Category: Google

Ok, forget about IM+ (read what I said here: “Google Talk on iMate phones“). I tried this application for a while and it was ok, but I still think it’s a bit expensive, and it didn’t function as well as I expected it to.

Go take a look at Talkonaut.

I don’t really know what to say about this app other than it is BRILLIANT!!! Why? It just works. And not only can you use it to communicate with your Google Talk buddies on Windows Mobile, but this is the equivalent of Google Talk on Mobile Phones! Let me just quote the Talkonaut website for more details, as they say it best:

• Talkonaut is a Google Talk[tm] like application for your mobile phone.
• Unlike most others IM clients, Talkonaut lets you explore all features of VoIP on almost any J2ME complient device.
• Talkonaut can be used with any Jabber account, including Google Talk. And that is all for FREE.
• Using Talkonaut you may now talk from your mobile to other Google Talk or MSN/Live Messenger users or even to any SIP phone or service.
• Talkonaut allows you to make cheap VoIP calls to any mobile or landline phones worldwide in a one-click way!
• Talkonaut presents you a user interface similar to Google Talk[tm].
• No registration required: you download Talkonaut on your phone and run it, the rest will be done automatically!

I am a heavy user of “Google Talk“. And never wanting to be disconnected, I’ve wanted to use Google Talk on my iMate kJam (also known as HTC Wizard) for a long time. Unfortunately, the geniuses at Google have not yet developed a version of Google Talk for Windows Mobile 5, which is what I am using on my iMate kJam.

To counter that, I went in search of an IM (Instant Messaging) application that would allow my iMate phone to connect to the Google Talk servers. The top results in web searches are always pointing to IM+, which is an application for Windows Mobile that lets you connect to ICQ, AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber AND Google Talk, all from your Windows Mobile Phone. So, I downloaded it (which you can do by clicking here:IM+), and am running it now to see how it works out.

So far, here are the PROs and CONs…

PROs:

– You receive notifications similar to “New SMS” notifications when you receive new messages
– Can connect to all of the above servers, not just Google Talk
– Allows you to see who’s online (which is expected, but cool that it works anyway)
– REAL easy to set up
– Easy enough to use
– You can set it to sign in automatically

CONs:

– More an issue with the phone, but when you receive a call, it disconnects your GPRS connection, disconnecting your from all the servers
– Obviously, be careful of your data charges (downfall of your Service Provider, not the package)
– A tad expensive to buy, though worth it depending on how much you use it

If you use this, or are planning on using this to communicate on Google Talk, please let me know how it goes.

UPDATE: Please check out this post for info on an even BETTER tool for using Google Talk on Windows Mobile phones, as well as using Google Talk on ANY phone with a JAVA runtime environment (most phones these days have this): “Google Talk and MORE on all Mobile Phones“