New Bria softphone: addy book centered, not dialpad centered

VoIP softphone developer CounterPath Solutions has just rolled out what strikes me as a usability-enhancing new rev of its Bria interface.

Bria 2.0's cool new features include:

An address book-centered GUI instead of a dialpad GUI;

Deskbar minimization, freeing up space;

A multiple panel layout in which service providers can easily add interactive video messaging, click-to-call functionality and banner ads;

A "skinning engine" that lets service providers create customized, brand-supporting applications.

Or to put it another way, lets service providers who contract with CounterPath to pimp their softphones.

Bria 2.0 is available for Windows XP and Windows 2000; versions for Windows Vista and Mac OS 10.4 and higher are scheduled for release at a future date.