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A roundup of three brand new IRC clients

Finnish invention Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has always been a great way to meet each other. This was particularly the case in the pre-Web, pre-* Messenger, pre-VoIP times, when the only really widely used form of conversation was IRC. Yours Truly has even spent 6-7 hours a day some 14-15 years ago talking to his friends, was always called A Serious, Hopeless IRC Addict that would probably never get back to life
After publishing my two roundups of IRC clients (Part I; Part II) two brand new IRC apps, PontiSoftware's mIRCy and Gargaj's zsIRC have been released; also, a brand new, 1.2 version of PocketIRC has been released. Therefore, I considered it to be essential to compare these three new releases to both each other and the already-released titles; most importantly, wmIRC (which hasn’t been updated for half a year), which, regardless the (sometimes fatal) bugs, I’ve always considered one of the two best IRC clients (the other being, up until now, PocketIRC).
All the three apps are landscape- and true VGA-friendly and run flawlessly on WM2003, WM2003SE and WM5 devices.
Code North PocketIRC 1.2
(Price: $14.95; free upgrade for previous 1.0 / 1.1 owners; OS compatibility: WM2003+ (1.1 supported all pre-WM2003 OS’es))
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"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
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"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
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"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
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The new version indeed delivers seamless VGA support (it doesn’t do pixel doubling any more, which was one of the biggest problems with version 1.1), which is the most important news. Also, it sports several bugfixes and is more compliant with WM5 (interestingly, I haven’t encountered any WM5-related problem with the previous 1.1 version either). Also, support for inverse color codes has been added (see Part I of my IRC roundup series on what this means).
Unfortunately, no new functionality seems to have been implemented. For example, one of the most important omission in version 1.1, the lack of logging, hasn’t been fixed in this version either.
Following are the Options dialogs so that you can have a clear picture what you can set and what you can’t: Server Display Format Ident DCC. As can clearly be seen, if you compare these dialogs to the previous version, there are absolutely no changes. The same stands for the menus.
Pros
VGA-friendly (no pixel doubling)
DCC support (as was already in the old, 1.1 version), in which it's really unique
said to have bugfixes and improved WM5 compatibility
Cons
ClearType can’t be switched off – it can be VERY annoying, especially on QVGA devices. Note that version 1.1 didn’t have ClearType.
No new functionality over version 1.1 except for the inverse color codes
The history is as useless as before – that is, pressing the “Up” arrow retrieves the first message, not the last one
mIRCy 1.0 by PontiSoftware
This brand new, commercial (it costs $11.95) IRC client is definitely worth paying attention to – it has great potential. By just eliminating its bugs, making it VGA-friendly (now, it does pixel doubling) including font size setting support, it can easily become the best IRC client for the Pocket PC (it, however, lacks any kind of DCC, in which PocketIRC is still the best Pocket PC IRC client).
It has a lot of goodies: logging support and for example Ignore, Highlight and Notify lists - in this respect, it’s really unique. Also, it’s highly fine-tunable (except for the character size, which I’ll elaborate on later). Following is a quick list of the dialog screens so that you can have a picture of what can be set: Connection, Options, Colors, Sounds (for example the channel joining sound is very funny!), Info, Files.
It’s of the very few apps that has a local server list. It can be found in the Connections settings dialog where there is a separate network and, inside networks, server list. It’s, however, is in no way as extensive as the desktop mIRC’s list available for download and conversion here. The two lists aren’t compatible but can definitely be converted with some regular expression knowledge (with which, fortunately, I can brag with). I’ve, therefore, quickly written the regexps to convert mIRC’s format to that of mIRCy (from: n\d+=(.+):.+SERVER\S+)\S+)GROUP:.+ to: $1\t$2\t$3\t ; with Editpad Pro (my favorite, fully regexp-compliant editor under Windows), this should be used as depicted in this and this screenshots). Note that the list MUST have a trailing Enter character; otherwise, the client will crash upon trying to load the list. Also note that you should only keep the [servers] section; delete everything BEFORE it. Also make sure you remove (or, manually convert) the “n127=EpicIRC Random serverSERVER:irc.epicirc.net:6667GROUP:EpicIRC” row from the resulting conversion (and make sure there are no other records with : in them; they don’t adhere to the reg exp syntax of the other records. You can, naturally, eliminate them yourself.) With my list AVAILABLE HERE (just overwrite the default list, \Program Files\ PontiSoft\ mIRCy\ servers.txt, with it), as you can see here, there are much more selectable networks and considerably more servers (416 as opposed to 306). Hope you enjoy my list.
Pros
Manually editable server list at \Program Files\ PontiSoft\ mIRCy\ servers.txt (to which, again, I’ve created an up-to-date list and a converter script for you so that you can do the conversion yourself, along with making available a converted, up-to-date, much-better-than-the-original mIRC list)
Logging
Copying to the clipboard (just select the text)
Pretty good context menu
The only Pocket PC IRC application to support multiple ports, of which it automatically chooses in a random way – starting from a port in the lower range, when it finds it doesn’t answer, it retries with a port with a higher port number). Much as, up to now, I haven’t really found a real use for this (if you use the default port number, 6667, and can’t join a server because it’s full, in most cases retrying with a different port number on the same server doesn’t help), this may be handy. For example, the most widely known, internationally (even from Europe!) usable US-based IRCNet server, irc.stealth.net, allows for connections in the 6660-6669 range (of which, at the time of writing, 6000, 6001 and 6002 were unreachable though as can also be seen in here (screenshot of PocketIRC 1.1 (also note there’s no ClearType); manually changed port numbers between connection attempts).
Note that the lack of multiple port support isn’t a showstopper with other clients. If you really want to try to retry with another port (as has already pointed out, in general, you won’t need to) different from the default 6667, you can always (manually) reconfigure your IRC client before reconnecting. (Yeah, I know it means you end up having to shut down zsIRC and editing the config file with an editor. In other clients, it’s much easier.)
Cons
No DCC
after disconnecting (File/Disconnect) from a server (or after an unsuccessful attempt to do it), it’s impossible to reconnect (retry) at once for at least 30 seconds: you’ll get the as can be seen in this screenshot too – or, in cases, the GUI becomes totally unresponsive. This can be a real pain in the back with servers that require many attempts to connect to (for example irc.stealth.net). The tested, other clients (the two PocketIRC versions, wmIRC 2.2, zsIRC) don’t do the same.
Sometimes selecting Connect results in the same without even having connected to servers before. Then, in addition, the GUI just seems to be frozen. Fortunately, after 10-15 seconds, you will regain control over it.
Generic rendering errors for example at inserting text into already-existing text and at displaying non-active queries / channels
Pixel doubling in SE (standard) VGA mode; forcing \Program Files\PontiSoft\mIRCy\mircy.exe doesn’t really help this because of the really tiny characters, totally messed-up main screen and whisper context menus (in native VGA, it's OK but uses very small characters)
Character size can’t be set (unlike in almost any other IRC client). Unfortunately, it doesn’t take into account the system-level character size setting either (see the “old” “Everything about VGA” article linked from here for more information on this)
There is history (accessible also with the up/down keys) but it always returns the first (globally) entered string, not the latest one – not what you may be looking for
Verdict
For VGA users: if it’d be more VGA-friendly (no pixel doubling) and the character size were settable, I’d certainly recommend it. For now: if you get upset by the non-settable character sizes and the pixel doubling, go for another client, for example zsIRC.
For QVGA users: recommended. Give it a try (particularly with my server list), you’ll like it.
zsIRC 2006. 07. 23. by Gargaj
This free (!) IRC client was a BIG surprise for me. It’s a bit hard for a newbie to operate (everything must be configured by manually editing the zsIRC.ini file; there isn’t even a CAB-based or a desktop installer etc) but is much-much better than any other free client out there – and, in many respects, even commercial ones! For example, it supports logging (again, the above-reviewed PocketIRC, which is in many respects the best IRC client, still doesn’t support this essential feature) and, as opposed to the above-reviewed mIRCy, it supports VGA and lets the user configure the fonts. This application is certainly worth a try.
Pros
LOGGING!
Free and MUCH better than any other free client
Pretty easy to switch between channels and queries (no drop-down menu to switch, unlike in PocketCHAT)
No anomalies on VGA devices
History works as expected (and unlike the other two apps, which always bring up the first item): pressing the Up key retrieves the last message sent, not the first one
(Via the zsIRC.ini file) many parameters can be configured (for example, a lot of appearance-related ones)
Cons
Everything must be configured via the zsIRC.ini file – no dedicated settings menus / dialogs
No installer
Requires you to know the exact syntax of, for example, /topic or /kick – no menu/dialog-based support
Very weak context menus (compare this to the context menus of the other two apps)
No copy to the clipboard – you can’t select any text, unlike with the other two reviewed apps. You need to look up the log files if you need to copy anything to the clipboard.
No DCC
No colors
Verdict
zsIRC has indeed proved to be a very good surprise: it’s so much better than all the other free clients out there. It’s not only free but also supports logging, has the best-working history (if you have an external / thumb keyboard and are used to the way how desktop / Unix IRC clients work, you’ll certainly welcome it) and has no visible anomalies, unlike both mIRCy (pixel doubling and non-settable character sizes) and PocketIRC (ClearType).
Sure, it has a lot of shortcomings, but as far as you don’t need menu support for IRC commands (after all, in the old IRC days, I had to memorize the correct syntax of all op and other commands because there were no menus under Unix or, even better, VM/CMS and I can tell you it’s not impossible), give it a go – you’ll like it.
Unfortunately, the new version of PocketIRC was a disappointment for me. I certainly hoped for more. The always-on ClearType is a real pain in the back (I just HATE it, particularly on QVGA devices). If you, on the other hand, don't dislike ClearType, you may want to give a title a try.
mIRCy clearly shows it’s just a 1.0 product – while, in some areas, it excels (for example, ignore lists and logging), the lack of VGA support and the inability to set the font size is unforgivable (if you are a VGA user, that is). Hope its problems will be soon fixed; for now, I can’t really recommend it if you have a VGA device. Then, I recommend the free zsIRC the best if you aren’t afraid of editing the settings file and memorizing the syntax of some often-used IRC commands like /invite, /kick or /ban. You’ll like it.
If you have a QVGA Pocket PC, on the other hand, you may definitely want to give mIRCy a try.
APPENDIX: The timeout problem
I’ve emphasized in Part I of this series that Pocket PC IRC clients are particularly sensitive to timeout issues.
‘Timeout’ means you don’t get direct feedback about the IRC server you (are supposed to) connect to not receiving your messages any more because, for example, the direct connection between you and the server has been broken, timed out. This can be caused by both IRC-specific problems and generic problems like the entire Pocket PC’s losing its Internet connection.
Not receiving any feedback, sadly, also means that, in cases, you may end up sending messages to your listeners even minutes after you’ve been disconnected. All these messages will be lost and will never be seen by the people you were speaking to (the "synchronous" IRC has no “memory”, unlike some much more modern also-asynchronous peer-to-peer (P2P) architectures like that of Skype – or, for that matter, the E-mail itself) unless you copy them to the clipboard (if your client is able to do this at all) and, then, paste them again into the channel / query windows as soon as you reconnect to the server.
Just to have a picture of what can happen to you in normal-day situations, here are the results of some of my real-world tests with current IRC applications, using two different servers: a well-known and usable-from-anywhere IRCNet (irc.stealth.net) and an EFNet (efnet.cs.hut.fi) one; using exactly the same circumstances on the client. All test have been done the same way: resetting my test Pocket PC (Dell Axim x51v A12; other models would have behaved the same way), booting in, starting the tested IRC client, connecting to the server via ActiveSync, logging into a channel so that my test clients logged into the channel can see everything’s all right and, then, just disconnecting the Pocket PC, starting the stopwatch. I’ve made sometimes several measurements with each client; the results are separated by commas.
As can be seen, all the tested applications (that is, all the really usable Pocket PC-based, native IRC applications), without exception, suffer from this problem, without an exception. In cases, you may end up sending out messages for even 20-30 minutes (!) without being notified of the broken connection.
Unfortunately, on the Pocket PC, using the current clients, it’s very hard to fight these kinds of errors because they don’t support for example timers to automatically send ping requests to anywhere, and manually pinging others every 1-2 minutes is quite awkward. To ease the pain and to implement the best possible solution, however, I recommend the following: if you have any friends you talk to with mIRC, you can ask them to enter the following command:
/timer 10000 10 msg your-nickname anymessage
or
/timer 10000 10 ping your-nickname
where 10 is (in seconds) the time messages and/or PING requests are sent to the client and 10000 is the amount requests are sent out. These values can be freely modified.
(If there is no one with this, just use the PING command.)
This way, if you just switch to the Status / server tab and/or the message window of the given user (canceling it being highlighted) and, then, switch back to your other windows, you can easily see even from other windows whether you’re still connected (see the red/ blue message/status window highlight here). You, of course, will need to often “clean” the “updated” flag by switching windows; if your IRC client supports switching tabs with the left/right D-pad (like mIRCy and unlike zsIRC or PocketIRC), it can be very easily done. Still, this way you can always be absolutely sure you’re still connected to the server and your friends can see you.
Note that your partners will see at once you’ve been disconnected (“EOF from client”), it’s “only” you that won’t notice this.
UPDATE (09/06/2006): PPCT frontpage; Appendix added.

