While everyone else is currently getting in a tizz over natively run iPhone applications, Google has just put the finishing touches to a streamlined iPhone version of its web based Google Talk IM service.
All the usual features are present and correct so you can search your contacts, check their online status and send messages back and forth in real time. It has all been given a lovely simple touchscreen interface to, just to complete the package. All you need to do to use the web application is navigate to www.google.com/talk using the Safari browser on your iPhone and then sign in (assuming you already have an account).
It will be interesting to see what sort of support web applications receive going forward in the aftermath of an influx of native applications that do the same jobs independently of web access. Not long to wait now…
There are no shortage of Instant Messaging clients for Windows Mobile and Symbian, and it takes quite a bit to impress us here at Pocket Picks.
Palringo is a new multi-platform IM app for Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 3rd Edition, Windows and Java that might just make the grade.
Palringo supports all the popular IM services (Google Talk, AIM, MSN, etc) as well as its own network. The most significant difference between Palringo and these other services is the addition of Vioce and Picture messaging. Using your phone (or PC) you can take photos or short audio clips and send them to your Palringo contacts. You can also send these through to some of the other supported networks, where they will appear as a web link to the hosted file on Palringo’s server.
If you are a heavy IM user perhaps the most useful feature is the ability to sign in to multiple instances of each service. I use one Google Talk account for work and another for chatting to friends and updating Twitter, etc, and this is a feature I have been waiting for for a long time.
There are still a few rough edges - new IM conversations can end existing ones, for example - but these are being worked on by the Palringo development team.
Palringo is a free download, available here.
Just a quick flash of mobile VoIP news for those of you who use either Truphone or Google-talk. As you have probably already deduced from the headline, the two services are now interoperable meaning that you can use Truphone to call any GoogleTalk user for free and vice versa.
It is a bit of an unexpected move seeing as Truphone is a standalone mobile VoIP application as opposed to a VoIP client navigator like Fring, but if it means even more free calling options then who are we to argue?
Both GoogleTalk and Truphone are free to download so if you have a compatible phone, an obliging network operator and an unlimited data contract there is no good reason we can think of not to give this a go. If this is all giberish to you head over to the site where the good folks at Truphone have helpfully posted a video that explains how the whole thing works.
(Via Truphone Blog)
