Archive for: im
Popular multi-account IM app IM+ recently received a major update on iOS. We’ve looked at IM+ before on Android (Pro) and the free version on iOS many months back. Today, however, IM+ gets a healthy kick in the pants with several new features.
- Photo and sound files sending
- Multi-accounts for Facebook
- User interface improvements
- Customizable chat font size
- IM+ auto launch upon Android device starting
- Chinese Traditional localization
- Many bugfixes, tweaks and overall improvements
We’ve been playing with IM+ for a couple of days now and just as before, have come away pleased. While the overall UI still isn’t our first choice amongst IM apps, it’s usable and functional nonetheless. The added support for multiple Facebook accounts as well as customizations for font and ability to now send pictures and sound clips is a huge plus. We also like the push email notifications despite the native push notification support. In areas of low signal where you have internet access, such a feature is handy to keep the conversation going.
At $9.99 IM+ Pro is on the high side of IM apps. With that said, it’s a very good app that we feel is still worth the price of admission.
IM+ (iTunes Link)
RIM may not have the same “cool” image that Apple Co. does, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t buying up the latest tablet to hit the market. According to Jefferies & Co analyst, Peter Misek, RIM managed to move a solid 45,000 PlayBook tablets on launch day through Best Buy and Staples alone! For the record, that’s quite a bit more than Motorola’s XOOM tablet powered by Android 3.0.
Thus far reviews have unanimously rated the PlayBook as rushed and “half-baked”, noting however, that RIM’s first gen tablet does have potential. We’ve got a PlayBook in route and will certainly add our $0.02 once we’ve had a few days to poke and prod the PlayBook ourselves.
In the meantime, we encourage new PlayBook owners (and hopefuls) to toss in their own $0.02.
Besides a differentiating coat of paint, multi-account IM clients aren’t all that different these days. A small feature here or there are the only deciding factors left for feature hounds to stew over. But a few times a year we as consumers are treated to major revisions which bring about massive UI changes and/or new features.
Shape Services recently released IM+ 4.0 for Android. With it comes a thoroughly revamped UI and promises of faster, more intuitive interaction. Is the new update really worth it’s weight in cheap currency paper and not so precious metals stamped into coin form? Gadgetsteria investigates…
One of RIM’s staple services, BlackBerry Messenger, has a rather substantial update in the making. The image above shows what is claimed to be BBM 6.1′s new interface which includes more customization options and all new icons. To some it may not seem like much. But to BlackBerry fanatics who’ve been looking at the same aging pixels since BBM 5.0 was released last year, it’s more than welcome.
- December 23, 2010 10:20 am
On Apple’s iOS platform, there are no less than half a dozen to a dozen mobile apps dedicated solely to multi-account IM apps (that are worth using). Some are better than others. My personal favorite has been Beejive. It looks good, performs well, and as cliche as it sounds — it just works. But maybe you don’t want or need support for as many accounts as Beejive supports and you don’t like the built-in chat functionality in the Facebook app. Beejive has a solution.
Earlier in December, Beejive released a Facebook-only version of their popular multi-account app. And after a solid week of playing around with it I must say I like it and could actually use it full time. I’ve got many different IM accounts but really only use two — Facebook and Google Talk. Google Talk is taken care of by Verbs (review here). And now my Facebook needs can be handled with Beejive’s Facebook app.
If you’re even remotely curious about this app, get on the bandwagon quick as the app is at an introductory price of $0.99. Check it out in the App Store now.
- December 19, 2010 7:20 pm
Late last week, we reviewed a unique newcomer to the iOS Google Talk scene. “Verbs”, as it is called, doesn’t offer all that much in terms of functionality. After all, it is a simple Google Talk app. On top of that, the one staple feature that any time-based communication app should feature as default — Push Notifications — is not currently supported. What Verbs does do well, however, is design. Verbs looks amazing. And tonight, version 1.0.1 makes the harsh reality of no Push Notification support a bit easier to swallow.
The latest update features your usual assortment of bug fixes and performance tweaks. Though the biggest thing to talk about are the “local notifications”. Basically, the app will alert you of new messages while it is in the background for up to ~10 minutes. After that point, you are disconnected from Google Talk and the messages stop flowing. For those impromptu conversations started by other people, it still doesn’t help. But once the conversation gets going, you can now freely move about iOS and not have to worry about missing the latest comments.
Verbs 1.0.1 can be found in the App Store as a free update to current users and $2.99 for newcomers.
- December 17, 2010 9:41 am
Two years after Apple unveiled the App Store and over 150,000+ apps later, it may seem rather redundant and useless to release another chat client in to the midst. But there’s one thing above Verbs that’s very different — it looks amazing! From a design perspective, it puts all other chat apps to shame. Though, that awesome design doesn’t come without a few caveats. Hop inside for the review…
When it comes to multi-chat apps on iOS, “a dime’s a dozen” certainly rings true. It’s not very hard to tie together a bunch of IM protocols and display them in one window. And after testing out pretty much every multi-chat app on the App Store, I’ve come to the conclusion that the hard part to building a multi-chat app isn’t the functionality — It’s the design.
To some people, design is nothing more than an afterthought. For if an app or service gets the job done functionality-wise, why care about anything else. And for many of the multi-chat apps on iOS, that is the exact stance that was taken. There are some truly hideous looking apps out there. But every once in a while, a gem shines though. The most recent of which is a Twitter app which goes by the name of “Weet”. But the focus tonight is on multi-chat — not Twitter. With that said, a new upcoming Google Talk app based out of India has caught my eye…
- November 15, 2010 1:26 pm
Think email is dead? Facebook does. There announcement today didn’t unveil a traditional email service. What they announced is far more “real-time” and engaging. Facebook calls it a “Social Messaging System”. “It’s not email”, says Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg. Instead, it’s a real-time, location and device agnostic service that aims to seamlessly integrate your life’s conversations. It ties together your SMS/text messages, emails, and IM’s into one place. In short: it’s awesome.
Hop inside to get the full rundown…
