Truphone, the global SIM card service and VoIP app provider, has just “finished upgrading” its “entire network.” Though it’s not yet known what Truphone upgraded exactly, users can reportedly look forward to “a more stable network,” better quality for phone calls, and faster data speeds.

The company has also updated its customer service experience and rolled out a new look for its website as well (see below), and sent out emails to customers that briefly explain the changes:

Dear Customer

We’re delighted to inform you that we’ve finished upgrading our entire network, without disrupting your service. Now that our upgrade is complete, we want to notify you that we’ll be switching your account to our new system next month.

What does this mean to you? You’ll automatically get access to a more stable network with enhanced call quality and faster data. We’ll also be rolling out improvements to our customer service too!

How will this impact your Truphone account?

As we roll out these changes next month, there are two areas this upgrade will affect:

• My Account: Your ‘Order History’ will not be visible after the upgrade. If you require access to these records please call the Truphone Help Team on 707 or +1 (646) 360 1689.
• Additional Phone Numbers: If you have additional mobile numbers associated with your account and you would like to keep these you need to enable auto-renew within your Truphone account or you will lose the number permanently. To do this, simply log into ‘My Account’ via the Truphone website (www.truphone.com), select ‘Manage Upgrades’ and ensure ‘Auto Renew’ is set to on.

We’re looking forward to providing you with a network that’s faster, smarter and more reliable than ever before and will be in touch with the exact date of these changes soon.

If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to call our Help Team on 707 or
+1 (646) 360 1689 or email us at help@truphone.com.

Yours sincerely,

Rod Sheriff
Director of Customer Services

We’ve reached out to Truphone for more information regarding these changes and upgrades and will update this article accordingly.

The growth in popularity of messaging apps is staggering. This growth can be seen by looking at a number of these applications and their increasing number of users.

China-based Tencent’s WeChat app is no exception. The application has nearly 400 million users worldwide, and has told TechinAsia that it has exceeded 50 million users outside its home country, 10 million more than a month and a half ago. Out of its nearly 400 million users, 195 million of these users are active on WeChat each month.

Tencent says that this growth in popularity is fueled by iTunes, Android, and Windows Phone app stores in Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines, with the app being heavily marketed in the southeast Asia countries.

While this is indeed showing a huge jump in popularity, WeChat has a long road ahead of it if it hopes to overtake WhatsApp Messenger‘s 200 million active users worldwide. Even Japan-created LINE has 150 million registered users.

Image: The Next Web

Getting rid of annoying bugs isn’t just for those pest control services. It’s also in the job description for app developers. Fortunately, killing bugs that plague applications tends to be a bit less messy.

Vonage‘s latest update for it’s Vonage Mobile calling application, carrying the version moniker of 2.1.1, laid to rest quite a few of these annoying bugs and also performed a few maintenance fixes on the side, both unspecified in the update changelog.

Users who are expecting major changes shouldn’t be expecting them here, but seeing as how Vonage Mobile’s last major change added video calls to iPhone, iPad and Android back on April 19th, we weren’t expecting anything major to be added this close (although it has happened with other apps before).

Vonage has also been pushing its mobile service hard as of late as it looks to make a big splash in the mobile VoIP pool, so we could see some new features and the like hitting the app sometime in the future, in addition to additional platforms.

If you haven’t already, you can download the newest version of Vonage Mobile in Google Play.

Messaging apps are growing in popularity, no doubt about that. MessageMe, an app based in the United States, is no exception. The app has passed 5 million registered users after just 75 days after hitting 1 million in only the first week.

The app, whose market is primarily the U.S., allows users to chat one-on-one or in groups and, share text messages, images, drawings, videos, voice recordings, music, as well as their location.

The company also recently confirmed that it has closed a $10 million round of seed funding from Greylock Partners and additional backers to go along with the $1.9 million USD that it had closed in late 2012.

The company’s CEO and one of four co-founders told TNW that it plans to focus on growing the user base, but will eventually be adding additional features, including stickers.

