Website:
www.tenhands.net
This is
a web browser based product requiring a plug in download.
Going
into this, I understood that they are in beta mode. Of course there will be
issues that need worked out along the way. TenHands has good audio and video
with (currently) horrible screen sharing. I do appreciate the fact that the
product currently is very minimal and I hope that aspect continues once past
beta.
Ease of
Use
I had to
request an invite to test the beta product. Once that was done starting a
meeting was easy. You have to go to their website and download the plug in.
After that, you can start a call and invite others via email. Once invited,
that person must create a password and download the plug in. I tested Firefox
on my desktop and Chrome on my laptop. There is no iPad app yet but that is in
development (hence having to use my laptop as a test subject). After the plug
in installs, you are in the meeting.
Quality
of Product
In a
demo meeting with Tho from TenHands, the quality was much better than my simple
test. Audio was good and video was crisp. We did not try screen sharing (and I
can figure out why).
I
attempted screen sharing in my self demo without success. The sharing requires
a third party product install from LogMeIn called join.me which required a separate
install. I couldn’t get it to work and after 10 minutes called it quits. Screen
sharing should be a simple click and integrated into the product. The current
method is unacceptable and it will need changed if they hope to gain traction
with the entire product.
The
other thing I didn’t like was invitees needing to register and log in. Other
products have a simple passcode or room number to enter and that’s it. It’s
just more email addresses floating out there.
Pricing
Pricing
is not available on the website, but it was by far the least expensive option.
Once out of beta and if they fix the screen sharing and if the price stays this
low it will be hard to beat. Oh and change the non-host attendant so they don’t
have to log in.
Note of
interest: I did provide a quote for them to use on their website about the
product and I stand by it. However, after attempting to figure out the screen
sharing, I cannot recommend this product at this time.