Anytime Amazon enters a new software or hardware category, the industry takes notice. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and company have done an amazing job developing technologies that completely overtake, or threaten to overtake, existing category leaders. Just ask eBay, or talk to Sony about how the Reader is doing, or ask Netflix how many Oscars it's won. Will Amazon's entrance into video conferencing software propel it to the head of another category? Or will Amazon Chime (which is free for up to two users) go the way of the disastrous Amazon Fire ($49.99 at Amazon) smartphone?
To be considered elite, video conferencing services have to offer complex unified communications functionality that connects users across a wide variety of tools and mediums. Screen sharing, private chat, hand raising, video playback, whiteboarding, and integration with third-party applications are just a few of the features users look for when choosing a video conferencing service. Editors' Choice service ClickMeeting ($40.00 Per Month Per Host at ClickMeeting) delivers on almost all of these fronts, while also providing software that even a tech novice could master. Amazon Chime aspires to function on ClickMeeting's level but falls just short in a few crucial areas.
Pricing and Plans
Amazon Chime comes in three different varieties. The Free version is useful for 1-to-1 video and voice calls as well as text-based chat. Your message log is saved for up to 30 days, and the tool ties directly to Microsoft Outlook ($106.08 at Amazon) . This lets you send meeting invites directly to someone's inbox, and accept invitations that save to your calendar and alert you when it's time for the meeting to begin. That's basically it for the Free plan. It's a barebones app that's built specifically to connect consumers to one person.
The Plus plan (which begins at $2.50 per user per month) lets you do everything that's available in the Free plan plus users are able to share screens and take control of one another's desktops. Although the Plus plan also allows for only two people per meeting, it provides for better IT oversight by delivering usage reports, management data, and active directory integration. The Plus plan provides up to 1 GB of storage capacity per user for saved chats session logs. This is a tool best-served for small businesses that don't necessarily want a video conferencing service but need one to satisfy a few select clients.
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The Pro plan (which begins at $15 per user per month) is what we reviewed. It's what you'll need if you plan to use Amazon Chime as your company's primary video conferencing service. In addition to the previously-listed features, the Pro plan lets you schedule meetings in advance, record meetings, access meetings via standard phone line, and most importantly, include up to 100 users per session. Vendors that also offer up to 100 participants per meeting include Citrix GoToMeeting ($12 Per Organizer Per Month at GoToMeeting) , which is $49 per month per host for 100 attendees, and Cisco WebEx Meeting Center (Visit Site at WebEx by Cisco) , which is $69 per month per host for 100 attendees.
If you're looking for a service that can handle more than 100 users, then you'll need ones such as Citrix GoToWebinar, which can handle up to 5,000 participants for a custom price, or ClickMeeting, which maxes out at 1,000 attendees for $280 per month. And then there's Microsoft Skype for Business , which lets you broadcast your meetings to up to 10,000 passive viewers.
Instant and Scheduled Meetings
Amazon Chime is a desktop- and web-based app, which means you can start or join meetings from a local file or via a URL. It's unclear why Amazon decided to invest so heavily in the local file elements of the meeting experience when industry titans such as ClickMeeting are entirely web-based. This is a barrier to entry for newcomers who don't plan to use the software more than a handful of times.
You can start a meeting one of two ways: 1) You can schedule a meeting in advance or 2) You can start a meeting immediately. Scheduled meetings let you insert calendar holds for users who accept invitations via Microsoft Outlook and Gmail. Users who have already downloaded and registered their Amazon Chime account can attend by simply clicking on the meeting invite, whereas new users will have to go through the rigmarole of downloading the app, registering it to their Amazon account, and finding their way back to the video call. This is especially cumbersome for users who would like to start an Instant Meeting (IM).
Unlike other systems (Google Hangouts to name just one) that let you send direct-to-video invites solely based on a participant's email address, Amazon Chime requires one-time users to register and download the app, which is annoying for both parties. So, to start a one-on-one call with a first-time user, here's the process.
