diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'wired/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/08.13.07/Wed/meebo.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | wired/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/08.13.07/Wed/meebo.txt | 18 |
1 files changed, 18 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/wired/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/08.13.07/Wed/meebo.txt b/wired/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/08.13.07/Wed/meebo.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3476437 --- /dev/null +++ b/wired/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/08.13.07/Wed/meebo.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +Meebo the free, web-based chat system has rolled out an [iPhone app][2], bringing multi-protocol chat to the iPhone -- finally. We've looked at a few other iPhone chat clients in the past, but even the best of them, [FlickIM][1], only supports the AIM network, whereas Meebo offers AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber and Google Talk. + +Meebo's iPhone app is well thought out and includes niceties like browser auto-detection. Just point your iPhone to Meebo.com and you'll be automatically rerouted to the mobile, iPhone-optimized URL. As iPhone users know, there's nothing more annoying than having to type in a long URL. + +Once you login (and you don't need a Meebo account to use the site, just login as you normally would on whatever network you prefer), you'll be dropped into your contacts list. Select a contact and start a chat just as you would in a normal IM app. Buddies you're actively chatting with will appear at the top of the list so you get a quick preview from the buddy list. + +Once you're logged in and chatting I recommend switching to the horizontal interface since it gives you the iPhone's much easier to use horizontal keyboard. I found that the contacts list works best in vertical mode, though both parts of Meebo will work in either orientation. + +The chat interface for Meebo is pretty minimalist and not nearly as nice looking at FlickIM's slick UI, but it does the job. Meebo has minimized the graphics which is nice for those times you're stuck on the EDGE network. + +The big catch, which is not Meebo's fault, but the iPhone's, is that if you get a call or a text message or otherwise close the browser, you're auto logged out of Meebo. This is, as I understand it, a security feature of the iPhone and certainly there are times when it's handy (for instance when you're done with a chat, just hit the home button and you're logged out), but other times it's a pain. +Would a native IM app for the iPhone be better? Of course, but since Apple doesn't show any signs of providing such functionality, for now Meebo is your best bet. + + + +[1]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/07/flickim-launche.html + +[2]: http://blog.meebo.com/?p=346
\ No newline at end of file |