Nimbuzz Launches on Android

Nimbuzz has launched an Android version of their “mobile social messaging” application.  Like it’s iPhone sibling, the Nimbuzz Android app lets you connect to multiple IM and social networks, including Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Facebook and others.

The interface is compact and efficient, complete with avatar display, online awareness (to determine if your contact is available) and an icon to show what network they are on.

The Android version has some unique features:

• Time Sensitive User Interface – Touch a contact’s icon lightly to see their profile. A stronger touch starts a new chat.
• Auto-reconnect – Keeps you connected using whatever signal is available. If you leave the range of your WiFi, Nimbuzz will automatically reconnect using your data connection.
• Support for some location-specific networks. Not a big selling point for me personally, but Nimbuzz even supports social networks such as Hyves from the Netherlands, StudiVZ from Germany, Gadu-Gadu from Poland, and Giovani from Italy.

I like the UI for the contact list. If you’re running Android, you’ll want to give Nimbuzz a try.

Palringo Launches Multi-protocol IM for Google Android

Popular multi-protocol mobile instant messenger Palringo is now available on the Android Market.  This free Palringo instant messenger connects with a range of IM networks, including AIM, ICQ, WLM (MSN), Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Facebook. And unlike Palringo on the iPhone, this runs in the background on Google Android phones, allowing you to stay connected and get notified of new messages as they are received. 

“By integrating the messaging capabilities of popular IM applications and social networks into a single application, Palringo has created a messaging community that runs to hundreds and hundreds of millions of users” said Martin Rosinski, Palringo’s CTO.

Palringo for Android is also location aware, as you can see from the screenshots below — allowing you to see where your friends are (assuming they are also running Palringo, and have location aware phones. 

  

This version also provides the ability to share pictures, allowing you to snap a pic with your phone’s camera and send it to your buddies, regardless of their platform (they could be on AIM sitting at their desktop, for example). 

Useful Links

• Palringo – official site
• Palringo launches its multi-service IM application on Android Market – press release
• Palringo for Android Released: All Your IM In One Place – jkOnTheRun