncs your phone's contact list with the computer version of the app

Cons:

• Doesn't offer video messaging like Skype does
• Is very similar to other chat apps
• Only lets you send messages to those on your phone's contact list
• Adding new contacts to your computer is hard