Jabber Client Overview for Symbian 9

Hey. As you know, sometimes there are problems with work in the ICQ network from alternative clients. Many seriously thought about switching to Jabber, and some have been there for a long time. And in order for you to choose a suitable client for a mobile phone, we prepared a small overview of existing solutions for Symbian 9 especially for the habr. Target clients (IM +, Agile) were not intentionally included in it, but this is not necessary, because you will see that domestic free development is right now.

Talkanavt

The very first, popular client. Currently supports conferences (multi-user chats), file transfer, history storage. It supports transports to connect to ICQ, AIM, MSN and Yahoo, and even offers to connect from its own set. But the most interesting thing about this client is the availability of voice communication through its own gateway using GTalk2VoIP technology. But more about that in the next article.
Talkanavt has a large number of settings, traffic consumption statistics and check for updates. The client’s shortcomings include the lack of organization of a contact list in several columns, inconvenient copying of a chat fragment, and lack of notifications about new messages on the screen when the application is minimized. There is also no notification of the delivery of messages to the addressee.

Accordion

Once, an ICQ client, recently received a plugin for the Jabber network. A good and high-speed client, has support for history, delivery notifications, various notifications and indicators on the screen when the application is minimized, a lot of program settings, a very large number of settings, especially with regard to fonts, there is even antialiasing. In addition, there is native support for ICQ (without jabber transports).
Among the shortcomings, it is worth noting the lack of support for conferences, the addition of transports, the transfer of files (it is only being tested for BayanICQ so far). This is explained by the fact that the Bayan Jabber module still has beta status, but is being actively developed.
We interviewed the author Bayan and are now preparing him for publication.

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Mobile Agent (formerly VmICQ, Smaper)

The client from the company "Mail.ru". One of the market leaders of clients for ICQ, after Bayan, got the opportunity to work in the Jabber-network (this is in addition to ICQ, and the native mail .ru network). The client is good, there is support for conferences, history, file transfer, a lot of settings, weather informers, news and currency rates. Among the shortcomings, it is worth noting the lack of delivery notifications, ondaco, most likely, this is temporary.

Qip PDA

One of the very first domestic ICQ clients for Symbian 9. A week ago, a beta version was released with support for jabber. The functionality of the program roughly corresponds to Bayan and the Agent, and in a short time the kip can become a leader. So far, the color schemes, the unfortunate clipping of smiles, etc. are frustrating. We are waiting for release.

I am online

Client from the company "Yandex". Linked to accounts on @ ya.ru, it allows you to receive and send mail, send your contact details received via Yandex.Map to your buddy. He does not know how to send files and store history (in principle, history is the scourge of many clients), copying text from the chat is also somewhat difficult.
However, it is worth noting that the appearance and dynamics of the client are quite pleasant, it remains the case for the small thing - to increase the functionality.

Contacts on Ovi (formerly Nokia Chat)

A client from Nokia, which will soon take its place in the firmware of the phones. It works only with accounts on @ ovi.com. Does not save history, does not transfer files, but on phones with Symbian 9.3 (E55, E75, N78, N79, N85, N86, N96, etc.) it can broadcast the name of the song being played to the status, as well as transmit information about its coordinates , this time from Nokia Maps. In addition, the program is embedded directly in the list of contacts.
The project is at the development stage and is hidden from the inhabitants on Nokia Betalabs. We follow the development.

Slick

Program from the famous studio Lonely Cat Games (Xplore, Jukebox). Supports ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, Google Talk. One of the first programs that learned how to transfer files. However, now it is no longer so exclusive, and the Slick doesn’t have much popularity for a fairly uncomfortable interface with a minimum of settings.

Fring

The program itself is incredibly interesting - the Internet telephony functions are most conveniently implemented in it, but it is of little use for instant messaging: although there is support for Jabber, ICQ and other networks, right up to posting to Twitter, there is no history, you cannot copy chat. True, the file transfer is. Actually, Fring will be the hero of the next series, about VoIP.

Nimbuzz , Octrotalk

Like Fring, they are sharpened for voice communication, although they have support for text messages, but it is not convenient enough - there is no history, inconvenient contact list, etc.

Palringo

Enough tasty application, although it lacks some interface settings. However, the program is quite suitable for everyday use, there are a number of fun features: you can record a voice message with one click, which will come to the interlocutor as a link to an mp3 file. In addition, you can send a link to your location. In other clients, it will be displayed as a link to this point in the online map service. Has a Russian translation, blacklist. Not enough history and delivery notifications. In addition, some interface elements take up too much space.

Yeigo

An interesting program with an innovative interface. For some reason, Jabber only supports Google Talk, but besides it can work with Skype, ICQ, AIM, MSN, and Facebook. I couldn’t call on Skype, but the program is at a height on the part of instant messages. The most interesting innovation is the ability to send messages directly from the contact list. In addition, a part of the history is displayed under the nicknames of the active contacts, and you can immediately see what the new messages are about. Whether it is convenient or not is a personal matter.



Summing up, it can be noted that the work with Jabber is most fully implemented in talkanavte, there are conferences, transports, etc., however, for convenience, he loses to Bayan and Agent, which are excellent for everyday use, because they have a very precise interface and convenient dynamics. There are some interesting experimental clients: Yaigo, Palringo, which have unusual functions, and, perhaps, will soon become popular. As for the three Fring, Nimbuzz, Octotalk, then we will try to reveal their capabilities in the next article, which will be devoted to the capabilities of Internet telephony.

Thank you for your attention, and Rroosstt - for the screenshots.
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