You pipe up when you have something you want to ask or say you’re silent the rest of the time. Less like a meeting, more like an intercom - with a global reach.

It’s not one six-minute conversation it’s sporadic bursts throughout the day. Voice messaging apps foster a different kind of connection. A second after you start talking - yes, even before you’re finished - your voice bursts to life, extremely clearly, on your friend’s phone, wherever it may be in the world. You open the app, tap someone’s name, hold down the big Talk button and speak.

They work on iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, Android phones and Windows phones. But if we call them voice-texting apps, or walkie-talkie apps, you’ll get the idea. Nobody’s settled on a good name for this communications category. They’re free apps with names like Voxer, HeyTell and Zello, and they really do mess with the rules of the game. A new one is quietly winning over millions of gadget fans. You might think that we’ve exhausted every variation on electronic communication - text, audio, video - but you’d be wrong. Text messages, on the other hand, leave much less soot. Smoke signals, for example, contribute to far fewer car accidents than text messages. From the dawn of civilization, man has experimented with different modes of communication, each with pros and cons. Cave drawings, smoke signals, letters, Pony Express, telegrams, phone calls, text messages.

Voxer vs zello