For many people, Ventrilo is vital for communication with their friends in online video games. Whether they are running a raid in World of Warcraft, tackling new content in Final Fantasy XI, or doing skirmishes in Starcraft 2, it's easy to realize that voice communication can and will make these activities easier. I know it might sound silly, but in order to play with friends, many people do these activities at set times during the week. Think of it like going to grab a coffee with your friend, except enjoying your hobby and conversation at the same time.
Introducing... Ventriloid. Okay, so it's really not a NEW-NEW app, but I somehow overlooked it several times when seeking a Ventrilo client for my Android phone. If you are running late to one of those aforementioned events (or even something else), it's easiest to communicate that by hopping into the Ventrilo server your group uses and letting them know.
Ventriloid offers almost all the functionality of an actual Ventrilo client on your PC. For instance, you can keep a list of multiple servers, multiple user names, and even use passwords for signing in. This particular Ventrilo app is most visually similar to the default settings of the official Ventrilo PC application. There is another Ventrilo application out there called Mangler, but it has a much darker color scheme and feels less like Ventrilo, at least to me.
Once signed in, the user can move between channels easily. If the user has Server Administrator access, or even Channel Administrator, these flags will show as they do on the regular client (denoted by an "A" next to the name of the server/channel). And as for the trademark speaker lights next to all logged-in users, these are also functional. Green represents speaking to the channel, yellow is for a private bind, and red is the resting state-- when that user is not talking/holding their talk key.
Overall, this app is very easy to use. After logging in, the user can still access other functions of the phone by pressing the Home key. Ventriloid will remain running in the notification shade at the top of the screen. The user will need to regain access to the app from the shade area to use the push-to-talk function button. This is at the bottom of the screen and requires being held down (read: leave your finger on the screen over it) in order to transmit. How's it sound, you're wondering? Well, it's not perfect, volume levels can be a little shaky, along with your connection since you're using 3G to transmit. However, the app is definitely worth a look if you spend any considerable amount of time on Ventrilo during your week.