Thanks for the write up. Always looking for improved IRC Clients.

Update: brand new Appendix added on generic timeout issues; (comparatively) minor additions and updates in the article

does someone knows IRC Client of the multi-servers supports?
i want to connect on a IRC Bouncer
MFG
Nullinga

PocketIRC 1.2.1 released – now, the always-on ClearType bug is fixed; additional color displaying tests with the four best Pocket PC IRC clients
It was just a few days ago that I’ve reported on the last, 1.2 version of PocketIRC, the great IRC client being released. Probably my biggest grief with the application (in addition to the still-missing logging capabilities) was the always-on ClearType.
Now, a new, 1.2.1 bugfix build has been released, which uses the system-level ClearType setting. This means it no longer uses ClearType when it’s not needed:
Unfortunately, there are no other changes; for example, still there is no logging.
Color rendering capabilities of the four best IRC clients (PocketIRC, wmIRC, zsIRC, mIRCy)
Now that I’ve tested PocketIRC’s ability to render (inverse) colors (see the above screenshot), I’ve also done the same to the new clients I’ve tested.
the free zsIRC and the commercial (!) mIRCy 1.0 don’t support them at all (neither normal nor inverse)
wmIRC 2.2 still doesn’t support inverse colors, only normal ones.
That is, color support-wise PocketIRC 1.2.1 is the best, wmIRC is the second and the others don’t support colors at all.

Nullinga said:
does someone knows IRC Client of the multi-servers supports?
i want to connect on a IRC Bouncer
MFG
Nullinga
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is none of them

The Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible

Instant messaging is one of the key features of today’s communication. It’s much faster than e-mailing, much easier than picking up (and, probably, paying for) the phone and is pretty reliable.
E-mails, even if they are delivered at once (which isn’t guaranteed) are not guaranteed to notify the user at once (see for example this excellent article (and some feedback here) from the Modern Nomads folks on this question). Not so with instant messages – they, unless the connection is lost and the sender doesn’t notice this or, if it’s using a central dispatching server and it’s heavily overloaded (more on these problems later), promise really instant message delivery and notification.
You may have been a long-time user of desktop-based instant messaging solutions like MSN / Live Messenger, AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, IRC or ICQ. You may also have a Jabber client – either just for fun (on at, say, the central Jabber server) or at your enterprise, where Jabber is a decent alternative (also see this article and “Google Talk might be(come) the right tool for your corporate”) to other enterprise-grade instant messaging & presence solutions like IBM Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Novell GroupWise Messenger – and, to my knowledge, the one and only platform directly supported by Windows Mobile.
Fortunately, most of these services are also accessible on Windows Mobile. Note that I won't introduce these services here at all. If you're a newcomer to instant messaging (IM for short) and would like to choose one of them, which one you go for is mostly a matter of personal taste and the number of your friends using the given service.
The latter is because there is little interoperability between the different services. That is, if you install, say, the ICQ client, you won't be able to talk to your buddies using MSN (Microsoft) clients and so on. On the desktop, this can be easily combated by going straight for multi-service clients like Trillian or, if you need an open-source implementation for your Un*x desktop or mobile (and even desktop Windows!), Gaim (see here the Qtopia version of Gaim, should you want to use it on your Linux-based, even originally Windows Mobile-based mobile). Unfortunately, there’s no direct port of these two well-known, hugely popular clients to Windows Mobile. As far as Trillian is concerned, however, Web clients are already supported), which, however, are far more awkward to be used from a mobile.
Personally, as far as selecting the best service for your needs, I mostly recommend MSN because its support is definitely the best on Windows Mobile, should you want to go for a messaging platform without being constrained by the services your existing buddies are already using. Not only all third-party clients do support it (except for one-protocol ones like PocketICQ, gsICQ or the three-service mChat), but also Microsoft's own IM solution, MSN Messenger and Live Messenger, are very solid and, with MSN Messenger, in general, built-in products. Being built-in means you don't need to install (and, in cases, pay for) third-party software on your Windows Mobile (WM for short) device but use the one already available in there. What I also recommend if you’re looking for a messaging platform but, for some reason, don’t want to go for the MSN service is either Jabber or ICQ. Both have excellent Pocket PC clients – for example, the former is supported by almost all major titles and latter is supported by two of the best and, what is more, free titles, mChat and gsICQ.
You may also want to consider for example whether you need HTTP tunneling when going for a particular service. This isn’t supported by some services (for example IRC); the more recent ones like Jabber, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN, however, already support it (see for example the “Jabber and HTTP” section here and this for more info on the two latter services). Also see the comparison chart in the Comparison of instant messaging protocols for additional information.
In general, all IM solutions offer almost the same capabilities: in addition to chatting, file transfer, some even support video / audio chatting, multi-user chat (groupchat) and styled text. In addition, as far as Windows Mobile-compliance is concerned, Jabber servers are perfectly suited for enterprise-grade deploying. Please see this page for more info & links to individual Jabber server products, should you want to choose and, then, set up one for your enterprise, keeping Windows Mobile-compliance in mind.
Now that we have a generic picture of what IM services there are, we can move on to the clients that are actually able to connect to these services.
Fortunately, there are several Windows Mobile instant messaging clients. No matter what protocol (service) your mates use, you will be able to find at least one (and, in most cases, several) applications to do the task. With most of these applications, all you need to do is pretty straightforward: you supply them the login / password credentials to your (preferred) service and simply log in. With some of them (most importantly, imov Messenger), you will also need to use another central server account (which you can register from inside the app), which makes the life of a complete newbie a bit harder at first but soon becomes pretty easy. That’s because you can create /register the account right from your IM app on your Windows Mobile device.

1.1 The two types of connectivity: SMS and constant Internet connection
There are two main ways a Windows Mobile client can receive instant messages (not counting in Push Mail, which I’ll elaborate on in a later article): either through a constant Internet (for example, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA) connection or via SMS messages. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages.
1.1.1 Constant Internet connection
This communication form is far more common with Windows Mobile clients. It requires a constant (!) Internet connection between the mobile device and the service. It has the following advantages:
if you don’t have an unlimited text plan, SMS-based notification can become REALLY expensive as it uses one outgoing SMS for each message you send out. What is more, the 160-character size of SMS messages applies here too – if you enter too “long” messages (more than 150-160 chars), you end up having to pay for two SMS’es and so on. Also, you’ll probably be charged for incoming messages (they arrive as SMS messages) too. Finally, compared to the ubiquity of unlimited text plans, (close to) unlimited data plans are far more common and subscribed to by most Windows Mobile users.
all current, generic IM clients support data connections, unlike SMS messages - SMS support is very scarce with today's clients
It has, on the other hand, some severe disadvantages:
if your data plan isn’t unlimited or, at least, 10-60 Mbytes (depending on the client you use – there are vast differences in bandwidth usage, as we’ll also see) a month while you do prefer having IM on the entire day long, you will soon use up your Internet plan.
battery consumption because of the constant data consumption, particularly with 3G or 3.5G-capable (that is, not just 2.5G GPRS/EDGE) mobiles like the HTC Universal, the TyTN / Hermes, Trinity and the like. 3(.5)G UMTS / HSDPA connections REALLY chew through your batteries QUICKLY. (Note that constant data connection also requires actively waiting for incoming messages in a non-suspended case. This, with current Windows Mobile phones, isn’t a problem, unlike with old(er) Windows Mobile devices not sporting built-in phones. The latter consume a LOT of power in non-suspended case and are hardly usable in day-to-day IM situations if you can’t regularly recharge them.)
For example, in this XDA-Dev thread, XDA-Dev forum members complain about the mobile’s completely chewing through the battery in three hours (!) on the TyTN / Hermes while using Agile Messenger (one of the IM applications available for WM). With a GPRS/EDGE connection, the battery lasted at least eight times more (24 hours).
Fortunately, you can easily fight this problem. As has already been pointed out, it’s typically with high(er)-speed, new-generation connections (UMTS or HSDPA) that the battery consumption becomes really an issue with most current WM-based phones, you may want to force your otherwise UMTS / HSDPA-capable phone to stay at GPRS or EDGE and, consequently, consume way less power. There is even a tool, BandSwitch, to do the trick for you, developed by the excellent XDA-Developers gurus. Please see this thread for more info. (Additional info for example here and here.)
finally, current data connection-based clients can be pretty unreliable. Either they disconnect and, for some reason, fail at reconnecting to the service or are seemingly connected but still don’t receive (send) anything. The latter is the worst possible situation because your party won’t even notice you aren’t receiving her or his messages.
All in all, if being able to be reached all the time and with 100% confidence is of EXTREME importance or you have a Windows Mobile phone with high battery consumption or you have an unlimited text plan, you may want to have a look at SMS-based solutions. Otherwise, stick with data-based ones.
1.1.2 SMS
Now that we've seen the advantages and disadvantages of SMS-based solutions, let's move on to the question of the SMS-capable clients themselves.
There are few clients to support SMS-based messaging. The most important of them is the now-discontinued (and, therefore, not any more recommended), well-known VeriChat.
There are, however, some alternatives you may want to check out:
SMS Threader - v1.17 (also see this)
Palm’s well-known SMS threader application is also worth mentioning. Unfortunately, it's only available for the Windows Mobile-based Treos.
The built-in AIM client in the HP iPAQ h6315, which also used SMS messages (see this and this), while the old one didn’t use SMS’es.
The same stands for the AIM messenger coming with the T-Mobile MDA
Finally, PocketICQ is also SMS-compliant.
1.2 Available Windows Mobile IM clients
As with most of my roundups, this one also contains most of the relevant information in the self-standing comparison chart (CLICK THE LINK!). This is why I don’t list the (missing) features, pros and cons of each and every application in here. If you do spend some time on browsing the chart (make sure you maximize the browser window when you do it so that you end up having to scroll only rarely), you get a very compact, albeit much more useful way of directly comparing all the alternate clients.
Note that there are a lot of features current IM applications offer you may have never even dreamt of (for example, file transfer, voice chat or chatrooms / groupchat). This is why it’s essential you thoroughly scrutinize the chart and the explanation. In order to keep the article as terse and non-self-repeating as possible, it’s only there that I elaborate on these features, not anywhere else. (Now, just imagine I had listed on all the (missing) features of all the reviewed & compared applications in the current article, in free textual form! Not only would it take you ages to even read them all, but also comparing these features to those of the alternates would be WAY harder.)
1.2.1 Webmessenger Mobile Instant Messenger for Pocket PC 2003 2.6 build 070216 (a WM5-only version, “Mobile Instant Messenger for Windows Mobile 5.0”, is also available here)
This is a comparatively new product with pretty average features. The developers also offer two other, mostly enterprise-targeted (for example, Jabber support) IM solutions.
It's the only IM app for WM to support Skype (in addition to the "official" Skype client, of course). However, this requires an additional plug-in: you must also register for at least the free version of WebMessenger Mobile for Skype. Make sure you download the desktop component as well.
1.2.2 IM+ 4.3 by Shape Services
This is one of the most widely used and known, well-established, leading IM solutions. Should be one of the products you take a very serious look at.
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Review here; a generic thread is here; another one thread on some recent (4.28, 4.29) bugs.

