Best Instant Messaging Program?
 

So I have been trying all the popular titles for instant messaging but none of them work well ... basically they all destroy the battery life ... am I looking for Atlantis here or is there actually a program out there that does AIM and possible GTalk without destroying your battery life? I can't get a program that doesn't kill my battery in about 3 hours tops!! Help me!!!

that's a hard one. anything that stays connected to vision like that and constantly running in thebackground will eat up battery life. Personally I find agile to be best free one.
~mike

Agile it is my man.....i like the option that u can send pics on it....wish it could reveice as well

The ONLY solution for an "always on" solution to connect to AIM and GTalk and saves battery life is Verichat.

Now, Verichat costs $25/year and I'll explain why:

Every IM app out there (agile, IM+, AIM client, etc.) requires a dedicated "always on" internet connection. It literally pings the server every couple of minutes to maintain your connection, status and update your contacts.

This is what drains battery life.

Verichat can do that as well but it has a secondary route which is where the $25 comes in...

They have their own servers which maintain your connection. So when you sign into AIM, GTalk, etc. you're really logging into their severs which then do all the work. This is called SMS-Chat Relay.

On your end, Verichat disconnects and then saves you battery life. There is no pinging, no active connection is needed. When you get a new IM, it goes to their servers first which then send you a 'special' SMS to Verichat, which wakes up your device and it now looks like you have a new IM. At this point, Verichat reconnects to the server directly and you continue your chat. It's flawless, behnind the scenes...you never even notice.

Now, you have to weigh the benefits of using this service vs. $25/year. I swear by it. Christ, I've re-booted my ppc 3 times with Verichat "signed on", left it for 2 days (at this point I forgot I was signed on still) and Verichat STILL passed on a new IM to me (which freaked me out). It's that strong. I mean, the program was not even loaded on my PPC and it still worked. :shock:

all hail the king (well...the anarchist king) :D :D :D

dam i may actually pay the money lol. i need something better then agile i dont like it at all.

That actually seems worth it, if a bit creepy.

Yah I don't mind paying for something that is well worth it ... I was actually looking earlier at Verichat but did not see a windows mobile version ... after some searching I found a beta for it ... I have just recently downloaded it and started to use it ... the only drawback I have found is that it is not as customizable as many others are, in terms of sounds, popup alerts, etc ... but overall it is a very nice program ... last thing now I have a question Mal ... when I first loaded the app it seemed like the system you are describing is what it asked me about at first, but it made it sound like I have to enter my cell phone number for it to send me an SMS alert when I get a message, instead of actually waking up the device ... if this is true this will be bad for me as I do not pay for SMS service ... also I tried to go and activate that part afterwards ... and i for the life of me could not find anywhere to enable the feature per say ... Mal?

Select Menu --> Configure Email Address

If Sprint: urphone#@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Yeah, that's exactly what it does: it sends a special SMS to your phone. It's weird, you won't see that SMS in your Inbox or a notification, you'll see it as a Chat request pop up, just as if you were always connected.

It only does that for the 1st message of a chat request. If you decide to Respond, it reconnects to the server directly and you just use regular Vision. So, even if you're paying for SMS, it's only that 1st message.

If you don't use the SMS relay, it's just a regular IM app like the rest.

I have a question, with push mail available what is the advantage to using instant massaging :?:

Well, not sure about advantage...it's just different. I mean it's a live chat versus scripted back-and-forth-emailing (which actually, I can't stand). Using PhoneAlarm, I really get a huge alert everytime there is a new email but if I'm in a chat already, no noise, no vibrate.

it's just easier for some things. plus, friends/family can quickly see my away message and know where I am, or if I'm busy, etc. If they see I'm in the city and they are too...hey we can meet up!

Or if I'm trying to contact someone, not everyone else has push email on their phones (most don't in fact) so it could take hours for them to get the email, but a lot of people have IM on their phones...

Ok so maybe I will have to look into getting a texting package on this phone ... cuz I will probably get this a lot ... now what is the timeout if you know ... between when it disconnects you from the network and then activates the SMS relay system? Other than this like I said my only complaint is the lack of customizability to the program ... but i love this program ... it definately is not the battery killer that Agile is, and holds up pretty well ... i kind of hack jobbed it by sending the text to my other phone w/ unlimited text ability ... then I know to open my AIM ... but I think I will add text now ... the other thing I love is that this does like the sidekick and updates you with peoples actual away messages too ... its awesome!!! I definately would recommend this as THE BEST AIM program available ... check it out guys ... try it before you buy ... i mean $25 for a year? Can't beat it!!

IM+

now I lean towards verichat if ur willing to pay. the online all the time is great and the sms to wake it up even better! :)

the only bad thing about verichat is that you have to pay $25 each year for their service.

What makes IMplus any better? You have to pay $40 upfront.

What is going to happen with Verichat when Nokia pulls the plug on Dec 15th? Does that mean no more SMS

Verichat will work as long as your license is active, that is the latest it will work will be to Nov 28th of next year. For myself: july 2007.

There is this option for Gtalk:

http://www.octro.com/

Which is shaping up to be kind of nice. I'm beta testing the software and you could to. I've asked about SMS Relay and they said they could and might do it. I'd imagine they could do AIM as well.

Ya I was wondering the same thing ... I didn't realize until tech support told me ... I tried to visit their site and find a feedback type of link so that I could make some suggestions of improvements ... and they basically told me there will be no new versions or improvements since they are discontinuing the product ... I'm gonna check the one you are talkin about Mal ... until then I'm gonna hold onto my VeriChat since it def is the best so far ... hopefully this other one will pick up and realize how many people will use this prog if they produce a good product ... and even pay for it ... LoL ... but we won't suggest that yet ... haha

Well, Octro definitely will charge eventually (though I'm going to get a free license...see, there are perks to extensive beta testing :wink: )

The developer is a real good guy who listens and works with you. In fact, it'd be nice to get more feedback.

For instance: my notifications do not work for Octro. Do they for you?

Just try it out and drop them a detailed email with your experience and any issues you have.

Also, Octro can do VOIP to Gtalk, which is cool. I'll probably make a separate post about this.

I'm just downloading it now ... the only problem for me testing it out is unfortunately I don't have a lot of people on GTalk ... whats ur addy and I'll add you so I can actually test some stuff out ... or if you wanna message me: :::REMOVED::: ... im gonna DL it now ... battery was charging from vacation

does Verichat count towards txt messaging or no?

thnx

both. if you do SMS relay, on the 1st incoming chat message it is SMS then switches to data.

kind of pointless though as verichat has been discontinued.

Re: Best Instant Messaging Program?
 

Didnt want to start a new thread, but....a lot has changed since 2006!

Anyone know the best IM client based on whats available now?

Palringo is great, but boy does it kill your battery!!!

Is beejive better?
-s