It seems as though the need for availability and connectivity is becoming increasingly important. This is true in both personal and professional lives. How do you keep connected to the people you know? Are you constantly on Yahoo! Messenger? How about living on Facebook or MySpace? You're probably chatting away on Google Talk or even using Skype. Whatever you decide to help you stay in touch and on top of the latest, you also want to try and keep things simple and organized. The last thing you want to do is find yourself tripping over multiple applications.
If you're looking to incorporate a multi-community mobile social messenger into your communication carousel, Nimbuzz will help you stay in touch with everyone from one place. No switching between programs, no confusion as to who is using what. It's simplified socializing by swiftly shootin' the sh-um...poop in smartphone style (how's that for alliteration?). The social butterfly in you is just dying to read more, isn't it?
About Nimbuzz
The Nimbuzz BlackBerry application is available on a wide selection of models. Just viewing their compatibility page feels like a trip down memory lane. It appears as though they cover BlackBerrys from the 71xx and 72xx series all the way up to the Bold 9700 and Storm 2. The most recent version of the BlackBerry mobile application is 1.0.0, with a file size of 352KB. Besides BlackBerrys, Nimbuzz offers support for a huge list of mobile brands, including; Motorola, Apple, Nokia and LG (but we don't care about those, do we?). Besides the mobility side, Nimbuzz also offers web chat services, as well as programs for Mac or PC. Nimbuzz allows you to install the application from your computer or OTA. The mobile app works over 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi.
choose your destiny
The Nimbuzz mobile application is fairly easy to set up. A list of supported social networks can be easily scrolled through until you find the ones you use. In most cases, all you need is your username and password. In other cases, additional verification is required. For example; when signing into Facebook, the application prompted for me to verify my date of birth. The following is a list of supported networks;
Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo!, Facebook, Google Talk/Orkut, AIM, MySpace, ICQ, studiVZ, schulerVZ, GaduGadu, Giovani, Hyves, Jabber, Gayet, Azbuz
The last three are actually marked as “currently not available”
I was pleased to see Google Talk, as well as Facebook - I do use those from time to time. I was, however, shocked to find my favourite social network absent from the list - Twitter! I haven't even heard of some of these other networks, yet the one I personally use on a regular basis is excluded, at least on the BlackBerry application. I do know that, since December 10th, Symbian users have been reveling in a feature rich Twitter client. Hopefully we BlackBerry users will see support soon. After you have signed in to all of your accounts, you'll notice that your contacts will be available from one list. This is a great idea, as you don't have to worry about trying to find a particular contact (you might have forgotten which network they use). From the list, you can quickly see who's online in real time, with no need to refresh your view. I went to say hi to my brother, but the bugger signed out.
your list of contacts
Depending on who you are talking to, messages come in quickly. When looking at a chat, each entry will display the time the message was sent or delivered, right after the actual message. If your contact types an URL for you to check out, you can click on it directly from the chat window, when you are then redirected to the browser. On the contact list page, current chats are transferred to a separate section, so as to easily identify which of your contacts you are having a conversation with. Those with a long list of contacts will be glad to hear that Nimbuzz has a Find option available. As you type the desired contact's name, the application will begin to shorten the list based on your input.
chat window
When viewing Facebook contacts, most of them display only their profile ID number, rather than their name. After some digging in the Nimbuzz forums, I discovered that this is an issue with the application, not the site. This makes it difficult to find specific people, unless you have an incredible memorization technique. For easier navigation, you can also choose to hide offline contacts.
the Settings menu
I was impressed to see the level of integration that is being offered. Nimbuzz will run in the background and will notify you of a new message. You can set a specific alert tone in the BlackBerry profile menu, view a blinking LED and even see a new message notification icon. For those who have read previous articles where they mentioned VoIP, you will notice there is a lack of VoIP support in the current version. Though there is Skype support, it’s only through messaging. My hopes of seeing this in the future have been crushed. According to Nimbuzz, this is a limitation of the BlackBerry itself. Apparently, they do not have enough power to support internet calling...
Change your status
Conclusion
Nimbuzz promised to bring all of my contacts together into one list for easy socializing. Even though I think this application is a great idea and it’s done well so far, I’m working on a wish list for the next version. The list includes being able to send and receive files (when using one of the IM accounts). You can pick up Nimbuzz for free from BlackBerry App World.
Pros
- Mash all of your contacts into one list
- BlackBerry integration, manage alert tones, see LED alerts and message notification icons
- See avatars and send emoticons
Cons
- Blackberry not "powerful" enough for VoIP
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