1.2.3 OctroTalk 0.10
This is a brand new IM product for WM. It's still being developed and already having, even compared to the other, much older and well-established IM clients, pretty decent features (for example, one of the few products to commit an update check at startup). It's still in beta stage and is, therefore, free at least until the end of March. Beta also means sometimes non-operating central dispatcher servers though - use with care and don't deploy into situations that require guaranteed availability yet! However, if you don't need to be online all the time and some server downtimes aren't a problem, this client is worth checking out even at this beta stage, particularly because the developer is actively trying to implement users' requests, which, unfortunately, is pretty uncommon with other IM clients (albeit the imov and the PocketIRC folks are pretty responsive to user remarks too). That is, you may also help in creating the BEST, most powerful WM IM client.
Note that the developers have let me know they will implement both file transfer and some other features "this week" (last week of February 2007). I'll accordingly update this roundup and the chart as soon as they are indeed implemented.
A great discussion thread can be found here.
Note that, even as of version 0.10, it's still has a bug of false contact add announcements as can also be seen in here. If you have hundreds of contacts, this will mean you will need to answer the question of the dialog hundreds of times every time you install and configure a new version of OctroTalk. This may be - understandably! - a showstopper for many (see for example this post). Hope later beta (or, at least, the final) versions will get rid of this very annoying bug.
1.2.4 Live Messenger
Microsoft's latest MSN client, Live Messenger, is still at (a public closed) beta, which means if you were a betatester, you still have access to it at Microsoft Connect, unlike with the desktop Live Messenger betas, which have long been in use and are accessible to anyone. Otherwise, you'll need to wait for the official launch: Live Messenger for WM is slated to be released in some months and will be compatible with WM5 and WM6 (sorry, not with previous operating systems).
It's REALLY capable and highly recommended; for example, it supports two-way file sending/receiving and groupchat. No wonder I recommend the MSN service for all WM users as the service supported the best.
There is a decent review here. Note that there is a similar article here, but it discusses the web-based Windows Live Mobile, not Live Messenger. Still, it may be worth checking out because it contains a lot of nice comparisons to the alternative services.
For this roundup, I've reviewed the latest public beta version as of this writing.
1.2.5 MSN Messenger (as of WM5 AKU2.3)
The predecessor of the above-introduced Live Messenger with, compared to its successor, (in times, really) reduced feature set. However, it's still highly recommended if you (only) need MSN connectivity and don't need an application that also supports other services. It’s, in addition to Live Messenger, the other MSN-capable client to support groupchat.
1.2.6 Agile Messenger AMST-WMPPC-65
This once-free, well-known and capable application / service has been made commercial in the meantime. Now, you have two choices of subscribing to it: either pay some $15 for three months or $45 for a life-time license.
This thread on Agile's sending passwords as pure, unencrypted text may also be of interest. Also, in here, some XDA-Dev users complain about the Agile folks’ not responding to their mails.
1.2.7 imov Messenger Basic / Enterprise 2.12e
The predecessor of this title was JabberCE, which, later, has been renamed to imov Messenger (this is why the old JabberCE page isn’t accessible any more). This title has two version: a somewhat restricted (for example, it doesn't support logging) Basic version and an Enterprise one. The latter is still decidedly cheaper than both IM+ and Agile Messenger.
Note that the Basic version isn't directly available on the developer's homepage but, for example, here.
1.2.8 Verichat by (ex-)Intellisync v1.42b
This well-known title, now that Intellisync has been bought by Nokia, is no longer supported / sold. (This is why I also provide an alternate URL, should the original homepage be removed.)
This IM application is one of the very few titles that support SMS-based messaging. Otherwise, it doesn't have much to write home about - the majority of the alternatives is considerably better.
Also see this thread.
1.2.9 PocketICQ 1.0 Beta
This is a very (some 6 years) old ICQ client; given that it’s still officially in beta stage, I seriously doubt it’ll ever become non-beta. Nevertheless, it may prove a good alternative to other, mostly commercial titles if you only need ICQ support and don't need always-on accessibility on a Windows Mobile phone (it's the only hugely important thing this title severely lacks at). First, however, give a try to gsICQ (or mChat) instead to see whether they fit your needs better.
1.2.10 IRC clients
Internet Relay Chat (IRC), in addition to even older solutions like Talk, has been a highly popular IM / groupchat platform for over 15 years.
Fortunately, there are several really capable IRC clients for the WM platform. Three of them are the most important: the commercial PocketIRC / wmIRC and the free zsIRC. Of these three applications, I've included information on the two commercial titles in the feature chart because zsIRC, while still way better than any other free solution, is, in many respects, considerably worse than any of these two titles. Furthermore, if you want to know more about zsIRC and how it compares to these two clients, make sure you check out my related articles.
I’ve published several articles on Windows Mobile IRC clients. Please give them a read (particularly to this one) for more information.
1.2.11 gsICQ / mChat
Last but not least, these two, free clients of Russian origin are excellent and certainly show you can write useful, fully-fledged, dependable business applications using the .NET Compact Framework. (Unfortunately, apps like these are very rare; most .NET CF-based “full” apps have a lot to be desired, to put it mildly. See for example the applications / games written by IBE Group; for example, IBE Backup, IBE Mail and Star Invader).
mChat supports ICQ, Jabber and Mail.ru’s own messaging server (I don’t think the latter will be really appealing to any non-Russian speaker). Its little brother, the ICQ-only gsICQ is, in some ways, even stronger and more featureful than mChat as far as ICQ support is concerned; therefore, you’ll want to scrutinize my comparative remarks in the combined gsICQ / mChat column in the Comparison Chart. Note that I've listed the two applications in the same columns because most of their features / behavior are the same.

1.3 Not reviewed (discontinued / non-working / plain old / will be tested later) clients
1.3.1 AIM for WinCE
This is a very old, free Pocket PC AIM client. It doesn’t offer much functionality; this is why I haven’t considered it a serious contender to the rest of the reviewed applications. Also see this and this for more info.
1.3.2 Yahoo! beta client
Yahoo! also had a beta client but they have discontinued it (also see this) and completely abandoned the platform.
1.3.3 Odigo Messenger Force by Ruksun Software Technologies (now: Amiga Development India)
This commercial (it cost $25; a trial version is/was also available) application has long been discontinued and isn’t even directly mentioned on the developer’s mobile IM-related homepage. Also see this and this; note that these threads state it wasn’t even compatible with WM2003 (and, consequently, later operating systems), only with previous ones (PPC2k and PPC2k2).
1.3.4 Mig33 3.0
This MSN / Yahoo / AOL (received in 3.0) / VoIP client is midlet (MIDP)-based; that is, not a native WM application.
It didn’t work for me. No matter how I hard I’ve tried (with both the lite and the 3.0 beta version) on my HTC Universal to log into my existing accounts on all the three supported networks, it has always complained about my account’s not existing
Some people, however, stated it works with them (1 2 3 4).
1.3.5 MS Portrait
I haven’t included MS Portrait in the main test either. The reason for this is very simple: there are just too few users using MS Portrait, also taking into the desktop users into account. Furthermore, while the front camera problems are still not solved in the last, 3.0 beta version, few people will use this application for TCP/IP-based video phoning.
Please read this review for more information.
2. Comparison / feature chart
It's available here (CLICK THE LINK!!).
2.1 Explanation for the chart
I'd like to stress again and again that you really should read this section very thoroughly
to see what advanced functionalities these applications offer (there are MANY you may not even have dreamt of!)
to be able to decide between the clients. Unfortunately, there is no "this is clearly the best" title, albeit there’re very strong and highly recommended ones like mChat. This also means you need to compare the (missing) functionalities of each and every title so that you can choose the one that fits most of your requirements.
Note that I don't list the most elementary rows (for example, price, trial restrictions, Landscape orientation or Windows Mobile operating system compliance) here - only the ones that do require some explanation to make sense.
Connection type?: in here, there may be three choices: direct (which means a particular client connects to a service directly, without a(n invisible) gateway), indirect (meaning a(not necessarily visible) gateway between you and the service you're accessing) and SMS. Note that I couldn’t safely decide between the central server-based and the direct modes; for example, with Agile.
We've already seen what SMS-based messaging can be used for and what its (dis)advantages are. Direct and indirect data connections, however, require some additional explanation: in general, you may want to prefer direct connectivity because indirect connections might be somewhat less reliable. This isn't an issue with, for example, the indirect connection-based imov Messenger; however, with the current (beta) version of OctroTalk, it may be. In many cases, I was completely unable to get it connected just because the central OctroTalk dispatch server was out of service.
VGA?: this row should definitely be one to check out if you have a high-resolution VGA device (as opposed to low-res QVGA ones); in here, I've elaborated on the VGA friendliness of the apps. Unfortunately, as can clearly be seen, there are several IM apps that aren't really VGA-friendly because, for example, they (still) use pixel doubling.
Non-stable connections: Status (current discussions) kept when disconnecting?: one of the most annoying problem with some IM applications is the fact they just close the chat windows when your connection becomes unavailable, which can happen pretty easily for example if you are roaming with your device and the cellular signal strength decreases. The most important example of the behavior is IM+, which immediately shuts down all the open chat windows. Fortunately, not any of the other applications do the same.
Note that older versions of Microsoft's own MSN Messengers also did the same (even in WM2003SE). Fortunately, the most recent versions shipped with WM5 no longer do this. Kudos to Microsoft for fixing this very annoying problem!
Auto reconnect when the / a connection terminates?: this is also very important for anyone relying on the ability to receive instant messages any time, anywhere. (Once again, SMS- or Push Mail-based IM solutions are much better and more reliable! Data connection but not Push Mail-based solutions should only be used as a last resort in a mission-critical environment!)
MSN disconnect test?: I've also run some disconnect tests (with the MSN service only, as far as multi-service IM apps are concerned; with IRC clients, I've, of course, run the clients over IRC to see whether their sensing the disconnected state has been made quicker lately, as is, for example, also promised with the latest version of PocketIRC) to see whether a forced connection disconnect (emulating the above-mentioned cellular phone roaming situation) results in both the particular application and the desktop party it's connected to sensing the connection is broken. Note that positive “no problem at all” results don’t necessarily mean you won’t ever have disconnection / invisibility problems – a lot of users have been reporting cases like this with, say, IM+ (see for example this thread).
Easy / quick input: PDM’s: with some applications, you can use in-app defined text shortcuts to greatly reduce typing time by just sending a "canned", pre-written response to your buddies. Some apps allow for editing these messages and one, imov Messenger, even allows for constructing them from word / expression atoms to form real sentences. The latter is really an excellent idea!
Smiley input / output: as far as smileys (emoticons) are concerned, does
the particular client support inputting them using pre-made small icons?
use graphical icon when displaying received (or sent) smileys?
As can clearly be seen, most apps do support at least smiley rendering (and some even input). However, the number of smileys they know is pretty limited, Live Messenger being the best in this respect.
Command / input history quickly accessible with up/down OR a menu?: when you chat with someone, you may need to quickly retype something you've just said. In this case, a very quick way of scrolling back your recently-said messages can be very nice. Support for this, using the Up and Down cursor keys has been present in most IRC clients ever since the beginnings of IRC - just like with the command repeat / review functionality of the Unix shells or MS/PC-DOS with DosKey (with later DOS version) or dosedit.com (with earlier ones).
Unfortunately, this feature is only present in PocketIRC. None of the non-IRC applications support this functionality, which is a big minus with them all.
Readability, amount of information displayed at a given time: Font size settable (very important in native VGA mode)?: if you are a VGA user and have ever tried to run MSN Messenger in native VGA mode, you may already know it’s impossible to make its, in native VGA, unreadably tiny fonts larger. Fortunately, its successor, Live Messenger, has fixed this problem. Most other IM clients don’t suffer from this problem either – except for some of them (for example, imov Messenger Basic), all allow for setting the font size.