“We’ve got some ground breaking additions in the pipeline, aiming to change the way we look at communication happening in our world. We’re excited to help lead a team that pushes the envelope on what’s possible, while focusing on a first-class product,” said the founders in a blog post.

As of today, MessageMe sees 8 images uploaded per second on average, up from two images per second when it launched. In addition, the number of notifications sent per second on average has tripled from 500 to 1,500 over that same period.

While passing 5 million users this quickly is quite the feat, MessageMe is a long way behind WhatsApp‘s 200 million, WeChat‘s 195 million, Viber‘s 200 million, LINE‘s 150 million, and others. Still, with this kind of growth and MessageMe’s potential, we could see it become the next big thing in a very short time.

This isn’t exactly surprising under the circumstances but LINE is looking to censor some “politically sensitive” words in China. And we say it’s not surprising because, well, we’ve been through this kind of thing before. Both TOM-Skype (Skype‘s Chinese spinoff) and WeChat are said to do — or in WeChat’s case possibly going to do — something similar.

This new censorship line of code was found by Twitter user @hirakujira and first reported by The Next Web. Basically, LINE’s code looks for any “red-flag” words and connects back to a server to cross-check those terms with a list of politically sensitive words — things such as certain Tian’anmen Square references. Once activated, should a user attempt to send one of these words through the app, they’ll get an error message that says “Your message contains sensitive words, please adjust and send again” as you can see from the photo above.

The word filter is currently not activated, but could be at any moment, as is the case with the code in WeChat. The findings seem to suggest, though, that Line app is monitoring all of its users around the globe despite the filter not being turned on. That’s likely the case with WeChat as well.

Microsoft unveiled its next-generation Xbox One video game console in Redmond, Washington, complete with Skype capabilities. The company is positioning the new Xbox as an all-in-one entertainment system for the living room. Microsoft only briefly addressed games, instead focusing on the stuff that is under the hood, turning the Xbox One into something that makes your TV more “intelligent” according to Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s corporate VP of marketing, strategy and business for the interactive entertainment arm of the company.

“Instant switching” is a feature of particular interest; it allows users to shift between applications by literally talking to the TV. For example, the Xbox will switch to live TV when saying “watch TV,” and users can Skype with one another by saying something like “Skype.” This could prove to be a lot better than having to manually point and click the icon on the screen.

“Snapmode” allows users to run multiple programs alongside each other and easily interact without having to shut one down to start up another. Again, for Skype users on the system, this could be a valuable asset. There’s a whole smorgasbord of additional features in tow.

The UI is classic Windows 8-style live tiles, along with a Windows side for apps. Unfortunately, the new storefront on Xbox One won’t be compatible with Windows 8/RT apps as they are right now (sorry Windows 8/RT LINE app users) but Microsoft’s engineers have told Engadget that the underlying similarity between Windows 8/RT and Windows for the Xbox should make porting pretty easy.

In terms of specs, the console has an 8-core CPU, USB 3.0, WiFi direct, Blu-ray, 500GB HDD, HDMI input and output, and 802.11n wireless. So it’s a pretty powerful device. As VoIP and messaging app users and lovers, I’m sure we’re all for better and more devices on which to use these applications.

It’s no secret that Truphone has always had a soft spot for the international business traveler. This very blog was started with the idea that the company’s global plans would eventually expand to hit the consumer, and we’ve since expanded greatly to encompass this massive market. Truphone, though remains laser focused on its business market, as demonstrated by today’s unveiling of the world’s first-ever shared plans for business.

So what does this mean? Simply put, it means companies can now buy minutes, messages and web and pool across multiple devices and multiple nations.

For example, a $500 plan includes 5000 voice minutes, 5000 text messages and 1 GB of 3G data, all of which can be used anywhere in the U.S., U.K. Netherlands, Australia and Hong Kong. As we’ve also pointed out many times here on TruTower, additional Truphone companies will be launching; Germany, Poland and Spain will join that list later this year.

