iPhone Instant Messaging Clients Test
Introduction:
Instant Messaging (IM) has always been one of the most popular applications on the internet. Initially made popular on the computer, this form of real time communication has found an obvious wide audience in the mobile world. Here we will discuss the chat clients that can be found in Apple’s AppStore.
AIM
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was born 11 years ago and is mainly popular in the States (over 100 million users). The iPhone version is substantially different from the one you’ve probably seen on a computer, but it does the job and lets you chat with other AIM users.
You can view your buddy list and rearrange the entries in groups or separate them as favorites. Unfortunately, you cannot manage a friend request. The parts of your profile which can be edited are the picture, the text which appears under your name and the status (available, not available, invisible). We liked the way the messages arrange during a conversation; in contrast to the PC version, here if write a few lines, they will be under one name. There’s no option to send sounds or images, which is quite annoying, because this feature is available on other phones. Overall, we recommend trying some of the other multifunctional clients mentioned below in the article, due to the limited capabilities of the official AIM app.
oneConnect!
If you are looking for a program that connects to not only Yahoo! Messenger but also various other social networks, you’ll love oneConnect!. It will allow you to keep an eye on your Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Twitter, Bebo, Dopplr, MySpace and YouTube accounts. Information from all accounts are found on the same home screen, and in order to edit your profile, you have to logon to the site of the account. This means closing the chat client though, which is very annoying.
As an IM client, oneConnect! performs satisfactory. The chat window looks good and lets you add emoticons (a big variety),pictures and links. The last ones are opened with Safari, closing the IM application at the same time, which is quite inconvenient but required since the iPhone does not allow anything but music to run in the background. A wonderful extra is the detailed log of the conversations. The contacts are divided by the first letter, and there’s a search feature as well. Despite handling other social networking accounts, oneConnect! can only be used for chat via Yahoo! Messenger.
IM+
If you are using many chat clients IM+ is a likely client for you. It supports AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ and MySpace. Here however, the quality has suffered, because of the multiple messengers, making IM+ one of the worst IM clients for iPhone. There’s no search for the contacts and we were frustrated by having to rummage through all of them. The chat window is very clear but doesn’t offer any extras like avatars or the ability to send pictures.
You could still live with all that if you need that many different clients, but the application itself is not stable with frequent blockings and self-terminations. Despite the myriad of client support, these annoying drawbacks lead us to not recommend IM+.
Palringo
This is another multifunctional IM client supporting MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk, iChat, as its own service Palringo, for which registration is mandatory. It’s done very quickly and afterwards you will be able to chat with the funny bot Samantha.
The application is very user-friendly with one tab for the account and change of the nick/status and others for the contacts and groups. The chat window offers emoticons, voice messages and pictures, which in case that your collocutor is using the same client appear directly on the screen (otherwise as a link). Palringo lets you open web pages without having to close it first, which is an excellent extra. Taking advantage of the iPhones powerful and fluid graphics, if you are engaged in multiple conversations you can jump between them by swiping your finger across the screen. We like Parlingo very much and we consider it one of the best and most convenient client, which is available at the App Store-a.
Instant Messaging (IM) has always been one of the most popular applications on the internet. Initially made popular on the computer, this form of real time communication has found an obvious wide audience in the mobile world. Here we will discuss the chat clients that can be found in Apple’s AppStore.
AIM
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was born 11 years ago and is mainly popular in the States (over 100 million users). The iPhone version is substantially different from the one you’ve probably seen on a computer, but it does the job and lets you chat with other AIM users.
You can view your buddy list and rearrange the entries in groups or separate them as favorites. Unfortunately, you cannot manage a friend request. The parts of your profile which can be edited are the picture, the text which appears under your name and the status (available, not available, invisible). We liked the way the messages arrange during a conversation; in contrast to the PC version, here if write a few lines, they will be under one name. There’s no option to send sounds or images, which is quite annoying, because this feature is available on other phones. Overall, we recommend trying some of the other multifunctional clients mentioned below in the article, due to the limited capabilities of the official AIM app.
oneConnect!
If you are looking for a program that connects to not only Yahoo! Messenger but also various other social networks, you’ll love oneConnect!. It will allow you to keep an eye on your Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Twitter, Bebo, Dopplr, MySpace and YouTube accounts. Information from all accounts are found on the same home screen, and in order to edit your profile, you have to logon to the site of the account. This means closing the chat client though, which is very annoying.
