Review: Palringo Premium - Let Your Voice Be Heard!

Overview

We all know one. That guy who just wont talk to you on your client of choice. Whenever its a AIM lover, a Yahoo fanboy or even somebody who just uses Facebook and its messenger service, Palringo, a multiplatform IM app allows you to to sidestep this problem by simply supporting most popular clients.

Features

Palringo features support for most major chat programs, such as  Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk and AIM. It allows you to send photos and audio clips directly. It also features a number of themes for the app.

The good

Palringo does what it sets out to do nigh on perfectly. It supports most chat platforms and chatting is fast and easy with the iPhone's on screen keyboard. First you make a Palringo account, you can do this on the phone. Next, after you sign in on the app you add chat services. As you log into each service the contacts appear in your list. After you have signed into each service you're ready to go. It takes only a minute or two and is a snap to do. The app also allows you to send audio and video to clients that support this, such as Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo contacts. This couldn't be easier; you simply tap the icon, then hold the voice button and speak for voice and for pictures you can either use your camera and it will be sent directly, or you can choose from your album.  Your contact views the picture via a auto generated link, as the image is hosted online. Your contacts are also presented seamlessly. Regardless of what platform they use, your contacts are displayed in one big list, making it easy to see who's online at a glance. Palringo also includes chatrooms. There are a huge amount of related groups you can join, covering many categories, where you can find people to talk to about anything. You can join groups right from the app. Palringo also looks great. It features a number of nice themes for the app and more are sometimes included in updates. The interface is easy to find your way around and the app works in both portrait and landscape mode. Its price of 5.99 is reasonable for such a feature rich app. A free lite version is also available that lacks landscape chat so you're stuck with a smaller keyboard.

The Bad

It would be nice if you could stream video to your contacts instead of just taking pictures. The iPhone can record video after all. An open mic option would also be nice, rather than having to hold the voice icon every time you want to speak. You can only change your avatar on the Palringo website which is rather annoying. Skype IM support is also curiously absent, which might be the biggest bummer for some. Whenever or not these problems will be rectified is anyone's guess; the company's email is non existent and tech support is though their forum.

The Verdict

Palringo Premium is a fantastic chat client that makes it simple to talk to all your contacts, no matter what they might use. It is feature packed, works great and is a reasonable price. Sync it today!

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