I finally caved in and downloaded Beejive

[James Bond]

I've wanted a good chatting application since day 1 for the iPhone. I've got back to Fring multiple times even though I think it totally blows.

I noticed that the Beejive guys lowered their price from $16.99 to $9.99 so I grabbed it. So far, I LOVE it.

You can simultaneously connect to the following chat servers: MSN, AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook, and several more. Once connected, you have a really clean buddy list that shows everyone connected (you can organize into groups further if you want), and which service they are on.

Once you start a chat with someone, it is similar to a regular text chat but the layout is prettier and there are optional backgrounds.

Up top there is a drop down menu that has several options, such as switching to another chat window (little numbers will pop up so you can tell how many chats you have with new messages). You can also take a picture on the fly, or select one from your photos, and send it to them right there (it actually uploads it to Beejive's servers and just hands them a link, but awesome!). You can do the same thing with audio also (same way, uploads to their server).

It runs in the background, so any new incoming message is received instantly via Push.

All in all, very happy so far, just wanted to share!

 

[ric1287]

IM+ does the same thing for $5 + lets you send GPS location

 

[aphex]

Thanks for the review. I hate AIM's proggy and have been interested in the other alternatives. Even at $10 though, thats a bit steep for my uses. I'll check out IM+ as well

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: ric1287
IM+ does the same thing for $5 + lets you send GPS location

IM+ free is too slow to connect...about to uninstall when Trillian Astra for iPhone comes out. Fring sucks it will not let you add more AOL screen names.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: Rottie

Originally posted by: ric1287
IM+ does the same thing for $5 + lets you send GPS location

IM+ free is too slow to connect...about to uninstall when Trillian Astra for iPhone comes out. Fring sucks it will not let you add more AOL screen names.

what is "slow"? 2 seconds? Are you on edge?

 

[ViRGE]

Personally I don't trust 3rd party iPhone applications. They all go through their own servers, which means you have no idea if they're logging/mining data, putting passwords at risk, etc. At least with the 1st party applications, there are no middlemen for shenanigans to occur at.

 

[sourceninja]

I bought BeeJive before IM+ had push working. At the time IM+ was buggy as hell for me and didn't work well with backgrounder. Now the are both the same and I'm not sure I'd spend extra for beejive.

Another one to check out is agile messenger. It was great back in the iphone 1.0 days and is now finally on the app store as an official application.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Palringo does the same and it's free.

 

[Kmax82]

Palringo is no where near as polished, or reliable, and I feel like Beejive works much better than IM+. I've used almost all the IM apps I can, and Beejive is far and away the best IMO. Definitely worth the $10.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: Kmax82
Palringo is no where near as polished, or reliable, and I feel like Beejive works much better than IM+. I've used almost all the IM apps I can, and Beejive is far and away the best IMO. Definitely worth the $10.

+1 ... I tried many of them as well and Beejive is by far the best IMHO.

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: Rottie

Originally posted by: ric1287
IM+ does the same thing for $5 + lets you send GPS location

IM+ free is too slow to connect...about to uninstall when Trillian Astra for iPhone comes out. Fring sucks it will not let you add more AOL screen names.

what is "slow"? 2 seconds? Are you on edge?

slow to connect to their servers on 3G....Fring released new update yesterday looks nice but not enough for me

 

[secretanchitman]

damn...you guys are convincing me to get it lol.

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
damn...you guys are convincing me to get it lol.

I'll admin, even though it is SORTA a gimmick, being able to send audio and images on the fly is so damn cool. Yes, you can do the same thing with MMS (images), still though.

If I'm chatting with someone no facebook and I don't have their phone number and they ask what I'm doing, bam, take a picture and send. It's just so easy.

The interface is seriously MONEY too.

As of right now, the ONLY thing I don't like is that booting the application takes a few seconds. Nothing bad, but noticeable. I bet on 3GS it would be way faster (I'm using 3G).

 

[Rottie]

I look at Beejive today look cool but it doesnt say how many AIM account?

 

[Joemonkey]

I just log into meebo.com via safari

 

[Kmax82]

Originally posted by: James Bond

As of right now, the ONLY thing I don't like is that booting the application takes a few seconds. Nothing bad, but noticeable. I bet on 3GS it would be way faster (I'm using 3G).

Yea, on my 3GS it's pretty much instant.. Actually faster than loading up the Messaging app.

 

[Rottie]

I have a question...is Beejive IM always pause for about 1 min or so when you open BeeJive IM with 5 accounts running?

 

[DivideBYZero]

I love BeeJive IM, been using it on my BlackBerry's for years. It's solid, the company I trust and I would advise any iPhone user to get it.

I paid $36 for a multi device license a few years ago and even at that price I feel it was worth it.

Support and licensing is always quick, too.

 

[trmiv]

I wish Beejive did Skype chat. If it did I'd buy it. IM+ does it, but I haven't been very impressed with it on my Blackberry, so I'm reluctant to pay for it on my iPod.