As an IM client, oneConnect! performs satisfactory. The chat window looks good and lets you add emoticons (a big variety),pictures and links. The last ones are opened with Safari, closing the IM application at the same time, which is quite inconvenient but required since the iPhone does not allow anything but music to run in the background. A wonderful extra is the detailed log of the conversations. The contacts are divided by the first letter, and there’s a search feature as well. Despite handling other social networking accounts, oneConnect! can only be used for chat via Yahoo! Messenger.
IM+
If you are using many chat clients IM+ is a likely client for you. It supports AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ and MySpace. Here however, the quality has suffered, because of the multiple messengers, making IM+ one of the worst IM clients for iPhone. There’s no search for the contacts and we were frustrated by having to rummage through all of them. The chat window is very clear but doesn’t offer any extras like avatars or the ability to send pictures.
You could still live with all that if you need that many different clients, but the application itself is not stable with frequent blockings and self-terminations. Despite the myriad of client support, these annoying drawbacks lead us to not recommend IM+.
Palringo
This is another multifunctional IM client supporting MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk, iChat, as its own service Palringo, for which registration is mandatory. It’s done very quickly and afterwards you will be able to chat with the funny bot Samantha.
The application is very user-friendly with one tab for the account and change of the nick/status and others for the contacts and groups. The chat window offers emoticons, voice messages and pictures, which in case that your collocutor is using the same client appear directly on the screen (otherwise as a link). Palringo lets you open web pages without having to close it first, which is an excellent extra. Taking advantage of the iPhones powerful and fluid graphics, if you are engaged in multiple conversations you can jump between them by swiping your finger across the screen. We like Parlingo very much and we consider it one of the best and most convenient client, which is available at the App Store-a.
fring
This is one of the most popular chat applications with versions for Windows Mobile, Symbian (S60 and UIQ), and now for the iPhone as well. It is one of the two clients offered in the AppStore with Skype support. It can also be used for MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger and AIM or for calls with any VoIP service. As we’ve mentioned in our news article, once the application was released for the Apple phone making calls via fring became a useful feature, despite the imperfect sound quality.
fring offers quite decent IM options. All your contacts (including the phonebook) are gathered in the same tab, and the various icons indicate their status. The chats are in a separate location, but there’s a small problem with them. In a case where you are in a chat room with several of your contacts- as Skype allows- their messages will appear in separate places which is quite confusing. On top of that, if you’d like to change your account, you’ll have to reinstall the application. Nevertheless, we think that this is a very good client and there’s only one another alternative option at the moment, which is…
Nimbuzz
Nimbuzz also supports Skype, but is it better than fring? We think that in some aspects it is superior. Nimbuzz supports numerous clients besides Skype; such as MSN, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, Gadu-Gadu and Jabber. In addition, you can use social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Hyves, schueleerVZ. It is rather confusing to have many contacts across the different services mixed together as in fring. Luckily Nimbuzz gives you the option to sort them alphabetically or by client to avoid a massive friend list. Throw in the search feature and we can easily manage the contacts. The other nice extra is the option to use the application in a landscape mode, which facilitates the text input (the keyboard buttons are larger). We had a successful Skype conversation but the collocutor asked us not to speak so loudly when we were talking normally from a considerable distance on top of that. At our end of the line, we had no such “problems” with the sound level.
At this point you’re probably convinced that the program is definitely worth it. For the most part yes, but the problem with Nimbuzz is that it needs a bit more polishing. Facebook, for example, didn’t load, and others (ICQ, Skype), exited without a visible cause. So we recommend that you test it yourself! Luckily, the application is 100% free.
BeeJive IM
This is the only paid IM client in the AppStore and in order to take advantage of its services you’ll have to chip in $15.99. It supports AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! Messenger. The menus are organized similarly to IM+, and you can modify the order in which the contacts appear, sorting them by type of account or in groups. In addition, there’s a small icon under each name, showing the client in use.
