There are a ton of instant messaging protocols. Even listing the popular ones takes a whole hand: MSN, Yahoo Chat, Google Talk, Skype and AIM. Add other social services like Facebook Chat and Twitter, and you've got a whole lot of usernames and passwords to remember (you do have different passwords for the various services, right?).
It's been quite some time now that computer users could use a single, universal chat client for all their instant messaging. Adium, Digsby, Pidgin and Trillian are the most popular desktop clients, but mobile users have had to rely on individual apps for messaging - more apps to run in the background and more battery life getting sucked up. Thankfully, there are some great universal clients around. One of those is IM+.
It's available as a free version, with in-app advertising and missing a few other features, and a Pro version. For $10 (around R70) the Pro version removes ads and throws in support for Skype chat. Whether or not the cleaner interface and additional chat protocol are worth the premium is another question.
IM+ is fairly straightforward, though. At first run it'll pop up asking which chat protocol to add accounts for. Supported services are:
* Skype
* AOL instant messenger
* MSN
* Twitter
* Facebook Chat
* Yahoo Chat
* Google Talk
* Jabber
* ICQ
* MySpace chat
Simply select the accounts you'd like to add and it'll go through the process of adding login details for each. After that, it's plain sailing.
On the iPad, the interface layout has a contact list on the left with the chat windows showing up on the right. It has tabbed windows, each accessed by swiping left or right to flip between open chats. The contact list also has an 'inbox' function, to check the mail accounts for those services offering mail (Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo).
Configurability is extensive too. It's possible to change the background picture in the app - I just used a solid black background because pictures make the text difficult to read - and set up how contacts are displayed. There are options to save conversation histories online, customise alert sounds, push notifications and voice settings.
The latter is probably where IM+ stands out from the crowd. It's the first IM app I've used that can read out incoming messages and also listen to spoken dialogue and convert that into text. The speech recognition is a premium service, but at just $1 a month it's something you can try out once or twice and continue using if it works.
One of the major disadvantages of Apple's closed iOS ecosystem is the lack of a file space. Other apps are only able to access stored photos, not any video or audio files stored on the device. This makes it impossible to use Web uploading services like Tinypic or Imageshack. Obviously, this is a problem when you want to send your friends a picture.
To work around this, IM+ has a built-in file uploader that will let you select an image file and upload it to the Web. Your friend gets a Web link to download the file, and uploaded images are only stored on the servers for one month.
Similarly, getting links from your friends doesn't need the Safari browser to open up. IM+ has a built-in Web browser, so clicked links open within the app, and further browsing can be done while having conversations.
It's not perfect, though. The current version isn't fully compatible with the latest version of the iPad's operating system (4.2), but Shape Services will probably release a patch to fix that. There's also no proper multitasking support.
iPhone users can download a special version of IM+ with multitasking, but that is a free version and has ad banners. iPad users (and those who paid for the Pro version) will have to wait to get a version that supports the multitasking in iOS.
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