Mobile instant messaging systems compared

It's simple. The best im client is the one that the majority are using. To my mine that is whatsapp
 
ebendl said:
WhatsApp has one major flaw IMHO - only one device at a time. Although the idea to use your number to find friends is great, I would love to be able to sign in on my tablet and my PC and have it sync across the three.

Also, optional read receipts (like iMessage allows you to choose) would be great!
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I use two (sometimes three phones) . Easy way around this is the people I talk to most on whatsapp, are not a contact but in a group.
So if I'm person A speaking to Person B, then I create a group with A(blackberry) + A(Nokia) + B . That way I reply with any phone, and get see msg's quicker.
 
g-star said:
I use two (sometimes three phones) . Easy way around this is the people I talk to most on whatsapp, are not a contact but in a group.
So if I'm person A speaking to Person B, then I create a group with A(blackberry) + A(Nokia) + B . That way I reply with any phone, and get see msg's quicker.
Click to expand...

I've done this before as well, and yes, it works. Doesn't solve for tablets (esp. Wifi ones) and PCs/Macs, though.

But honestly, if WhatsApp can establish that you own a phone number (i.e. per SMS as on the phone apps), then why not allow me to use my phone number and password and log into another device at the same time (without "phone" capabilities)? Do intelligent sync and pick up which device I'm busy on.

Even better - allow me to create a username (say on their website) and associate my phone numbers with it - that way all of them stay in sync and the noobs that don't know about the feature can still use the phone app as is.
 
I think everyone should standarise on whatsapp. It works effortlessly with a great interface and it is supported on all platforms. For voice, Viber works by far the best. Just one correction on the article: Viber can also send pictures.
 
cozinsky said:
I think everyone should standarise on whatsapp. It works effortlessly with a great interface and it is supported on all platforms. For voice, Viber works by far the best. Just one correction on the article: Viber can also send pictures.
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That's kinda the problem though - as soon as something new and better comes along, it could be easy to just switch again! 5 years ago everybody I knew were using MXIT - now everybody I know is using WhatsApp.
 
ebendl said:
I've done this before as well, and yes, it works. Doesn't solve for tablets (esp. Wifi ones) and PCs/Macs, though.

But honestly, if WhatsApp can establish that you own a phone number (i.e. per SMS as on the phone apps), then why not allow me to use my phone number and password and log into another device at the same time (without "phone" capabilities)? Do intelligent sync and pick up which device I'm busy on.

Even better - allow me to create a username (say on their website) and associate my phone numbers with it - that way all of them stay in sync and the noobs that don't know about the feature can still use the phone app as is.
Click to expand...

Yup - Tango (cross platform Videocall - like Facetime) uses your phone number as the unique identifier - don't see why Whatsapp couldn't implement something similar.
 
cozinsky said:
I think everyone should standarise on whatsapp. It works effortlessly with a great interface and it is supported on all platforms. For voice, Viber works by far the best. Just one correction on the article: Viber can also send pictures.
Click to expand...

Except that while it seems Whatsapp is actually using XMPP, they don't have interop enabled, unlike Google Talk. IMHO It is bad to standardise on a closed implementation of an open standard.

(I use GTalk, Jabber, Skype, Facebook via XMPP, which natively supported on my phone, and also available for non-phone platforms. Whatsapp doesn't support the platform I am on or non-phone platforms, though insecurities in their implementation seem to be allowing a third-party application ... but then, is that encouraging?)
 
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