History, copy / paste, logging group: in this group, I've elaborated on how a given client supports text selection and copy to the clipboard (copy / paste), whether it supports logging discussions to a file in the local file system and whether the links (for example, Web links) are clickable.
With IM clients where Web links aren’t clickable, you can still copy them to the clipboard – if the client supports text selection and clipboard copy, that is – and, then, paste the URL manually to the address bar of a Windows Mobile Web browser.
Also, if your client doesn't support logging, you can still use copy/paste to copy the contents of your discussion to the clipboard and, from there, to a file. This is, however, far from automatic and also depends on whether copy / paste is supported at all.
Protocol-specific group: in here, I’ve elaborated on what services the given client supports and how it works with them; does it have specific bugs with them and so on.
New message notification; suspended modegroup: if you plan to use your IM application mostly for receiving messages, you’ll really want to scrutinize what has been stated in these tests.
in-program, if multitabs are utilized, are they colored?: While you’re actively chatting with a contact or browsing the user list and a(nother) contact sends you a message, what does happen? As most user interfaces are tabulated (using multiple tabs; that is, multitabs), I’ve mostly concentrated on whether you can see at once who has sent the new message to you; one of the most commonly used ways of doing this is making the tab – which contains the chat session with the given buddy - red.
Suspended mode usable on Windows Mobile phones?: this is one of the most important rows. If you do plan to use an IM app to be able to receive messages the entire day, you can only achieve this if you suspend your Windows Mobile phone to greatly reduce its power consumption. This should be a major deciding factor when you plan to select an IM application.
Not all applications are suspending-friendly; a most important example of these is PocketICQ. Fortunately, all the other non-disqualified IM apps support operating in suspended state; so can, as far as IRC clients are concerned, wmIRC.
What notification settings / capabilities are used?: if you do plan to rely on the audio / vibration notification capabilities of an IM client, you will want to choose one that supports preferably both if you often rely on vibration (which is available in all Windows Mobile phones).
Unfortunately, vibration isn't necessarily supported in all IM applications. As a rule of thumb, applications that rely on the system-level Sounds and Notifications settings applet to set the type of their notifications don't have problems with vibration either. Applications that don't rely on the system-level settings won't necessarily support vibration (albeit some do - for example, wmIRC or mChat / gsICQ).
A quick note for developers of applications: it's actually very easy to add system-level notification support to any application - it's just a question of adding some registry keys.
Today plug-in: several IM applications also have a Today plug-in so that you can always see whether they're online and whether there are any new messages / buddies around. Please consult the individual chart cells to find out how each Today plug-in behaves.
Misc: CPU usage while listening to incoming messages with all the possible networks logged in?: particularly with waiting for incoming messages for more than a few minutes, the processor (CPU) usage of the given IM application becomes of interest (unless the messaging is SMS-based because, then, the mobile only wakes up and starts executing your IM application when there's an incoming instant messaging-related SMS). The less CPU usage, the better. Fortunately, almost all IM applications have negligible CPU usage; the only exception is WebMessenger, which has a bit higher CPU usage, resulting in a bit (not much!) reduced battery life.
Doc quality?: in here, I've explained whether the on/offline application documentation is verbose and comprehensive enough. I've also linked in the online documentation, whenever available, to make your life easier.
Conference (MSN: Action / Invite a contact to join this conversation; ICQ: Start a multi chat icon; Yahoo: Action / Invite to a conference; Google Talk and AIM, as of now, don’t allow for group chat): many IM services support "conferencing" or "group chatting". In here, I've examined how the WM IM clients support this.
As can clearly be seen, if you need groupchat support on WM, go for either Jabber and imov Messenger Enterprise (this is the ideal solution for the Jabber-based enterprise with groupchat needs) or MSN / Live Messenger. The latter two are the only MSN clients to offer seamless groupchat support. Finally, of course, you can always use the venerable IRC clients for groupchat.
Flags?: in cases, you won't want to show your contacts you're ready to talk. That is, you will want to modify your presence information. In here, I've elaborated on what states (flags) you can choose from.
Note that I haven't elaborated on the auto-away flag because none of the clients set the state to "Away" automatically, unlike on the desktop. This is, of course, understandable as you most probably always have your Windows Mobile device with you, ready to be reached , even when you're otherwise away from your desktop computer.
Mobile flag?: some (not all!) services also support showing a flag like "the user is using a mobile device". You may want to prefer a client that does support this flag so that you can effectively show your party you won't be able to type as fast as on a desktop computer because of the non-existing or, at least, far smaller / more awkward hardware keyboard. Unfortunately, very few clients support this.
Unicode support?: while most services (except for some really old ones; for example, IRC) do support (16-bit) Unicode characters, not all client products support these (unlike on the desktop). Note that, while Unicode may not be supported, as with IRC, you can still switch 8-bit codepages in most clients. That is, if you both use a 8-bit char page (for example, Cyrillic, Central-European, Turkish etc), you can still use all your national, non-Western characters even with clients not supporting Unicode. It's only real Unicode communication (with languages that, because of the huge number of their characters, can't use a 256-character 8-bit page) that's impossible with these IM clients.
Note that I've tested Unicode transfer in both directions because it's possible Unicode characters will only be transferred (and rendered) in one direction but not in the opposite one.
SOCKS proxy support?: in here, I've elaborated on the Socks (and, to a lesser degree - unfortunately, less clients support HTTP clients, even when almost all the messaging protocols support it -, HTTP) proxy support. When not used in the enterprise, you most probably don't need the support for this; however, if you do have a local firewall blocking all non-standard remote ports (for example, those of IRC), unless you have a Socks and/or HTTP proxy-capable client, you won't be able to communicate.
Multiple logins with more than one account to the same network?: while some desktop clients (for example, IRC) allow for multi-logins using the same client (or an independently started instance), this isn't the case with Windows Mobile ones.
I haven't listed the ability to log in using the same account but on different devices. Protocol-level support for this would be really nice (see for example the section "MPOP and presence by observation" here) but, alas, not all protocols support this. The two most important ones that do are Jabber and AIM. With these protocols, you can log in from your mobile device, which not (necessarily) will result in your already logged-in instance to be logged out.
... and to different networks?: multi-service clients (there are several of them - all the reviewed IM clients, except for PocketICQ, gsICQ and IRC) are able to make use of all the supported services by logging into them at the same time - just like Gaim or Trillian on the desktop.
Offline (non-mail) messages?: some IM clients support the underlying feature of delayed message delivery in almost all current services. (Exceptions are IRC, if you don't use an add-on messaging service and at least older versions of Skype are the only notable exceptions; see the "Asynchronous message relaying" column here.) Unfortunately, not all - in here, I've elaborated on which client supports this and which doesn't.

User control: in here, I've elaborated on what buddylist features the reviewed IM client has - for example, is it able to answer to other users' contact addition requests. I've also mentioned if a particular client has user group editing operations (they do support all groups already available on the server side). User groups are very useful; for example, they allow for separating your workmates from your friends.
Editing functionality includes, for example, creating a user group and moving contacts to there. This will, then, be synchronized back to the IM server so that, no matter where you log in from, you'll see the same user group structure in your IM application.
In general, all apps work flawlessly with contacts and groups. The only exception, as of version 0.10, is OctroTalk, which always makes the user have to let all past MSN users added as contacts (also see this AximSite post for more info). This is really annoying!
Voice chat?: some IM applications also support voice chatting (Voice over IP, VoIP). In here, I've elaborated on these features.
File transfer?: file transfer is supported by all instant messaging protocols but, unfortunately, few Windows Mobile clients.
Some apps that do support it (to some degree) do it in a non-direct way; that is, uploading the files to their central server and only pasting the (temporary) URL to the file to the target of the file. This is why you'll only see URL's passed with these clients, not the standard, “embedded” file transfer interface.
Text formatting (AIM : full formatting; Yahoo: Bold / Italic / Underlined; IRC: the same + colors + inverse)? (MSN: Edit / Change font only changes the font of the entire current / following messages; that is, it offers no real formatting capabilities; ICQ and Google Talk: absolutely no formatting capabilities): some IM services / clients, most importantly, Yahoo and IRC (and to a much less degree, MSN), allow for text styling / formatting. In here, I've scrutinized whether Yahoo / IRC / (MSN)-compliant Windows Mobile IM clients are able to correctly render styled text. (None of them are able to actually produce styled text.)
Quick edit shortcuts (Ctrl-A, Delete, Ctrl+arrow etc): Particularly if you use your IM client with an external (for example, Bluetooth) keyboard or use your desktop's keyboard via a Windows Mobile controller application (for example, Pocket Controller – see this for more info), you will want to go for a client that allows for the standard keyboard cursor movement shortcuts to greatly speed up for example text modification / correction before submitting it. Fortunately, only one application (WebMessenger) doesn't support this at all; all the other IM clients support this almost flawlessly.
Bandwidth usage (transmitted/received bytes in kilobytes): login, 10 minutes and a long-time test with one-hour long data: In here, you can not only check the bandwidth usage of most clients but also that of the protocols themselves, should you want to base your service / protocol selection based on (also) bandwidth usage.
If you use a non-unlimited data plan with your data connection-based client, you may also want to know which client and which service / protocol consumes the least bandwidth and what combinations (for example, ICQ with enabled and, in most cases, useless "keep alive" pinging every half a minute) should be entirely avoided. As can be seen, MSN (and Live) Messenger (which both use direct connections) use a bit more bandwidth than most other clients using the same MSN protocol. It's also worth pointing out that the bandwidth usage of Jabber, ICQ and IRC is even less. That is, if you really want to minimize your bandwidth usage, you may want to choose the last three protocols instead of, say, MSN. (Or, if your enterprise already supports it, go straight for Exchange-based Push Mail for notification purposes – particularly after applying the well-known "heartbeat" hack, it consumes the least bandwidth.)
Of particular interest are the bandwidth usage figures of OctroTalk. While its Google Talk (that is, Jabber) and ICQ (in the ICQ test, it consumed a little over the mChat / gsICQ figures) bandwidth usage figures are only slightly smaller than those of the alternative clients / services, the MSN test produced some astonishing results. Compared to the Microsoft MSN / Live Messenger clients, which use about 28 (12+16) kbytes an hour, OctroTalk only uses a little less than 6 (0.5+5.3) kbytes. This means OctroTalk only uses one-fifth (!) of the bandwidth of Microsoft’s official solution. Compared to other MSN-capable clients (all (except for IM+) alternative MSN clients use about half of the uplink bandwidth of the Microsoft clients), it still has some advantage – it uses about 3.5 times less bandwidth to keep the connection up.
This means if you really need to use MSN but you must have the absolutely least possible bandwidth usage, you may want to take a serious look at the OctroTalk client. (Otherwise, if you don’t need to minimize the bandwidth usage, for strictly MSN communication, my personal pick is still Microsoft’s Live Messenger because of the excellent features.)
(MSN) avatars? : Finally, none of the otherwise MSN-compatible clients support MSN avatars (small icons), except for, surprise surprise, Live Messenger. The latter even allow for changing it yourself on your mobile device.
2.2 Not tested
2.2.1 Mobile (GPRS etc.) connection keep-up
In my tests, most applications behaved quite OK. However, there may be problems in your particular case, particularly if you use instant messaging on a mobile phone. In these cases, if you lose the connection after some time, you may want to check out for example this registry hack to fix the problem.
2.2.2 Task keep-alive
I haven’t checked whether the current versions of the IM apps can force the operating system not to shut down the given application when the standard “let’s kill a background” task to free up some memory / when we’ve reached the 32-process limit of all WindowsCE versions (that is, even Windows Mobile 6) before 6 (note that WM6 is still based on the, process number restriction-wise, “old” WinCE 5.2). You won’t have this problem at all if you don’t run memory-hungry and/or several other processes (for example, you don’t open up more than 15-20 tabs in the excellent Windows Mobile Web browser, Opera Mobile). If you only have 4-10 apps running at a time and you have at least 5 Mbytes of free (dynamic) RAM, I’m pretty sure your IM app won’t be silently killed, even when it doesn’t support forcing itself to remain active.
I’ve only made tests with starting all the clients at once but, to avoid clashes, not logging into anywhere. Then, I’ve increased memory usage and the number of active processes by mass-starting other applications. In general, all the tested applications were shut down after a while. Note that IM+ has a checkbox to avoid this situation; I haven't enabled it when running this test.
Please see for example this thread for more info on this problem.
3. Other links of interest
A cool, recommended overview & comparison of some apps
eWeek: "Mobile IM Landscape Shows Room for Growth"
What is your messaging application of choice?
Generic “Looking for a IM / chat client similar to Yahoo messenger“
Gerneric “The Best Instant Messenger (IM)”
Google Talk On Your Pocket PC
Mobile Chat Rooms?
A Jabber-related thread (“Jabber Releases PocketPC Client”)