“When business people are on the road, they need to stay connected. And it shouldn’t matter whether you’re in Los Angeles or London – you just need to make the call, send the file – get things done, and done quickly. These road warriors are powering the US economy, and it’s up to network providers to help them make it happen,” said Pascal de Hesselle, vice president, marketing at Truphone.”Truphone’s international shared plans keep business people productive, affordably connecting them with their colleagues and customers around the world. We’re proud of this industry first.”

Similar to other global service providers, Truphone provides its customers with local numbers for select countries on a single SIM card, allowing contacts to get in touch with the Truphone user at local rates. If the Truphone user is in one of the aforementioned countries (the “Truphone Zone”), then the calls are also billed at local rates.

One small step for businesses, one giant leap for a unified global network.

Okay, so the Galaxy S 4 may be the new Samsung kid on the block, but there are still a whole lot of Galaxy S III devices out there still. In fact, there are still more and more out there every day. Whether it’s the lack of “wow” from the recent launch of the Galaxy S 4 or it’s the “comfortable yet familiar” feeling that the Galaxy S III can provide, customers still love their old devices and want to hold on to them even longer.

Luckily, it looks like that’s going to be easier now — Galaxy S III aficionados should also be able to avoid feeling even a little envious of their Galaxy S 4 brethren — thanks to a leaked firmware upgrade for the older device, first uncovered by SamMobile. The leaked build of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean for the Galaxy S III makes it even harder to distinguish the two devices.

The new firmware brings an updated version of S Voice, more lock screen options and unlock effects, new display modes, a redesigned settings interface, voice control, and other tweaks. The publication has also posted a video (embedded below) to give users a detailed look at what’s under the hood. And, hey, if you’re impatient, you can download the firmware right now instead of waiting until the Galaxy S 15 comes out. Just make sure you know how to flash a ROM.

We absolutely love tweaks around here. No really, we do. We’re not talking about the various ROMs you can flash for Android such as Cyanogenmod (although those are awesome too). We’re talking about developer tweaks, the things the developers do to make their apps work and look just a little bit better.

Rebtel released a new update that does its own fair share of tweaking, particularly with the graphics. You might not notice much of a difference — the changes were very minor — but it it means making the calling and messaging experience that much better, we’re all for it.

The update also brings a number of unspecified stability improvements and the developers were also kind enough to do their usual spraying for bugs, though these, too were unspecified. If you haven’t already downloaded this new and minor “tweaking” of one of the world’s most popular VoIP apps, you’ll want to browse to the Google Play store and get it.

Unlike any other messaging app, Voxer comes in two flavors to draw a line between the consumer and the professional experiences. The consumer version is, of course, Voxer. It’s true professionals could use it — or any of the aforementioned other apps — but Voxer Pro is where the best experience lies for professionals seeking a push-to-talk/messaging solution to use in the work place.

To reiterate this and point out many of the advantages in using Voxer Pro, the company has posted a few advantages to using the professional version of the app on its official blog. These advantages include:

1. Control Your Network – Voxer Pro comes with full administrative control, allowing you to manage user accounts in your private network and manage how information is exchanged among users.
2. Manage Teams – You can dynamically pre-set teams so users in your network can start chats quickly and keep conversations targeted to the right people.
3. Get Extreme Notifications – Get loud and more repetitive alerts when you need them. Whether you are in a loud space or just wanting for that important message, this feature allows you to customize your notification settings for various situations.
4. Mapping Capabilities – Business these days is less and less an activity that happens in the office. See everyone’s Voxes on a real-time map and manage your team anywhere in the world with geolocation capabilities.
5. Discount Pricing & No Contracts – Until July 1st, Voxer Pro is available for the discounted rate of $4.95 per month, per user.

There’s no doubt Voxer Pro could be quite the asset in a business, even with different groups of teams. Have you looked at Voxer Pro yet?