'If you're going to live up to the potential to be a great communications platform, you have to do other things beyond IM,' he said.Īnother new feature in ICQ 5 is the ability to send an instant message simultaneously to multiple recipients. The new voice features and the enhanced video respond to AOL's belief that its instant messaging services ICQ and AIM have to be broad communications tools that don't just offer traditional IM features such as text messaging, said Chamath Palihapitiya, vice president and general manager of AIM and ICQ at Dulles, Virginia-based AOL. Another enhancement includes the ability to capture images from a video transmission. The software lets users launch a video session directly from a message window or from the contacts list the process previously required additional steps. ICQ 5 has enhanced video transmission features. The PC-to-PC voice chat provides a persistent voice connection, while the push-to-talk feature works similarly to a walkie-talkie, with users taking turns to speak.

The service's new version, ICQ 5, has a new PC-to-PC voice chat feature for users interested in having long conversations, and a push-to-talk feature for users who just want to exchange a few quick spoken comments. America Online's ICQ unit has upgraded its instant messaging service, adding two types of voice communication and improving video transmission.

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