UPDATE (03/09/2007):
PPCT frontpage
You can download the latest version of Windows Live Messenger here. It's an AximSite thread so it can't be illegal (at least I hope so). This thread is, by the way, is pretty much recommended.
There is another lightweight and very simple, but small ICQ client, Anastasia, available here (thanks to CharlyV of SKKV Software for the tip!). (Incidentally, I DO ask every program developer to register their programs into the Pocket PC Mag Software Encyclopedia! I'm not guaranteed to find all Windows Mobile programs if you only publish related info / accouncements in German / Russian / you-name-it-what-language forums (not that I couldn't speak German or Russian - I speak quite a few languages, including these two)).
I've been asked about XMPP in several reader e-mails so I need to stress the following: XMPP is an IETF standard for messaging and is a fully open standard. This is the same standard that Apple uses for iChat and Google uses for GoogleTalk. Currently, few IM clients support direct XMPP connections; one of them is imov Messenger, which is XMPP based. This means you cannot use for example OctroTalk with your own IM server because it relies on a centralized server that presumably a single company controls. In addition, there are some other important benefits that imov Messenger (and other XMPP clients) offers the end user:
As has been mentioned, it is built on XMPP which is an Open IETF standard
For complete control, you can run your own XMPP server on your own network
If the protocol changes for AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, etc the client does not need to be updated and redeployed - just the server
XMPP offers encryption of traffic between the client and the server

UPDATE (03/14/2007): New version of excellent Instant Messenger client Mundu out; also runs on standard PPC’s!
The Mundu instant messenger client is widely known among both Microsoft Smartphone (in the new, WM6-related parlance, “Windows Mobile Standard”) and Palm OS users – on these platforms (particularly on the Palm), it’s probably the best IM client.
The developer has just come out with a heavily updated, new version. While it’s only meant for the MS Smartphone platform, thanks to the convergence between the MS Smartphone and the Pocket PC (Phone Edition) (in the new parlance, “Windows Mobile Classic / Professional”) devices, it works pretty good on all Pocket PC (Phone Edition) devices starting with WM5.
Much as it does have some problems on Pocket PC (Phone Edition) devices (for example, it doesn’t support working in suspended mode and vibration, unlike with MS Smartphones, where both are supported), I really recommend it particularly if you
want seamless auto-logging capabilities
want conference support with MSN, Yahoo and, according to the developer, AOL/AIM
want file upload (no file download is possible)
Note that, in addition to the connectivity problems (it doesn’t work while the PPC phone is suspended) caused by the officially not-supported platform, you also need to learn to live with the lack of touchscreen support. This means you’ll need to use the Action button (the center button in D-Pad with most Pocket PC’s) instead of for example double-clicking to, say, initiate a conversation with someone. Note that you can still select and use the menu with the stylus.
Another great news item is that the Mundu folks will release a Pocket PC (and a Symbian)-specific version very soon. Hope that version will also fix the issues caused by the differences between the Smartphone and the Pocket PC platform; most importantly, the (on the Pocket PC) lack of vibration and suspended mode support.
Finally, note that I’ve thoroughly updated the comparison / feature chart of my well-known Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible (cross-posted to: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, XDA-Developers, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums), the source of ALL information on instant messaging. In there, you’ll find a REALLY thorough comparison of Mundu to all the alternative instant messenger clients on the Pocket PC – and tons of screenshots. Make sure you check it out to discover what this messenger is really capable of and how it compares to the alternative messengers.

UPDATE (03/23/2007):
Causerie has just released their, on other mobile platforms, already-known instant messaging solution. As usual, the majority of the related information can be found in the updated comparison chart; in here, I only provide you with a pros/cons list.
The good
ability to log into any IM service using two accounts – currently, no other IM app is capable of this!
support for (ro)bots. Right now, Causerie retrieves Stock Quotes, Weather Predictions, Directions, News related to Business, Technology, Games, California Traffic, eBay etc.
Enterprise version supports Lotus IM (Sametime), Microsoft LCS, SIP, Reuters LCS and Jabber (SSL) – this is a BIG plus and really unique!
IMAP support. This means you don’t need to run an IMAP-capable mailer client in the background to get notified of your incoming mails. This, of course, will only work if you do have an IMAP-capable mailbox. This is also pretty unique. (See the IMAP Bible for more information on this question.)
Developer promises at least one-way SMS messaging in forthcoming, 1.1 version, slated for May. Now, their Palm version already supports even two-way messaging
The bad
restriction of four concurrent accounts logged in at a time
complete lack of Landscape orientation support – very bad news for slide-out or clamshell keyboard users (HTC Wizard, TyTN/Hermes, Universal etc.)
prone to crashes
not effective, Web browser-based rendering: slow, bandwidth-hungry and causes the on-screen SIP to be hidden with some people
doesn’t automatically re-login when the connection (temporarily) terminates: a problem particularly with unattended, suspended mode
no file transfer, no logging, all chat windows are immediately closed when the connection terminates, no support for conferencing
Verdict
Promising. Needs a little more work and bugfixes on the developer’s part, though.

Great review of the instant messaging clients. I hope Mundu comes out with a ver for the PPC soon.

Major update posted to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=315654
Well worth reading!

A very good im client
Hi !
I searched for a good im client for a while, and i just wanted to mention inlux messenger:
http://www.inlusoft.com/pages/downloads.html
This is the best i've seen, only thing missing is today plugin, but it has an icon on startbar with popup so it compensates...
The site is in Russian, but the program has perfect english support
I'm not sure what is the difference between trial and full, and i don't know how many days you can use the trial (if this is the catch)
Anyway, great job with the comparison chart !
GL

RPG0 said:
Hi !
I searched for a good im client for a while, and i just wanted to mention inlux messenger:
http://www.inlusoft.com/pages/downloads.html
This is the best i've seen, only thing missing is today plugin, but it has an icon on startbar with popup so it compensates...
The site is in Russian, but the program has perfect english support
I'm not sure what is the difference between trial and full, and i don't know how many days you can use the trial (if this is the catch)
Anyway, great job with the comparison chart !
GL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont see any AIM support with this client . Just MSN, Yahoo, ICQ & G-talk

RPG0 said:
Hi !
I searched for a good im client for a while, and i just wanted to mention inlux messenger:
http://www.inlusoft.com/pages/downloads.html
This is the best i've seen, only thing missing is today plugin, but it has an icon on startbar with popup so it compensates...
The site is in Russian, but the program has perfect english support
I'm not sure what is the difference between trial and full, and i don't know how many days you can use the trial (if this is the catch)
Anyway, great job with the comparison chart !
GL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for pointing it out; will post a review soon.

UPDATE: a review of Inlux Messenger has just been posted to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1354766

A few days ago Mundu released a real version for PPC.
Perhaps someone with a phone edition wants to test whether the standby & vibrate options now works, or not.
http://messenger.mundu.com/pocketpc/

UPDATE (11/15/2007): REVIEW: Another great, multiplatform instant messenger client: Palringo. Cross-posted to: PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, XDA-Developers - 3, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo.

Menneisyys said:
UPDATE (11/15/2007): REVIEW: Another great, multiplatform instant messenger client: Palringo. Cross-posted to: PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, XDA-Developers - 3, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm giving palingro a shot now on my Wizard (8125.) I'll let ya'll know if there are any problems!

exellent summerizing!

MS Smartphone Instant Messaging Bible

It was some four months ago that I’ve published the definitive guide and comparison of all instant messaging solutions for the Pocket PC, the Windows Mobile Instant Messaging (IM) Bible.
The constant evolution of the clients (for example, the recent release of the really promising and, on Windows Mobile, except for Microsoft Portrait unprecedented and unrivalled Fring client) and the MS Smartphone (WM 6 Standard) platform have forced me to embark on an update to the roundup.
In this roundup, I review all the IM solutions working on the MS Smartphone platform along with listing the PPC-specific changes too. That is, this article will appeal to both Pocket PC and MS Smartphone users. In addition, if you’re interested in Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions, you REALLY will want to read the related section: I also review Fring, the (on Windows Mobile) brand new and simply GREAT Skype, MSN , Google Talk and standard SIP-compliant application working just great even over EDGE or more advanced (with at least 2 upload slots) GPRS connections.
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(the icons of the reviewed apps on my HTC Vox. I haven’t put the icon of Causerie Mobile Messenger 1.0.9 there because of its incompatibility with the platform – despite what the developer states, it doesn’t seem to be compatible with Smartphones.)
Again, this article is a three-in-one roundup:
a FULL review & roundup of all IM solutions running on the MS Smartphone
a review of what has been changed in the last four months: Most of the reviewed applications have been updated in the meantime. While these updates are pretty minor with all the titles, it’s still worth checking them out as some of the missing functionalities or bugs have been fixed in these.
a review of the completely new and groundbreaking Fring client, compared to the other clients offering similar functionality.
Note that you REALLY will want to read the original Windows Mobile Instant Messaging Bible. It’s in there that I’ve thoroughly described all the IM clients I elaborate on in here – except for, of course, the brand new Fring. That is, do read the original Bible. Note that I’ve already updated its chart to include the new information on both the new versions and the Smartphone-related information.
In addition to my Pocket PC’s (where I’ve tested how the Pocket PC-related functionality has been improved), I’ve used two MS Smartphone devices to test the IM clients on: a WM5 AKU3 176*220 HTC s310 (Oxygen) and a WM6 QVGA HTC s710 (Vox). On the latter, I’ve paid special attention to supporting the built-in keyboard and the dynamic orientation switching support – in addition to the QVGA support, of course.
IM+ 4.41 (PPC) / 1.38 (SP)
(a generic Smartphone in-conversation screenshot, showing Unicode chars, smileys, clickable links and local T9 input
Updates, differences
PPC-wise, there aren’t much differences between version 4.41 and the old, 4.3 version. There is a new setting for filtering out messages coming from users NOT in the Contacts list.
Also, there are some other, minor enhancements; for example, while losing the connection, the current conversations are all closed in the PPC version (but not with SP). This isn’t a problem any more with the PPC version either, though – past messages are redisplayed upon resuming the connection. However, the (minor) problems with the earlier version are still present: non-clickable links (this is mostly a problem with the SP version because of the lack of the copy / paste functionality on the OS (and on IM+’s) level) and the lack of the mobile flag.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
The PPC and the Smartphone versions (current, tested versions: 4.41 and 1.38, respectively) are pretty much the same. Some of the differences between the PPC and the SP versions:
There’s no Today plug-in (as with most of the other IM clients - the lack of the Today plug-in, the system-level notification capabilities, copy/paste and notification bubbles are the most important differences between the two platforms)
There’re no copy / paste capabilities (which is pretty much problematic if you’d like to follow links as there, as with the PPC version, are no clickable links either)
Logging capabilities are completely missing – the Messages settings dialog has no way of enabling it, unlike the “Save history” checkbox (unticked by default) in the “General” settings dialog of the PPC version. This is certainly VERY bad!
However, ever cloud has a silver lining: the SP version is $10 cheaper ($29.95) than the PPC one, while (apart from the problems listed above) and even pretty much usable.
Other screenshots
In the main Chat windows, there’s no Roster shortcut and there’re no Edit (Copy / Paste) capabilities either. It’s not possible to quickly switch to other accounts either, other than selecting Close and, then, using the list control at the top to switch between active chats.
Settings: Alerts (here: Notifications) No wakeup / notification by default; must be enabled by hand. The PPC version uses system-level notifications (1 2), which is certainly a better approach.
Background running, as with the PPC version, must also be explicitly enabled. Otherwise – again, as with the PPC version, in which this mode must also be manually enabled – it won’t wake up.
Network: the same (PPC version HERE)
Fortunately, the SP version, as with the PPC one, dynamically resizes its GUI upon Portrait / Landscape switching and has no problems with the Vox keyboard (it, of course, works great in both phonepad modes, should your SP lack a QWERTY keyboard).
Note that in order to access the SP version of the app, you will need to either click the "Change your device!") link at the top right or go straight to HERE.
Verdict
While it’s still pretty expensive (albeit the SP version is a bit cheaper), it’s highly recommended if you don’t need clickable links and logging. If you do need the latter, look for something else.

