Yes, there are some paid, multi-IM clients (can access services such as Yahoo!, MSN, and Google at the same time) already on the market for the Blackberry, but who wants those when free programs such as Pidigin already exists for the PC, or websites like Meebo? In researching my last article, I came accross a product called Palringo, and decided to use it on my own phone (BB 8703e for Verizon).
The product advertises it self as being a multi-IM client (availble for mulitple platforms, including the PC) that is capable of sending and receiving multimedia messages, including voice. Sounds promising right? Let's see how it stacks up against others.
The install is easy, just point your phone's web browser to http://palringo.mobi, and follow the instructions to install. The page should automatically detect your phone model and screen size (resolution). Once installed, you can find it on your home screen along with your other programs.
The program itself has a nicely polished, monochromatic interface (blacks, grays, and white) and appears fairly straight forward. It is divided into two sections (and includes a separate tab for your contacts): Services you are logged into, and Active chats. Easy right?
Here is where my frustration began, I'm ok without having wizards to help me get setup on a product as long as the functions can be found easily, and this was not the case. Clicking on the blackberry menu (or on the scrollwheel, in my case), will not do anything just like the rest of the keys on the keyboard. In fact, I couldn't even get my phone to switch to the contacts tab. By default, you will only see their IM client service (just like Meebo), and to log on, you can click on it and select Sign In. However, if you do not already have an account, you will have to go to the website on your computer and create an account. Once established, you can use those credentials to log in. However, at the time of this article, I was not able to locate an obvious spot where you can log into your other clients' accounts (on the website or on the phone). Not good.