First, you need to add your contact to your contacts list, and then your contact needs to accept the invite to download the app. He or she needs to then download the app, log into the app, and then wait for an IM invitation. To send that invitation, first you need to wait for the contact to accept the request to be added as a contact. Then you need to go back to the IM activator, find your contact, and then send the invite. Why not just let the user add a new contact within the flow of the IM? This is a tremendous barrier to entry that will prohibit users from making one-off or spontaneous calls to non-registered users via the IM option.
What's interesting is that the "Schedule a Meeting" option, which I feared would be even more cumbersome than the IM option, actually turned out to be a more streamlined process. I created a calendar invite in Google, added the email addresses for my invitees, and fired off the invitation. My invitees received an email which asked if they'd like to join the meeting via a browser or the desktop app. If they chose browser, then they were immediately entered into the meeting with no hassle at all.
Features and Limitations
Once a meeting starts, you're greeted by a gorgeous user interface (UI). Speaker windows are large and customizable by size. Tabs for video, audio, screen sharing, muting, and ending the call are clearly marked and easily clickable. You're able to see along the right-hand rail who has attended the call, whether they're muted or unmuted, and you can start a chat directly beneath the attendee list. From the right-hand rail, you can choose to record the meeting, mute speakers, lock the meeting so that no additional users can enter, and instantly invite pre-entered contacts to the meeting. If your main concern when using a video tool is the meeting console's look and feel, ease of use, and navigation, then Amazon Chime is second-to-none.
Regardless of the pricing tier, Amazon Chime is available via Android, iOS, Mac, or Windows devices. This is especially useful for users like me who own Windows-based computers but use iOS phones and tablets. With Chime, regardless of your operating system (OS), you can easily hand off your call from one device to another without having to miss any call activity. All of your chats, files, and meeting logs are synched from device to device in real-time so you're never left in a lurch after a transfer. For users who are consistently rushing to video calls, they can notify users in the meeting that they're running late by clicking on the running late icon. Business users will absolutely love these aspects of the system.
Amazon Chime lets users create a personalized meeting URL that can be used for all of your meetings. Send it to anyone in your contact list with whom you'd like to communicate and they can join your meeting in one or two clicks. However, as I previously mentioned, new users will have to go through the registration process before they can join the room, so it's not as easy as one would like the process to be.
The Chat Rooms feature is a neat option for users who are more inclined to use Chime as a Slack (Visit Site at Slack) substitute. Amazon Chime features dial-in numbers for more than 70 countries and per-minute rates that are inline with industry standards.
Unfortunately, Chime doesn't have an open application programming interface (API) so you won't be able to plug your tool into any third-party systems without working directly with Amazon to make the connection. Chime doesn't offer multi-language support or operator-assisted meetings so you're not getting the high-level white glove service of a webinar system. Unlike ClickMeeting, RingCentral Office (for Business) (Visit Site for Pricing at RingCentral) , and most other tools we've reviewed, Chime doesn't offer whiteboarding tools; this means any collaborative brainstorming will have to be done on a third-party's cloud-based document tool. Chime doesn't integrate with Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter so you can't send direct invitations or conduct meetings from within the confines of your social network.
The Bottom Line
Unfortunately, Amazon Chime isn't going to dominate the video conferencing market. It's an app in progress that has ample potential, the backing of a technology behemoth, and a wonderful UI your colleagues will love to use. But it's still missing too many features to be mentioned with the best-in-class tools, and its desktop-browser workflow needs to be ironed out, especially for first-time users.
I won't completely write Amazon Chime off but I'm not ready to recommend it, either. PCMag updates its reviews several times a year, so it'll be interesting to see how Amazon updates and improves Chime over time. Hopefully the updated version will be more Kindle than Fire.
Amazon Chime is an app in progress. It has the potential to someday compete with the top-ranking video conferencing services in the class. However, it's not ready for the major leagues just yet.
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