Agile Messenger 3-74
(The second is a 176*220 HTC s310 (Oxygen) screenshot)
Updates, differences
As far as the problems with the old version are concerned, unfortunately, it still only allows for sending images only. While it also supports built-in (back) cameras (along with adding a message to these images; the results can be seen in HERE), it still doesn’t support sending arbitrary files, let alone receiving anything. Logging is still NOT automatic and must be initiated by hand.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
The SP version seems to offer exactly the same goodies as the PPC one; for example, voice message recording and sending. It MIGHT be able to receive and (auto-)play voice messages (see THIS screenshot of the Media tab of Settings).
The SP version has Edit capabilities (unlike, say, the SP version of IM+); both Copy (only copying the currently selected row, as is the case with the PPC version) and Paste work as expected. This is good news as, unlike with the PPC version, links can NOT be invoked upon, for example, pressing the Action key on them (not even when a message ONLY contains a link and nothing else).
Logging-wise, there’s still no automatic logging – you must still save your messages by hand. The new History & Groups tab in Preferences doesn’t have any related checkbox either.
Fortunately, the SP version, as with the PPC one, dynamically resizes its GUI upon Portrait / Landscape switching and has no problems with the Vox keyboard (it, of course, works great in both phonepad modes, should your SP lack a QWERTY keyboard).
Finally, as far as initiating conference calls is concerned, it seems it’s, in theory, possible to invite other people to conference conversations; however, it’s just impossible to select any other participant on the Smartphone. With conference calls initiated from other clients, the messages coming from the non-originating party aren’t displayed in Agile, unlike in the desktop clients – that is, it’s useless. In this regard, it behaves exactly the same way as with version 65.
Verdict
The lack of automatic logging and file transfer capabilities is still a major pain in the back.
imov Messenger 2.22ee
(Note that most remarks refer to the Enterprise version - the free one is considerably less powerful.)
Updates, differences
As far as the differences between the new (2.22ee) and the old, last time reviewed version (2.12e) are concerned, there are few of them.
First, fortunately, the MAJOR problem with the pixel doubled suffering from heavy ClearType with VGA displays is gone as can be seen in THIS screenshot. Great – now, it’s highly recommended for VGA users (unlike version 2.12).
However, there is still no smiley input and text copy / paste is still not implemented (not even in the PPC version). Unfortunately, the same stands for file transfer. Finally, logging must still be manually started (Menu / 5 Log) in every single conversation you’d like to log (log files are stored in the root directory of the PDA in a 8-bit format. This also means accented Unicode characters will be lost and converted to their non-accented ASCII counterpart - if any.) Note that Menu / Actions / Log Messages (in the userlist page) is supposed to enable logging for all subsequent conversations; this currently (with the currently available, 2.22ee version) doesn't work, but already works with the in-development beta I was sent by the developer, which means it MIGHT be supported in the future.
Note that the currently available SP version is the lack for the dynamic Portrait- Landscape switching support (as opposed to both Agile and IM+). This will be VERY bad news for Vox users that very often slide out and in the keyboard (screenshots: 1 2). If you know you will switch the orientation, start with Landscape mode because, otherwise, you won’t see what you type after switching from Portait to Landscape as can be seen in the previous screenshot. Then, you “only” lose part of the Portrait screen estate (1 2; after switching back to Landscape, there, everything will be OK). The problem is present, but to a much lesser degree, on the PPC platform too (example of the results of a dynamic rotation HERE. After this, rotating back on the PPC didn’t help either – as opposed to the SP version).
The developer has already fixed this (to a certain degree) but I don’t know when the new version is made online.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
The SP version is almost exactly the same as the PPC one, which is certainly very good news, given that the SP port of, for example, IM+, is clearly inferior to the PPC one. This means all the goodies of the PPC version are present in the SP version too; for example, clickable links.
Other niceties & screenshots
There is a very nice feature in imov messenger not present in any other IM product: Location Based Services, which must be explicitly enabled & the related routing capabilities to other users (in THIS screenshot, without coordinates being given; also note the “Route From / To” menu items in the bottom right). It makes it possible to know the distance from another user. I haven’t tested this, but if it’s correctly implemented (for example, with GPS support – that is, not using static coordinates but dynamic ones), it can be of GREAT help in helping people track each other.

OctroTalk 1.19
(PPC screenshot; roster screenshot with session list)
This product is still in beta phase, meaning you can freely download and use it.
Updates, differences
There are some differences but, in general, the client hasn’t received really groundbreaking features. Its VoIP features, in addition, are clearly inferior to those of the Fring client. For example, the Yahoo Messenger-compliance hasn’t been implemented (they have enabled it in an earlier beta – but it didn’t work then; maybe this is why it has been dropped in the meantime.) Also, send to MSN doesn’t allow anything (the same is the case on SP – it seems it only works with Google Talk (it’s enabled in there – haven’t checked its functionality though). It also lets for file sharing – I haven’t really checked this functionality either (it surely doesn’t work over MSN).
Chat preferences don’t let for setting many things (PPC is the same). It’s not possible to select / copy anything.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
There are no differences.
Fring (version as of 07/06/2007)
(The same on PPC; in-call with MSN)
I’m absolutely sure you will LOVE this client if you’d like to make calls to / receive calls from your MSN / Skype / Google Talk / standard SIP buddies.
It’s better than both OctroTalk and Skype for Windows Mobile in some respects. First, it’s compatible with several VoIP protocols, unlike with the two other, which are one-protocol only (Google Talk and Skype, respectively). Second, it uses its own, really bandwidth-friendly VoIP protocols instead of the bandwidth-intensive native protocols used by both OctroTalk and Skype for Windows Mobile. This means it works even over slowish GPRS connections, assuming they use at least two slots in each direction (the traditional 4/1 down/up slot-setup isn’t really good because of the slow upstream, which will just not be fast enough for upstream voice).
Using its own, low-bandwidth protocol also means it uses a central server to convert between the internal protocol it uses and the official protocol used by MSN, Skype and Google Talk. This introduces some additional delay, which, in cases, can be as high as 3 seconds (my measurements) from Europe (using the server in the UK). In many cases, however, the latency is considerably lower. That is, give the service a try to find out whether you can live with the latency.
Downloading, installing
This client differs from other ones in that you must provide your SMS-capable cell number to the download page HERE. After registering, you'll immediately get an SMS with the source URL like the one in THIS screenshot. Just click the link and let the default Web browser (in most cases, Internet Explorer Mobile) download it. Make sure you let it also run the CAB file so that it is installed. After starting the program after install, just enter any username / password pair in the starting screen to register. After this, all you need is setting up your MSN / Google Talk / Skype etc. login credentials, as with the other IM clients.
Bandwidth usage
As has already been pointed out, Fring is especially good at conversing bandwidth. When it senses it’s on a cell (not over Wi-Fi or, what is equivalent to the client, USB ActiveSync) connection, it uses the least bandwidth-consuming vocoder, which is even better than the GSM codec used by MS Portrait, one of the most advanced Windows Mobile client in this respect. Over Wi-Fi (and USB ActiveSync), it’ll use a more bandwidth-consuming vocoder with conversely better sound quality.
I’ve made some VERY serious tests of the client with three protocols and compared the result to those of OctroTalk, Skype for Windows Mobile and MS Portrait. Fring turned out to be the MOST bandwidth-efficient VoIP solution for Windows Mobile. This means if you MUST do VoIP on your handheld and you don’t have an unlimited data plan (but pay a LOT for data usage), Fring is your best choice.
Chatting-wise, it doesn’t have much to show off with (no logging, no smiley support in any direction, no clickable links (not even in the PPC version), no copy/paste on SP – it works on PPC). It has no problems with dynamic orientation changing. Note that, while it doesn’t use the standard mobile flag either, it uses a quick description showing the client uses a mobile device.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
It seems there’s no difference between the two versions.
Mundu IM 4.0.137
Updates, differences
Mundu IM has received some (much inferior to all other IM products – except for Fring) basic smiley support in both directions. Also, it now supports MSN avatars.
Its camera support also works on the Vox (1 2 3 4).
All the past goodies are here; for example, auto-logging and built-in viewing of past conversations.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
There’s no separate PPC version; that is, the PPC needs to run the SP version. This also means there’s absolutely no difference between the two versions.

Webmessenger Mobile Instant Messenger 2.6 build 070702
Updates, differences
Fortunately, the VGA font size problems are fixed and one of the biggest problems with the old version, the inability to position the cursor in the input field is also fixed. As far as VGA devices are concerned, however, some of the input fields are still oversized as can be seen in HERE. This isn’t a problem on Smartphones (see THIS)
The PC-part Skype plug-in is still required, should you want to chat with Skype users. It still doesn’t support copying text to the clipboard – and there is still no for example logging.
Differences between the PPC and the SP versions
The two ports are exactly the same.
Screenshots
Settings dialogs: Contacts, Connections, Notifications (1 2; on the MS Smartphone), Misc, IM Networks. There are some other changes; for example, setting the status is can not only be done in the old way but in another, specific tab as well.
Causerie Mobile Messenger 1.0.9
The latest, current version, 1.0.9 was released some days after my publishing the review (which discussed 1.0).
SP-wise, while the developers state it’s SP-compliant, it didn’t work on my SP devices (see screenshots & more info in the comparison chart).
Live Messenger
Unfortunately, it seems it will never be released as a separately downloadable IM client. While some people (see for example THIS) state it’s available at Microsoft’s TechNet for download, I don’t think it’s true.
Of course, there are “hacks” linked for example XDA-Developers, MoDaCo and HowardForums letting for installing it on any WM5+ device, but I’m not allowed to link these. Hope you understand.
The SP version is as advanced as the PPC version:
file sending / receiving
voice clip sending / receiving
conference support: 1 2 3; an in-conference screenshot
emoticon input / output
Unfortunately, the problems and shortcomings of the PPC versions are also here: no logging etc. The settings dialog is similarly simple. Furthermore, it doesn’t support copy / paste (missing from the platform) with a specific, SP-only menu – bad news!
Web-based services
Note that there is also a Web-based service at http://mobile.live.com/GoLive (just enter the address into a PPC / SP browser as can be seen in HERE). I haven’t included it in the review as it is, being a Web-based service with all its problems (need for manual refresh; no callback; huge bandwidth usage etc), NOT recommended on any Windows Mobile devices. Incidentally, at the time of this writing, it didn’t work on any of my Smartphones or Pocket PC’s – only a gradient background was displayed as can be seen in HERE (HTC Vox Smartphone) and HERE (HTC Universal PPC). Note that there’s a tutorial to GoLive HERE. Alternatively, you may also want to give a try to eBuddy Mobile, which offers a way of accessing MSN, AIM and Yahoo.
Verdict
As with the Pocket PC, giving GENERIC advice on picking the BEST IM client on Smartphones is impossible without knowing your requirements and preferences. I can, therefore, as with the PPC case, only give you some generic advice:
if you only need to use textual messaging, use the built-in Live Messenger (when available) – in general, it’s the most powerful MSN client, unless you need logging and copy/paste support. Should you need logging, your best choice is either imov (hope it will REALLY receive auto-logging; that is, where you don’t need to (re)enable logging before your conversations – the developer promises it) or Mundu IM – or, if manual logging requests are OK, Agile.
if you don’t need logging, you may want to check out any other client
if you need to use voice (especially over restricted / slow / non-unlimited connections OR with strictly MSN parties – there are no other clients supporting MSN VoIP), then, Fring is the way to go. It works even over EDGE connections astonishingly well and, unlike the two alternatives, doesn’t consume much bandwidth. You, however, may encounter increased latency, if it gets on your nerves, then, switch back to other, direct alternatives.
UPDATE (07/08/2007): Smartphone Thoughts frontpage

how about an update with Slick?

So...Whitch one of these IM's is the best?

how about EQO? www.eqo.com
and morange www.morange.com

Thank you for the great coverage on IM on smart phones.
Can you cover slick also. I am using slick now. Looks good.
Cheers
crankx

Palringo? Its awesome......maybe you could make a review?

jacknmary said:
Palringo? Its awesome......maybe you could make a review?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I've fogotten to update this thread with links to my latest reviews... you can find the new reviews at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Instant Messaging, VoIP, other p2p communication ; for example, that of Palringo at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/inde...tiplatform instant messenger client: Palringo

This article needs to be revised to add the official Windows Mobile AIM client from AOL. http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=aimwinmobile&loc=2 . The official AIM client is actually very good.

