Calling Card apps for Windows Phone 7

Easy, said, you can purchase a phone card online or in a store and use one of the the two effective call cards apps for windows Phone 7: CallingCards or Calling Card. (!)

The name is very similar, so let’s use colors: CallingCards is the orange icon, while Calling Card is the transparent one (blue with my metro theme).

Both app work in a similar way, with an interface to enter your card local number, pin and other commands to the automated card menu (press 1 to make a call, press 2 to recharge…).

If you use these apps you will likely be surprised by the fact that they emit all the digit tones at the beginning of the phone call. Even if you specify to pause for 3 seconds between the pin and the phone number, you will hear all the number dialed as soon as the phone card line picks up. Do not worry, this is “by design” – for whatever reason, on your side of the phone you get all the numbers immediately, but on the other side, they arrive with the timing that you specified. It makes it hard to troubleshoot if you don’t have a pinless card for example and can’t get the card to work, but if you have a card with a limited number of steps before dialing, the apps get the job done – and that’s what counts.

In any case, we would suggest to use a pinless card, if possible – way less steps and configuration.

To compare the apps, Calling Card (transparent) is generally more user friendly because it reminds the last few numbers you dialed. With CallingCards (orange), instead, you have to do a few extra taps to search the contact to dial and that is not fun if you call the same number all the times.

Both apps support multiple calling cards, if you need to have more than one; additionally a nice feature for both the apps, allows you to replace the international prefix code (+) with the prefix used in your country (011 in the U.S.) so you don’t have to retype the entire number.

Price wise, both apps cost 99 cents only, which is good, and Calling Card (transparent) has also a trial option, which is even better.

Verdict: 4 stars for both apps, with a preference for Calling Card (transparent)