[Non-Touchscreen Windows Mobile Other] Menneisyys:
Agile Messenger 3-74

(The second is a 176*220 HTC s310 (Oxygen) screenshot)

Updates, differences

As far as the problems with the old version are concerned, unfortunately, it still only allows for sending images only. While it also supports built-in (back) cameras (along with adding a message to these images; the results can be seen in HERE), it still doesn’t support sending arbitrary files, let alone receiving anything. Logging is still NOT automatic and must be initiated by hand.

Differences between the PPC and the SP versions

The SP version seems to offer exactly the same goodies as the PPC one; for example, voice message recording and sending. It MIGHT be able to receive and (auto-)play voice messages (see THIS screenshot of the Media tab of Settings).

The SP version has Edit capabilities (unlike, say, the SP version of IM+); both Copy (only copying the currently selected row, as is the case with the PPC version) and Paste work as expected. This is good news as, unlike with the PPC version, links can NOT be invoked upon, for example, pressing the Action key on them (not even when a message ONLY contains a link and nothing else).

Logging-wise, there’s still no automatic logging – you must still save your messages by hand. The new History & Groups tab in Preferences doesn’t have any related checkbox either.

Fortunately, the SP version, as with the PPC one, dynamically resizes its GUI upon Portrait / Landscape switching and has no problems with the Vox keyboard (it, of course, works great in both phonepad modes, should your SP lack a QWERTY keyboard).

Finally, as far as initiating conference calls is concerned, it seems it’s, in theory, possible to invite other people to conference conversations; however, it’s just impossible to select any other participant on the Smartphone. With conference calls initiated from other clients, the messages coming from the non-originating party aren’t displayed in Agile, unlike in the desktop clients – that is, it’s useless. In this regard, it behaves exactly the same way as with version 65.

Verdict

The lack of automatic logging and file transfer capabilities is still a major pain in the back.

imov Messenger 2.22ee

(Note that most remarks refer to the Enterprise version - the free one is considerably less powerful.)

Updates, differences

As far as the differences between the new (2.22ee) and the old, last time reviewed version (2.12e) are concerned, there are few of them.

First, fortunately, the MAJOR problem with the pixel doubled suffering from heavy ClearType with VGA displays is gone as can be seen in THIS screenshot. Great – now, it’s highly recommended for VGA users (unlike version 2.12).

However, there is still no smiley input and text copy / paste is still not implemented (not even in the PPC version). Unfortunately, the same stands for file transfer. Finally, logging must still be manually started (Menu / 5 Log) in every single conversation you’d like to log (log files are stored in the root directory of the PDA in a 8-bit format. This also means accented Unicode characters will be lost and converted to their non-accented ASCII counterpart - if any.) Note that Menu / Actions / Log Messages (in the userlist page) is supposed to enable logging for all subsequent conversations; this currently (with the currently available, 2.22ee version) doesn't work, but already works with the in-development beta I was sent by the developer, which means it MIGHT be supported in the future.

Note that the currently available SP version is the lack for the dynamic Portrait- Landscape switching support (as opposed to both Agile and IM+). This will be VERY bad news for Vox users that very often slide out and in the keyboard (screenshots: 1 2). If you know you will switch the orientation, start with Landscape mode because, otherwise, you won’t see what you type after switching from Portait to Landscape as can be seen in the previous screenshot. Then, you “only” lose part of the Portrait screen estate (1 2; after switching back to Landscape, there, everything will be OK). The problem is present, but to a much lesser degree, on the PPC platform too (example of the results of a dynamic rotation HERE. After this, rotating back on the PPC didn’t help either – as opposed to the SP version).

The developer has already fixed this (to a certain degree) but I don’t know when the new version is made online.

Differences between the PPC and the SP versions

The SP version is almost exactly the same as the PPC one, which is certainly very good news, given that the SP port of, for example, IM+, is clearly inferior to the PPC one. This means all the goodies of the PPC version are present in the SP version too; for example, clickable links.

Other niceties & screenshots

There is a very nice feature in imov messenger not present in any other IM product: Location Based Services, which must be explicitly enabled & the related routing capabilities to other users (in THIS screenshot, without coordinates being given; also note the “Route From / To” menu items in the bottom right). It makes it possible to know the distance from another user. I haven’t tested this, but if it’s correctly implemented (for example, with GPS support – that is, not using static coordinates but dynamic ones), it can be of GREAT help in helping people track each other.