Why not talkonaut and microsoft portrait?
Plz add google talkonaut (IMHO the best instant messaging client) and microsoft portrait (which lets u have video chat with another windows live user).

Been using Nimbuzz, the best one I've seen. Everything from im to facebook, etc.

REVIEW: Another great, multiplatform instant messenger client: Palringo

Instant Messaging is, as with, for example, Web browsers, is a constantly improved area of mobile platforms. This means we’re getting newer and newer instant messenger apps all the time.
Palringo is the newest application to enter the Windows Mobile / Symbian instant messaging world. It, despite of being new, is already is a decent contender really worth paying attention to. Their free (!), multiplatform IM client, Palringo, is certainly worth paying attention to because it has some goodies not present in (most) other instant messenger clients.
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(VGA Pocket PC)
(Symbian s60v3)
(176*220 MS Smartphone)
(Current, tested versions: Windows Mobile: 10/25/2007; Symbian s60v3: 0.96 (11) 10/08/2007. Test devices: Pocket PC (HTC Universal, HTC Wizard), MS Smartphone (HTC s310, s710) and Symbian s60v3 (Nokia N95).)
Getting, using
You can download it HERE. Enter your e-mail address twice. It can be arbitrary – that is, on any other server; it must, however, be an existing one so that you can activate the account. Also, create the password you’d like to use with the client. After submitting the info (and signing in with this), you’re taken to the Download page, where just click the “Download” button or buttons, if you select clients for multiple operating systems. Currently, three operating systems are supported: Windows Mobile (Smartphone and Pocket PC), desktop Windows and Symbian S60v3. They also promise a MIDlet (Java) version of their client, bringing IM support to even “dumb” phones, Blackberries and Palm OS-based devices.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use desktop download / installation, you can fill in your phone number if you want a direct installation link to be sent to you per SMS.
After installing and starting the client, select Menu / Palringo / Online. Enter the e-mail / password pair you’ve registered yourself first at Palringo.
Then, you’ll need to add services to your account. You may want to do this on your desktop computer (with the desktop version if you don’t have a remote controller tool like the excellent Pocket Controller) if you don’t have a decent keyboard for your phone. If you do this on the desktop, the added service accounts will be immediately synchronized to your mobile (and vice versa – and, of course, between mobile phones as well).
Palringo is interoperable with MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GG (Gadu-Gadu), ICQ and XMPP (Jabber). That is, after selecting Menu / Add Service, select the one you’d like to use from the list and, then, just fill in the service login / password as can be seen in HERE. Now, you’ll be logged in. Note that you can add other service accounts any time; you’ll be able to switch between them on the main dialog.
You’ll soon notice Palringo supports multiple logins. Very few IM clients allow the user to log in with multiple accounts into a given IM network: currently, only the, otherwise, not very good Causerie and the band new, beta version of Shape Services’ well-known IM+ for MS Smartphones. (See THIS and THIS threads; their Smartphone homepage is HERE; note that the current (4.45 and 6.15, respectively) PPC and Symbian S60v3 versions still don’t support multiple logins). In THIS screenshot (the same made on a 176*220 Smartphone is HERE and you can see I’ve already logged in with three MSN accounts, and I can still add more MSN accounts by selecting Add Service.
In this respect, therefore, Palringo is without doubt the best.
In addition, it supports groups (pretty much like on the IRC), which is a great way to meet friends or people and is increasingly used by some user communities like that of the infamous XDA-Developers. You can, of course, both create a new or join an existing group. Some screenshots of joining a group: 1 2 3 4 – it’s certainly worth giving a try!
Voice clips, camera stills, clickable links, copy/paste
As with several other clients, it supports sending voice clips. As opposed to, say, Fring (which is without doubt the best IM app in this respect), and just like with Microsoft’s Live Messenger on Windows Mobile (but not on the desktop, where full voice chat is supported), you can only use voice clips, not real-time VoIP. (And, of course, this only works in one direction with non-native Palringo receivers like MSN.) The voice codec is Speex-based, which means it works with acceptable upload speed even over GPRS, while maintaining pretty good sound quality.
Links are clickable on all platforms - certainly good news.
You can paste into the text input field and you can also copy the contents of individual messages (Pocket PC – a HTC Wizard – screenshot HERE). This is good news for Symbian S60 / MS Smartphone (platforms lacking a touchscreen and its mass-selecting capabilities) users but not very good for Pocket PC users, which may want to make mass selection upon wanting to, say, save an entire conversation to a file in one step.
Logging, history
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to log conversations on Windows Mobile at all. On Symbian, however, there’s a separate menu item in the chat window, Options / View Older Messages (or, alternatively, activating the thin bar at the top – in the screenshot, it’s purple-colored). This will retrieve the message from the server, which may take some time, particularly if you retrieve a voice clip or an image.
(Windows Mobile users, see the point in providing Symbian info in my articles? The previous paragraph was one of the tidbits that REALLY make it worth discussing multiple operating system versions at the same time. It’s certainly worth knowing the Symbian version is better in this respect – then, you can “push” the developers to implement the same functionality in the Windows Mobile port as well.)
The problem with this kind of logging is that you must retrieve all older messages one by one by either selecting Options / View Older Messages all the time or, better, pressing the bar. In addition, as the old messages / images / voice clips are all stored on the server, it may take some time to retrieve them. However, it’s still better than nothing at all. Still, in this respect, there’re much more advanced IM clients; most importantly, mov Messenger (for both platforms under Windows Mobile).

Notification, vibration, Pocket PC suspended state, Unicode
It seems to support system-level settings on all Windows Mobile devices (as opposed to Symbian); for example, it had no problems with vibration on the HTC Universal and HTC Wizard PPC. I’ve encountered no vibration and/or system-level audio / vibration switching problems with the HTC Oxygen (s310) and HTC Vox (s710) MS Smartphones either. Notification bubbles / taskbar icons are supported on Pocket PC’s; a taskbar icon is supported on the Smartphone platform; they’re all animated. Notification LED’s are also used.
No such icons under Symbian (for example, on the Standby screen), though.
I haven’t had any problems with receiving notifications on Pocket PC’s in suspended state (tested on the HTC Wizard and Universal), which is certainly very good news, battery life-wise. Of course, always-on platforms not using a suspended state (Symbian, MS Smartphone) have worked all the time.
It has no problems with Unicode chars in either direction (tested with MSN).
Symbian issues (and goodies)
While I had no problems with vibrating alarm (in “Meeting” mode) on ALL of my Windows Mobile devices, it didn’t work on my Nokia N95.
The camera interface is inaccessible under Symbian as can be seen in HERE (before capturing – as can be seen, no interface is accessible, unlike under WM – I’ve tested this on all the three WM test devices), HERE (after capturing) and HERE (transferring the resulting shot) but NOT under WM (example screenshot, taken on the Oxygen, HERE and HERE – incidentally, they show my Universal and N95, both running Palringo), where the real interface is used. This means for example the inability to manually switch to macro mode, switch off the flash etc.
Fortunately, under Symbian, you can set a default access point so that the client can automatically reconnect as can be seen in THIS screenshot. Incidentally, this shot also shows that under Symbian, you can independently set the notification volume, unlike under WM.
Also, on Symbian, it isn’t shut down when the free RAM decreases. This is a definite plus on RAM-lacking models like the Nokia N95.
Windows Mobile issues, CPU / memory benchmarks
I’ve had no problems at all. It worked on all my test devices I’ve installed it on (HTC Universal VGA Pocket PC, HTC Oxygen / s310 WM5 176*220 and HTC Vox / s710 QVGA Smartphones) in both Portrait and Landscape orientations. There were no keyboard problems at all and no orientation change flaws; not even on the Vox (which, before the latest version of mov Messenger, had caused problems to the latter.)
CPU / memory usage while actively waiting for incoming messages: 0% and 300…700kbytes on WM, independent of the “Power/Data Saving Mode” checkbox in Settings. That is, very good.
Some other screenshots
Contact list (on a 176*220 MS Smartphone)
Adding a contact: 1 2
Chatting interface on Symbian
Photo, clickable and voice clip sending works from Palringo to MSN – but, of course, not in the other direction.
Verdict
This is an excellent IM client all supported mobile platforms (Windows Mobile Smartphones and Pocket PC’s and Symbian), particularly if you look for a client capable of joining pre-existing IRC-like groups like that of XDA-Devs and/or want a messenger application capable of multiple logins to the same network. It’s only the lack of logging and copying large blocks (not just one row) of text on touchscreen-enabled platforms (Pocket PC) that I really miss.
Related (Windows Mobile-only) articles
The MS Smartphone Instant Messaging Bible
The Pocket PC Instant Messaging Bible (Cross-posts: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, TheSmallPicture)
A pretty nice list & quick comparison of the brand new (year 2007) IM apps (that is, Octro, Mundu and Palringo.)

Great article, this is by far my favourite IM client out there.
You should add to the review the fact that it works on http only connections (XMPP over Bosh, probably) and that they have a battery friendly setting (¿HTTP Binding?).
Those last facts are on my own, but I'm pretty sure I'm right

stickman said:
Great article, this is by far my favourite IM client out there.
You should add to the review the fact that it works on http only connections (XMPP over Bosh, probably) and that they have a battery friendly setting (¿HTTP Binding?).
Those last facts are on my own, but I'm pretty sure I'm right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it support proxy configuration?
I still haven't seen *ANY* IM clients out there supporting (or 'inheriting' wm's) proxy configurations.
My dataplan doesn't allow proxyless connections, everything must go through their proxy - otherwise it won't work.
So im stuck without no IM client. anyone has any suggestions?

Good but...
Sound input from the Sprint Mogul and Touch does not function properly in Palringo. It has horrid clicking and choppiness, and although Palringo has been aware of the problem for some time, no solution yet. (Fingers crossed though). I think there are 3 main problems other than the sound bug.
1: Battery life is absolutely atrocious with palringo open. My mogul burned through 50% of a fresh 1500mAh battery in 3 hours.
2: No way to add new contacts
3: Whenever you close a conversation, like to return to the contact list, next time it opens there is absolutely no history...so this is definitely not for ADD people or anybody messaging more than 1-2 people at a time.

Crash after installing Fring
Here's my story I wanna share in case others encounter the same difficulties:
My Hermes is crashed right after installing the latest Fring (cab over the air). The device now blocks seconds after restarting. The screen remains normal, but it is completely frozen, and no command is possible.
I regret not having made a backup beforehand I'm still trying, but I think the only way out at this stage is to hard reset.

another issue is you have to sign in to parlingo, to use a service.
e.g. i cant use my own IM server in my own network if i can not reach parlingo server.

Never seems to connect to their network for me.
Could be that it's somehow blocked by my school's firewall (I'm on their wifi and don't get cell signal in the building). Anything with HTTP binding usually gets through but I can't find an option for enabling HTTP binding. If only Talkonaut wasn't a java app...

UPDATE (02/27/2008): there's a great review of the app HERE. There's some user feedback worth checking out HERE and HERE. Also note that MoDaCo also has a Palringo usergroup.

