Nimbuzz: The Ultimate IM App… Almost

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After hitting the 10,000 apps and 300,000,000 downloads mark (yes, there were 300 million downloads so far), you would think there would be at least one app in the app store that offers an instant messaging experience somewhat similar to the desktop one. Take Digsby, for example. Besides its lack of Skype support, it is a user friendly, clean and fun interface that offers all the functionality one needs in a messaging application on a PC. What about the iPhone? Does such an app exist?

Digsby's Different Skins

Digsby's Different Skins

There is definitely no shortage of messaging apps in the app store, I wouldn’t even say there was a shortage of free ones. There is however, a very severe shortage of IM apps that offer it all, until now. Let me explain.

The available free IM apps include Fring, IM+, Palringo,  AIM, Facebook, and Nimbuzz. Out of all of those apps, there is only one that offers all the needed capabilities of a good IM app.

fring_iphone

So what does one need in an IM app to make it good? Here is a little list:

  • Multi Platform Support: I need it to support AIM, MSN, GTalk, Yahoo, Facebook, and Skype.
  • Landscape Keyboard: So much easier to type on.
  • VOIP: It needs to not only support Skype, MSN, or GTalk chat, but why not take advantage of their VOIP capabilities as well?
  • Separate Buddy Lists: I want to see my contacts separated by network and not all on one very long list.
  • Easy to navigate interface: It has to be user friendly to be an app I would consider using.

OK so that is a short list of characteristics I am looking for in an IM app.

There is only one app that I have found to offer pretty much everything in that list; Nimbuzz.

mobile-messaging-with-nimbuzz

Nimbuzz is a great app I discovered recently, after using Fring, IM+, and Palringo for a few weeks, and Nimbuzz has em all beat. It is not perfect yet, as there seems to be some buginess with Facebook chat sometimes working and sometimes not. I also occasionally get an AIM error that too many people are signing on at the same time, but it eventually signs me in.

Another issue I have with Nimbuzz is the login takes a little too long for my liking, but given all it offers, that is something I can deal with. I am really liking the quality of the audio when using the VOIP functionality via Skype, GTalk, or MSN, it is leagues above Fring or Truphone. The email integration is a little unclear to me, it notifies me when I have a new email in my Gmail account, but I cannot access the new message. Not getting that.

To sum up, I am really looking forward to the next Nimbuzz release, hopefully they’ll fix the minor issues and make this one of the most feature packed, fun to use apps in the app store. For me, Nimbuzz gets a 4.5/5. I am liking it.

-Hillel

3_nimbuzz-021

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hilzfuld

Hillel Fuld is a global speaker, entrepreneur, journalist, vlogger, and leading startup advisor. He brings over a decade of marketing experience with leading Israeli and Silicon Valley startups, and currently collaborates with many global brands in an official marketing capacity including Google, Oracle, Microsoft, Huawei, and others.      Hillel covers the dynamic local tech scene for many leading publications including Entrepreneur magazine, Inc, TechCrunch, Mashable, The Next Web, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Venturebeat, and others. Additionally, Hillel mentors startups across Israel in different accelerators including The Google Launchpad, the Microsoft Ventures accelerator, Techstars, The Junction, and more.    Hillel has been named Israel’s top marketer, 7th top tech blogger worldwide, has been featured on CNBC, Inc, and was dubbed by Forbes as “The Man Transforming Startup Nation into Scale-up Nation”.       Hillel has hundreds of thousands of followers across the social web and can be found on Twitter at @Hilzfuld. You can learn more about him on his website: www.hilzfuld.com

 

2 thoughts on “Nimbuzz: The Ultimate IM App… Almost

  1. Nimbuzz logs you in from it’s server in the Netherlands flagging up a security alert with Facebook. This is highly irregular programming (sending your password to another server before facebook) and I just don’t trust it at all. Maybe if they (like everyone else) can log me in directly, from my default location I’ll have another go but until then there’s no way they’re getting my details.

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