So, now that I am getting more familiar with my iPod (after nearly a month) I am finally running around and doing the things that I would expect to get from a mobile device and today's blog is about messaging.
Yesterday night, I decided to give the iPod a run in the messaging arena and to be honest I wasn't too disappointed with the results. I've been reading for weeks now about people Jailbreaking their iPods and getting software on it that takes care of their messaging needs. So far Apple has put out AIM for the iPod touch and the other useful messaging application is some Tweeter crap that I will try when I get v2.0 (should be today night). I was at work and accidentally stumbled onto what has now become my new mobile messaging companion when coupled with my WiFi Netgear router.
Meebo Mobile
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Mobile Device Used - Apple iPod Touch - 8 GB version - iMonkey
Connection Speed - 256 Kbps - Sify Broadband - Intermittent connection drops
At first, I was a little apprehensive about even trying meebo on my iPod but while I was at work, I learned that there was a mobile component to it and decided that I would give it a try when I got home. To my surprise, the device actually went to the site without any problems and with an existing Meebo account, I was able to log into my MSN, Yahoo, AIM and Google Talk accounts by supplying my ID and Password. What I saw next was extremely pleasant and minus the few glitches which I will list later, I must say that the guys at Meebo have understood the need for a mobile version of everyone's favorite messaging applications and have succeeded in delivering.
Pros
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- You can choose to log into all the services you want with the single Meebo user ID login or choose the service you want to log in with using the pulldown menu. Extremely useful when you just want to log into MSN and not let the whole world know that your on every other chat program.
- The messaging system works pretty much as expected. It leaves a cramped screen in landscape mode but gives you ample real-estate when you use the iPod in portrait mode. I was able to have five conversations running simultaneously without any problems
- The web-app actually let you switch between a conversation and the master list without any problems and actually put the names of the people you were having conversations with at the top of the list
- The interface remained clean and showed you everyone online with the respective icons showing you the chat client being used
- Everything that a person uses in their avatar was shown along with their status message
- It allowed me to change my status message and that was pretty nice. It doesn't just leave you hanging with the usual Available, Away, Do Not Disturb crap but let you customize your status
- I added Meebo as a Main Page app and it simply logged me in without any problems and didn't even scream like a cat being skinned (WTG Apple)
Cons
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- If you've changed the password of an account that you are logging into, the client does not allow you to go back and change the password for that particular messaging service. Eg. I changed my Yahoo IM password and I could not change it from the iPod. I actually had to go to meebo.com on my Desktop and change the settings for the account there
- I haven't tested the add a person feature on meebo mobile yet but I am assuming it won't let you add them as it certainly did not have a delete option
- I was not able to block people as well and that kinda sucked because its a useful feature
- I was not able to hide my offline contacts which I think would really save the list real-estate and keep things nice and compact
- I do not know if this is a browser issue but for some reason, the web-client was not able to save my last status message so if I signed out and came back in I had to go and change my status message again. The saving grace here is that it remembered my last status message
- It lacked the usual file transfer feature which I think would be nice if you want to share pictures or even a file like a PDF or a Doc but that will come in time I am sure
- I wish that people's avatar pictures would show up in hte list screen but for some reason, I don't think that they will bother too much with this. To actually see the picture, I had to initiate a conversation with the person
All said and done, I think this is one of the more robust messaging client systems I have found for the iPod Touch to date. I have not had a chance to test AIM with the new v2.0 release but I am dying to get my hands on it and once I get home my Rs. 500 will be well spent and trust me I will have something to say about it. But for now I think I have found the one way I will be using to connect to my services while I am at home.
Music Listened to while writing this blog - Nickleback - If Everyone Cared
Mood - Indifferent
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