REVIEW: Another great, multiplatform instant messenger client: Palringo

Instant Messaging is, as with, for example, Web browsers, is a constantly improved area of mobile platforms. This means we’re getting newer and newer instant messenger apps all the time.
Palringo is the newest application to enter the Windows Mobile / Symbian instant messaging world. It, despite of being new, is already is a decent contender really worth paying attention to. Their free (!), multiplatform IM client, Palringo, is certainly worth paying attention to because it has some goodies not present in (most) other instant messenger clients.
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(VGA Pocket PC)
(Symbian s60v3)
(176*220 MS Smartphone)
(Current, tested versions: Windows Mobile: 10/25/2007; Symbian s60v3: 0.96 (11) 10/08/2007. Test devices: Pocket PC (HTC Universal, HTC Wizard), MS Smartphone (HTC s310, s710) and Symbian s60v3 (Nokia N95).)
Getting, using
You can download it HERE. Enter your e-mail address twice. It can be arbitrary – that is, on any other server; it must, however, be an existing one so that you can activate the account. Also, create the password you’d like to use with the client. After submitting the info (and signing in with this), you’re taken to the Download page, where just click the “Download” button or buttons, if you select clients for multiple operating systems. Currently, three operating systems are supported: Windows Mobile (Smartphone and Pocket PC), desktop Windows and Symbian S60v3. They also promise a MIDlet (Java) version of their client, bringing IM support to even “dumb” phones, Blackberries and Palm OS-based devices.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use desktop download / installation, you can fill in your phone number if you want a direct installation link to be sent to you per SMS.
After installing and starting the client, select Menu / Palringo / Online. Enter the e-mail / password pair you’ve registered yourself first at Palringo.
Then, you’ll need to add services to your account. You may want to do this on your desktop computer (with the desktop version if you don’t have a remote controller tool like the excellent Pocket Controller) if you don’t have a decent keyboard for your phone. If you do this on the desktop, the added service accounts will be immediately synchronized to your mobile (and vice versa – and, of course, between mobile phones as well).
Palringo is interoperable with MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GG (Gadu-Gadu), ICQ and XMPP (Jabber). That is, after selecting Menu / Add Service, select the one you’d like to use from the list and, then, just fill in the service login / password as can be seen in HERE. Now, you’ll be logged in. Note that you can add other service accounts any time; you’ll be able to switch between them on the main dialog.
You’ll soon notice Palringo supports multiple logins. Very few IM clients allow the user to log in with multiple accounts into a given IM network: currently, only the, otherwise, not very good Causerie and the band new, beta version of Shape Services’ well-known IM+ for MS Smartphones. (See THIS and THIS threads; their Smartphone homepage is HERE; note that the current (4.45 and 6.15, respectively) PPC and Symbian S60v3 versions still don’t support multiple logins). In THIS screenshot (the same made on a 176*220 Smartphone is HERE and you can see I’ve already logged in with three MSN accounts, and I can still add more MSN accounts by selecting Add Service.
In this respect, therefore, Palringo is without doubt the best.
In addition, it supports groups (pretty much like on the IRC), which is a great way to meet friends or people and is increasingly used by some user communities like that of the infamous XDA-Developers. You can, of course, both create a new or join an existing group. Some screenshots of joining a group: 1 2 3 4 – it’s certainly worth giving a try!
Voice clips, camera stills, clickable links, copy/paste
As with several other clients, it supports sending voice clips. As opposed to, say, Fring (which is without doubt the best IM app in this respect), and just like with Microsoft’s Live Messenger on Windows Mobile (but not on the desktop, where full voice chat is supported), you can only use voice clips, not real-time VoIP. (And, of course, this only works in one direction with non-native Palringo receivers like MSN.) The voice codec is Speex-based, which means it works with acceptable upload speed even over GPRS, while maintaining pretty good sound quality.
Links are clickable on all platforms - certainly good news.
You can paste into the text input field and you can also copy the contents of individual messages (Pocket PC – a HTC Wizard – screenshot HERE). This is good news for Symbian S60 / MS Smartphone (platforms lacking a touchscreen and its mass-selecting capabilities) users but not very good for Pocket PC users, which may want to make mass selection upon wanting to, say, save an entire conversation to a file in one step.

Logging, history
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to log conversations on Windows Mobile at all. On Symbian, however, there’s a separate menu item in the chat window, Options / View Older Messages (or, alternatively, activating the thin bar at the top – in the screenshot, it’s purple-colored). This will retrieve the message from the server, which may take some time, particularly if you retrieve a voice clip or an image.
(Windows Mobile users, see the point in providing Symbian info in my articles? The previous paragraph was one of the tidbits that REALLY make it worth discussing multiple operating system versions at the same time. It’s certainly worth knowing the Symbian version is better in this respect – then, you can “push” the developers to implement the same functionality in the Windows Mobile port as well.)
The problem with this kind of logging is that you must retrieve all older messages one by one by either selecting Options / View Older Messages all the time or, better, pressing the bar. In addition, as the old messages / images / voice clips are all stored on the server, it may take some time to retrieve them. However, it’s still better than nothing at all. Still, in this respect, there’re much more advanced IM clients; most importantly, mov Messenger (for both platforms under Windows Mobile).
Notification, vibration, Pocket PC suspended state, Unicode
It seems to support system-level settings on all Windows Mobile devices (as opposed to Symbian); for example, it had no problems with vibration on the HTC Universal and HTC Wizard PPC. I’ve encountered no vibration and/or system-level audio / vibration switching problems with the HTC Oxygen (s310) and HTC Vox (s710) MS Smartphones either. Notification bubbles / taskbar icons are supported on Pocket PC’s; a taskbar icon is supported on the Smartphone platform; they’re all animated. Notification LED’s are also used.
No such icons under Symbian (for example, on the Standby screen), though.
I haven’t had any problems with receiving notifications on Pocket PC’s in suspended state (tested on the HTC Wizard and Universal), which is certainly very good news, battery life-wise. Of course, always-on platforms not using a suspended state (Symbian, MS Smartphone) have worked all the time.
It has no problems with Unicode chars in either direction (tested with MSN).
Symbian issues (and goodies)
While I had no problems with vibrating alarm (in “Meeting” mode) on ALL of my Windows Mobile devices, it didn’t work on my Nokia N95.
The camera interface is inaccessible under Symbian as can be seen in HERE (before capturing – as can be seen, no interface is accessible, unlike under WM – I’ve tested this on all the three WM test devices), HERE (after capturing) and HERE (transferring the resulting shot) but NOT under WM (example screenshot, taken on the Oxygen, HERE and HERE – incidentally, they show my Universal and N95, both running Palringo), where the real interface is used. This means for example the inability to manually switch to macro mode, switch off the flash etc.
Fortunately, under Symbian, you can set a default access point so that the client can automatically reconnect as can be seen in THIS screenshot. Incidentally, this shot also shows that under Symbian, you can independently set the notification volume, unlike under WM.
Also, on Symbian, it isn’t shut down when the free RAM decreases. This is a definite plus on RAM-lacking models like the Nokia N95.
Windows Mobile issues, CPU / memory benchmarks
I’ve had no problems at all. It worked on all my test devices I’ve installed it on (HTC Universal VGA Pocket PC, HTC Oxygen / s310 WM5 176*220 and HTC Vox / s710 QVGA Smartphones) in both Portrait and Landscape orientations. There were no keyboard problems at all and no orientation change flaws; not even on the Vox (which, before the latest version of mov Messenger, had caused problems to the latter.)
CPU / memory usage while actively waiting for incoming messages: 0% and 300…700kbytes on WM, independent of the “Power/Data Saving Mode” checkbox in Settings. That is, very good.
Some other screenshots
Contact list (on a 176*220 MS Smartphone)
Adding a contact: 1 2
Chatting interface on Symbian
Photo, clickable and voice clip sending works from Palringo to MSN – but, of course, not in the other direction.
Verdict
This is an excellent IM client all supported mobile platforms (Windows Mobile Smartphones and Pocket PC’s and Symbian), particularly if you look for a client capable of joining pre-existing IRC-like groups like that of XDA-Devs and/or want a messenger application capable of multiple logins to the same network. It’s only the lack of logging and copying large blocks (not just one row) of text on touchscreen-enabled platforms (Pocket PC) that I really miss.
Related (Windows Mobile-only) articles
The MS Smartphone Instant Messaging Bible
The Pocket PC Instant Messaging Bible (Cross-posts: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, TheSmallPicture)
A pretty nice list & quick comparison of the brand new (year 2007) IM apps (that is, Octro, Mundu and Palringo.)

Menneisyys said:
Logging, history
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to log conversations on Windows Mobile at all. On Symbian, however, there’s a separate menu item in the chat window, Options / View Older Messages (or, alternatively, activating the thin bar at the top – in the screenshot, it’s purple-colored). This will retrieve the message from the server, which may take some time, particularly if you retrieve a voice clip or an image.
(Windows Mobile users, see the point in providing Symbian info in my articles? The previous paragraph was one of the tidbits that REALLY make it worth discussing multiple operating system versions at the same time. It’s certainly worth knowing the Symbian version is better in this respect – then, you can “push” the developers to implement the same functionality in the Windows Mobile port as well.)
The problem with this kind of logging is that you must retrieve all older messages one by one by either selecting Options / View Older Messages all the time or, better, pressing the bar. In addition, as the old messages / images / voice clips are all stored on the server, it may take some time to retrieve them. However, it’s still better than nothing at all. Still, in this respect, there’re much more advanced IM clients; most importantly, mov Messenger (for both platforms under Windows Mobile).
Notification, vibration, Pocket PC suspended state, Unicode
It seems to support system-level settings on all Windows Mobile devices (as opposed to Symbian); for example, it had no problems with vibration on the HTC Universal and HTC Wizard PPC. I’ve encountered no vibration and/or system-level audio / vibration switching problems with the HTC Oxygen (s310) and HTC Vox (s710) MS Smartphones either. Notification bubbles / taskbar icons are supported on Pocket PC’s; a taskbar icon is supported on the Smartphone platform; they’re all animated. Notification LED’s are also used.
No such icons under Symbian (for example, on the Standby screen), though.
I haven’t had any problems with receiving notifications on Pocket PC’s in suspended state (tested on the HTC Wizard and Universal), which is certainly very good news, battery life-wise. Of course, always-on platforms not using a suspended state (Symbian, MS Smartphone) have worked all the time.
It has no problems with Unicode chars in either direction (tested with MSN).
Symbian issues (and goodies)
While I had no problems with vibrating alarm (in “Meeting” mode) on ALL of my Windows Mobile devices, it didn’t work on my Nokia N95.
The camera interface is inaccessible under Symbian as can be seen in HERE (before capturing – as can be seen, no interface is accessible, unlike under WM – I’ve tested this on all the three WM test devices), HERE (after capturing) and HERE (transferring the resulting shot) but NOT under WM (example screenshot, taken on the Oxygen, HERE and HERE – incidentally, they show my Universal and N95, both running Palringo), where the real interface is used. This means for example the inability to manually switch to macro mode, switch off the flash etc.
Fortunately, under Symbian, you can set a default access point so that the client can automatically reconnect as can be seen in THIS screenshot. Incidentally, this shot also shows that under Symbian, you can independently set the notification volume, unlike under WM.
Also, on Symbian, it isn’t shut down when the free RAM decreases. This is a definite plus on RAM-lacking models like the Nokia N95.
Windows Mobile issues, CPU / memory benchmarks
I’ve had no problems at all. It worked on all my test devices I’ve installed it on (HTC Universal VGA Pocket PC, HTC Oxygen / s310 WM5 176*220 and HTC Vox / s710 QVGA Smartphones) in both Portrait and Landscape orientations. There were no keyboard problems at all and no orientation change flaws; not even on the Vox (which, before the latest version of mov Messenger, had caused problems to the latter.)
CPU / memory usage while actively waiting for incoming messages: 0% and 300…700kbytes on WM, independent of the “Power/Data Saving Mode” checkbox in Settings. That is, very good.
Some other screenshots
Contact list (on a 176*220 MS Smartphone)
Adding a contact: 1 2
Chatting interface on Symbian
Photo, clickable and voice clip sending works from Palringo to MSN – but, of course, not in the other direction.
Verdict
This is an excellent IM client all supported mobile platforms (Windows Mobile Smartphones and Pocket PC’s and Symbian), particularly if you look for a client capable of joining pre-existing IRC-like groups like that of XDA-Devs and/or want a messenger application capable of multiple logins to the same network. It’s only the lack of logging and copying large blocks (not just one row) of text on touchscreen-enabled platforms (Pocket PC) that I really miss.
Related (Windows Mobile-only) articles
The MS Smartphone Instant Messaging Bible
The Pocket PC Instant Messaging Bible (Cross-posts: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, TheSmallPicture)
A pretty nice list & quick comparison of the brand new (year 2007) IM apps (that is, Octro, Mundu and Palringo.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks it was nice.
Do we have a messenger that lets us video chat ????

i like this program because it's one of the only ones that allows msging with "offline" contacts.

alber786 said:
thanks it was nice.
Do we have a messenger that lets us video chat ????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently, not. Prolly in the future - see the latest developments with MS Portrait, which MAY receive front camera support for HTC devices.

UPDATE (02/27/2008): there's a great review of the app HERE. There's some user feedback worth checking out HERE and HERE. Also note that MoDaCo also has a Palringo usergroup.