AI chatbots are quite common in the market today. AI chat apps that can generate and send images are also widespread, and even apps that can have real-time voice chats with you are not uncommon.
But what if there was an app that could create virtual AI characters and have real-time AI video chats with you?
Today, I discovered such an app on the App Store, and it’s called TalkFlow.
In this review, I’ll take you through my experience with the latest TalkFlow app, test its performance, and see if it’s worth purchasing.
Disclaimer: This review is entirely based on my personal experience. Everyone may have different experiences when using the app. This review is for reference only, and I have not received any compensation to promote this product.
How does TalkFlow Work?
TalkFlow currently supports multimodal AI, allowing you to use basic text messages, send images to characters, hear their voice responses, and even engage in real-time video chats with them.
The basic text chat uses OpenAI’s GPT model, which employs natural language processing (NLP) technology to understand your text input and converse with you.
The image module uses image recognition technology, while the character’s voice information is generated using text-to-speech technology.
For real-time AI video chat, TalkFlow employs AI Talking Head technology.
In simple terms, this involves training an AI model to recognize the user’s voice input, extract features from the character’s image, and generate corresponding mouth movements, facial expressions, and head movements based on the voice content and character features. These frames are then combined in sequence to create a video.
Pricing of TalkFlow
Before using TalkFlow, let’s take a look at its pricing.
TalkFlow does not offer any free services, both text messages and video calls require payment.
For $16 a month, you can purchase 1,000 coins. Each text message costs 1 coin, which means $16 gets you 1,000 text messages, making each message cost $0.016.
Video Chatting costs 10 coins per minute (60 seconds). With 1,000 coins, you get 6,000 seconds, which is 100 minutes or 1 hour and 40 minutes. This translates to $0.06 per minute, which is three times more expensive than a regular phone call.
Next, I will pay to test these features and see if they are worth the money.
Best Feature Reviews of TalkFlow
Real-time AI Video Chat (Score: 8.5/10)
The most attractive feature of this app is the AI video chat. By clicking on the video chat section, you can enter a mode similar to making a phone call. Once connected, you can chat directly with the character by simply looking at your phone screen.
The character not only responds to you with voice, but you can also see their lip movements and facial expressions in sync with the audio, just like having a real FaceTime with them.
Additionally, during the chat, the app will convert what you and the character say into text subtitles, making it easier to follow the conversation.
Characters (Score: 7.5/10)
Since TalkFlow is newly launched, it currently features only 10 characters.
These include an English teacher, a yoga instructor, a film critic, a food expert, a debate champion, a fitness coach, a wise elder, a clown, a librarian, and a fashion influencer.
You can chat with these characters to get advice in their respective fields. Additionally, you have the option to create your own characters.
Text Messages (Score: 7/10)
Actually, the personality and the quality of conversations with all characters depend on the excellence of text chat. This is because, whether it’s voice or video, it ultimately needs to be converted from text.
Let’s test some of the characters. I used the film critic. I asked him about his favorite director, and he said he likes Hitchcock the most, providing some comments on his thriller style.
To test its timeliness, I asked about last year’s Oscar-winning film, Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” He knew about it and could comment on the plot. The character’s memory is also quite good, as it can recall recent conversations.
However, during the chat, the character’s response pattern seemed a bit repetitive. Each time, he would reply to me and then ask me a question, which felt somewhat monotonous.
Voice messages (Score:8/10)
On the right side of the character’s message, there’s a voice icon. By clicking it, you can hear the character’s text message converted into speech.
The language is very natural and smooth, with no robotic feel at all.
Sending Images (Score: 7/10)
You can click the upload image button on the left side of the chat box to send a picture and communicate with the character. I tried sending a picture of Steve Jobs to the fashion influencer and asked her to comment on his outfit.
Interestingly, the influencer didn’t recognize Steve Jobs but did provide some feedback on his outfit.
So, it seems that the characters can identify information in the images but do not have facial recognition capabilities at the moment.
Character Creation-Image to Video (Score: 8/10)
One of the most impressive features of Talkflow is the ability to create real-time video characters by uploading static images.
Click the plus button at the bottom of the screen to enter the character creation interface.
Upload a facial photo. The uploaded photos will be used for your video and text chat background.
However, the uploaded photo cannot include celebrities or any images that involve copyright issues.
Once the photo is successfully uploaded, you can input the character’s personality in the options below.
Previously, you would click “Generate Appearance” to create the character.
After that, you can customize the character’s name, voice, relationship with you, first greeting, and profile description.
You may also clone your own voice by recording and uploading.
Then you can bring this character to life.
However, there are two obvious drawbacks: the created video character does not look exactly like the person in the photo, and sometimes there are noticeable lags or delays in the video conversation.
Pros and Cons of TalkFlow
Things I think are good about TalkFlow:
• It’s rare to find an app that supports AI video chat.
• You can create characters by uploading static images.
• Both the video and voice are very lively and natural.
Things I think need improvement about TalkFlow:
• The created video characters don’t quite resemble the characters in the images.
• There can be some lag and delay during video chats.
• It cannot recognize people in the images.
• The price is a bit high.
Conclusion: Score 7.6/10，worth a try.
For me, the pros and cons of this latest real-time AI video chat app are quite evident. Its strengths lie in the excellent AI talking avatar and image-to-video technology, which create lifelike video conversations.
However, its other average-performing features make the price seem a bit high. I personally recommend purchasing a one-month subscription to try out its video chat and image-to-video features first.
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