Showing posts with label Viber. Show all posts

Apps Better With A QWERTY Android


I've been an SMS addict since I started using a text-capable GSM phone. And that was back in the year 2000, a good 12 years ago. Today, I haven't changed. In fact, I probably got worse. Like me, I believe that most Filipinos, even with the prime of the Call and Text Unli generation, still prefer SMS. And with the advent of very affordable smartphones like the Android, more messaging and communication applications are available for the everyday user.

While an occasional tweet or Facebook Status Update may not require you to have a physical QWERTY Android, and may, in fact be enjoyable executed on a touch screen phone, a marathon text and chat session may be a pain on a touch screen. That being said, here are apps that I feel are better off used on an Android with a QWERTY keyboard, like the HTC Chacha:



GTalk

Every Android comes with a GTalk client right upon unboxing. All you need to do is to fire it up, using your Google Account username and password.

GTalk for Android is light, simple and utilitarian. You will be able to receive messages even when not actively using the app, just as long as you've logged in and it's running in the background.


Yahoo Messenger

Yahoo Messenger, I find, is rather heavy on the system. While it may work great on a higher-spec Android, it may cause a midrange or circa-2010 Android to run with some lags and snags. If you have 600MHz CPU speed/256MB RAM, forget it. Though, it seems to run just fine on Samsung Galaxy Y, which has 800MHz CPU speed/290MB RAM.

Just to let you know, the bigger pain is that if you want to run YM with Video, you would have to download another plugin, which would eat up more of your ROM.

On the brighter side, though, YM for Android gives the standard, pleasant YM experience that Windows users of Yahoo Messenger enjoy: Font effects, smileys, and even the BUZZ! Feature.


Facebook Messenger/Chat

Aside from the standard Facebook for Android app, Facebook offered Facebook Messenger for Android. It exclusively handles chats and messages for your Facebook account.

Is it handy? If you're that addicted to Facebook and you want to remain online, all the time, yes. If you couldn't wait to get to your desktop to share pics, yes. But if you're not really into the whole being-online-24/7 thing, then you don't really need this, not even if you have a QWERTY phone.

My only reason why I would download, install and keep this would be because the Facebook Messenger app allows you to send pictures as attachments in messages, while the built-in messenger in the Facebook for Android app doesnt: messages are strictly text-only.

Still, if you want to chat for long hours with your friends, best used with a physical QWERTY keyboard.


Trillian

Trillian is one of those inter-account services that allows you to integrate your different instant messaging accounts under one chat client. While apps similar to Trillian abound, like eBuddy, Pidgin, Adium, Meebo and the like, Trillian is possibly the best in this niche, because it integrates across platforms:

  • Windows
  • Mac
  • iPhone
  • Android
  • Blackberry
  • Browser/Web-based Client

Imagine the flexibility of Trillian: you can pause a chat you've been having on your desktop, then take it up again, whichever smartphone you have: whether it's an iPhone, and Android or a Blackberry. And if you find yourself needing to connect to friends, loved ones or clients on the go and you have nothing else but the nearest Internet Cafe, you'll be able to use Trillian from there, too.

And if you have at least three Android batteries and will be stuck waiting for your doctor or waiting in line to facilitate some government documents, Trillian will be handy with an HTC Chacha, HTC Desire Z, Cherry Mobile Candy Chat or some other QWERTY Android. And if you have a Blackberry, that may make your life a little bit better as well.


Viber

This is possibly the only advanced messaging/chatting app that I'll keep on my Cherry Mobile Nova. I find that Viber is very useful, and is better than MMS or even GMail in exchanging photos. While I wouldn't want to keep a Facebook Messenger app on my Android, I'd definitely keep this. Only, it'd be great if I used this on a QWERTY Android. Soon!

I was recently marathon exchanging Viber messages with a couple of friends who went on a trip to Singapore and it was a pain trying to keep up with their messages on my fully touch screen Cherry Mobile Nova, even with the HTC_IME mod keyboard.


These apps will make you wish your Android has a physical keyboard. Though, in all truth, the most enjoyable apps to keep on a fully touchscreen Android were Viber and Trillian.

