A Review of Qik
I recorded this using Qik on my BlackBerry Bold.
Qik allows people to upload and stream video from their smart phone. It’s another one of those “life-sharing” tools the Internet has become flooded with. Qik has a number of features that sets itself apart from the noise of all the other life-sharing tools.
Qik works with multiple phones, it’s not tied to one specific device. You could have any number of people posting to the same account. This would be great for missions trips or other church functions. Participants could install the software on their device and then upload their videos and impressions about the trip. You’d then have a montage of videos for people to view and get a feel for how it feels to go on a missions trip.
Qik works in 3 modes: disconnected, 3G connected or wireless connected. The disconnected mode allows you to record videos for upload later. The 3G connected mode works fairly well but there is a considerable lag. One of the things that I didn’t like about the Qik client in this mode is that I have to enter the APN settings for the network I’m using (AT&T). 
I thought it would just automatically use the 3G network to stream the file to the Qik server. Looking through the Qik Wiki it seems that is because I’m using a BlackBerry so if you have another device that’s a hurdle you won’t have to deal with. The wireless mode gives a user the best results, for obvious reasons. The lag isn’t so bad and it appears to provide a better quality image. Wireless isn’t always available but if it is, this is the preferred method of connecting. The only area I could see for improvement here is if there were an automatic connection manager allowing the software to switch between modes based upon the connection options (or lack thereof).
Qik also integrates with a number of other social networking and life-sharing sites. The list includes:
- Ovi
- Mogulus
- 12 Seconds
- YouTube
- Blogger
- Seesmic
- Tumblr
- Wordpress.com
This allows you to stream your video and upload it once and let Qik do the work of distributing it to various outlets.
Overall, I think Qik is a really nice tool. Churches and ministries could really benefit by using Qik to instantly post video about events or report from the field when on a missions trip or some other outreach program. It’s a great way to let people know what’s going on “right now” and give them a sense of being right there with you.
via iTunes
via RSS
via Zune