From the chat window, you can switch to different conversations by selecting the nickname. Unfortunately, you are not able to open links or add emoticons. The only feature to justify the purchase of the application us the new message notification even if you’re not using the program. To get those, you have to activate Push Email Alert (from Settings > BeeJive menu) and to enter the e-mail where the notifications should be sent. Overall, BeeJive IM is very user-friendly and convenient for chatting, but it’s not worth paying the $16 when you have such free alternatives as Palringo and fring.
Conclusion:
A general problem for all iPhone applications is that they cannot run in the background while you’re doing something else with the phone. This is very unpleasant especially with the IM clients, because as long as you are having a conversation they’ll have to be on the screen. The only client that offers an alternative notification method is BeeJive, but it is not freeware. However, all the rest do not require a purchase and you can choose the one that fits your lifestyle best.
Apple announced push notification for all applications when they announced the iPhone 3G, meaning that even if a program wasn’t running it could be pinged and woken up when an alert comes in, allowing for virtual running in the background. This, of course, has yet to be implemented and arguably no apps stand to gain more from this than IM clients. We eagerly await this service going live, and will probably have much stronger offerings at that time.
This is one of the most popular chat applications with versions for Windows Mobile, Symbian (S60 and UIQ), and now for the iPhone as well. It is one of the two clients offered in the AppStore with Skype support. It can also be used for MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger and AIM or for calls with any VoIP service. As we’ve mentioned in our news article, once the application was released for the Apple phone making calls via fring became a useful feature, despite the imperfect sound quality.
fring offers quite decent IM options. All your contacts (including the phonebook) are gathered in the same tab, and the various icons indicate their status. The chats are in a separate location, but there’s a small problem with them. In a case where you are in a chat room with several of your contacts- as Skype allows- their messages will appear in separate places which is quite confusing. On top of that, if you’d like to change your account, you’ll have to reinstall the application. Nevertheless, we think that this is a very good client and there’s only one another alternative option at the moment, which is…
Nimbuzz
Nimbuzz also supports Skype, but is it better than fring? We think that in some aspects it is superior. Nimbuzz supports numerous clients besides Skype; such as MSN, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, Gadu-Gadu and Jabber. In addition, you can use social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Hyves, schueleerVZ. It is rather confusing to have many contacts across the different services mixed together as in fring. Luckily Nimbuzz gives you the option to sort them alphabetically or by client to avoid a massive friend list. Throw in the search feature and we can easily manage the contacts. The other nice extra is the option to use the application in a landscape mode, which facilitates the text input (the keyboard buttons are larger). We had a successful Skype conversation but the collocutor asked us not to speak so loudly when we were talking normally from a considerable distance on top of that. At our end of the line, we had no such “problems” with the sound level.
At this point you’re probably convinced that the program is definitely worth it. For the most part yes, but the problem with Nimbuzz is that it needs a bit more polishing. Facebook, for example, didn’t load, and others (ICQ, Skype), exited without a visible cause. So we recommend that you test it yourself! Luckily, the application is 100% free.
BeeJive IM
This is the only paid IM client in the AppStore and in order to take advantage of its services you’ll have to chip in $15.99. It supports AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! Messenger. The menus are organized similarly to IM+, and you can modify the order in which the contacts appear, sorting them by type of account or in groups. In addition, there’s a small icon under each name, showing the client in use.
From the chat window, you can switch to different conversations by selecting the nickname. Unfortunately, you are not able to open links or add emoticons. The only feature to justify the purchase of the application us the new message notification even if you’re not using the program. To get those, you have to activate Push Email Alert (from Settings > BeeJive menu) and to enter the e-mail where the notifications should be sent. Overall, BeeJive IM is very user-friendly and convenient for chatting, but it’s not worth paying the $16 when you have such free alternatives as Palringo and fring.
Conclusion:
A general problem for all iPhone applications is that they cannot run in the background while you’re doing something else with the phone. This is very unpleasant especially with the IM clients, because as long as you are having a conversation they’ll have to be on the screen. The only client that offers an alternative notification method is BeeJive, but it is not freeware. However, all the rest do not require a purchase and you can choose the one that fits your lifestyle best.
Apple announced push notification for all applications when they announced the iPhone 3G, meaning that even if a program wasn’t running it could be pinged and woken up when an alert comes in, allowing for virtual running in the background. This, of course, has yet to be implemented and arguably no apps stand to gain more from this than IM clients. We eagerly await this service going live, and will probably have much stronger offerings at that time.
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