How about you? Do you have apps that make you wish your Android had a QWERTY keyboard as well?


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Photo Credits: Hubpages User Calvincho: Why QWERTY Keyboard?
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How To Save On Calls And Texts Through Viber



The other week, we talked about Viber, an app that not only gives you the convenience of Instant Messaging technology that mimics SMS technology, it also unites users across the two major mobile platforms: iOS and Android. Coming soon on the Blackberry.

Today, we discuss how you could save on prepaid or even postpaid credits, using Viber. It may take a bit of an adjustment, and IS a lifehack of sorts.

How to make it work: 

Prerequisite: Asking all of the people you usually text to download Viber to their Androids, iPhones and iPod Touches.

Method 1: If you're constantly online anyway because you have a WiFi/DSL connection at home and WiFi at work, then you don't need to maintain an unlimited subscription for your phone. Just load regular prepaid credits, text minimally when you're commuting, and do the bulk of your texting at work or at home.

This would help if your main number is a Sun Cellular number, as Sun to Sun texts now only cost Php 0.50 per message. Another budget-saving network would be Red Mobile, with text messages costing only Php 0.50 for Red to Red and Red to Smart. Texts to other networks cost Php 1.00.

Method 2: If you need a constant connection online, and are considering getting an ADSL line for home, scratch the thought. Choose to use a 3G mobile connection instead, and host it on your Android or iPhone that has Viber installed. This way, you can turn your phone into a mobile hotspot, even as you take advantage of constant connection to Viber.

The only thing you have to worry about now is how to reach your contacts who are not on Viber.

If most of your mobile network credits, whether prepaid or postpaid, are consumed on text conversations that last for hours, then move to 3G and Viber and save on mobile credits. If having a 3G data plan is not an option at the moment, then exercise a bit of restraint and teach yourself to just text when you're within WiFi range. This way, you'll ensure that you'll be able to maximize your mobile service consumption.

Enjoy Viber!
Instant Messaging
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Android App Review: Viber -- Rendering SMS Obsolete?



Filipinos were the trailblazers in maximizing the SMS or Short Message Service feature rolled out for public consumption around the year 2000. SMS technology had been conceptualized way back in 1984. Then on December 3, 1992, the first SMS was sent over Vodaphone UK, from a computer to an Orbitel 901 handset. But it was only in the year 2000 when Philippine mobile phone users figured out the communications potential of the technology. Ironically, it took a few years later for SMS to catch on in first-world countries like the US.

Today, SMS is being prophesied as a technology that may be on its way out, as social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and their ilk serve to connect people in more affordable ways.

Enter Viber. This app unites the Android and the iOS ecosystem and makes these two competing smartphone platforms hold hands. Not only is this one more reason to forget about the Symbian OS, but this is also one more reason why the statement that SMS is a doomed technology may very well come true.

Viber is like Skype for mobile. It lets you call, send messages and even photos, to your contacts. It is actually more of an Instant Messaging service rather than a true-blue SMS service, but since it's on mobile, and it uses a user's mobile number as the account username, it looks and feels 99% like an SMS service.

And since it also lets a user make calls, Viber then, could very well be a mobile service substitute.

However, Viber is an app that uses VoIP technology, thus, it needs a connection to 3G or WiFi in order for it to work.

The bad part: If you're not subscribed to a data plan or will be traveling to places that don't have WiFi, you won't be able to use the service.

The good part: Savings, if you're in a place where WiFi is readily available, or if you're subscribed to a data plan.

The great part: On the other hand, even mere iPod Touch owners can use the app. It's a great way to turn your iPod Touch into an iPhone without needing to spend for a contraption to convert it.

Texting and calling on Viber really feels more like being on Skype for Mobile, without the resource and bandwidth overload. Viber feels like a faster version of SMS, and like a twin brother of IM. It sends photos in an instant, surpassing MMS technology. It also lets you see as your contact types his messages, and keeps these in a threaded archive. Everything you want from IM and SMS, with very few limitations.

We discuss how to save on prepaid credits through Viber in a future post. Watch out for that!

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Photo Credits: Viber Official Website
Android App Reviews
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