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BeejiveIM Review
What a crazy world we live in. It wasn’t long ago that I carried a pager so that people could reach me. Then I had a job where I was given a cell phone, I was looked at like I was a millionaire. Then everyone had mobile phones (kids, grandmothers, even the Amish). Now I need two phones to handle business and personal stuff.
But that’s still not enough. People need to be able to instant message me through any number of accounts that are available. Luckily, as the Apple ads will tell you… There’s an app for that.
From everything I’ve heard and read, BeejiveIM is the best app for getting your instant messages… well… instantly. But when an app is this costly ($15.99 USD) it takes a little more than just taking someone’s word for it, I had to see it for myself. Though, I guess that by you’re reading this, you’re just taking my word for it.
Long story short… there is a reason this is called the best. It is, the Best.
Most people are pretty familiar with Instant messaging by now. In fact, I think I might have been one of the last people in my office to get with the program and stop sending emails every time I needed to contact someone. That being said, I’m not going to do a deep dive about the ins and outs of the processes involved. Just know that it’s like texting, only smoother. And you know if the person you’re trying to reach is available to talk with you at the time.
Beejive IM connects over Wifi, 3G, and Edge connections without a hitch or lag.
A wonderful thing with this game is the user interface. When you need to talk to someone instantly you don’t want to have to fool around with screens and all that stuff. You want to be notified right away, and you want to be able to respond. You’ll have no problem doing just that with BeejiveIM.
But what makes this app worth the money is just how easy it is to manage multiple accounts, all of them working in perfect harmony with each other. Beejive currently supports Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, AOL, iChat, ICQ, Jabber, and Myspace accounts concurrently.
Once setup you can set individual settings per user (like always appearing offline to some).
You can send files, including voice and photos to people with ease. You’ll find it a breeze to manage all of your buddy lists in each of your different accounts. This includes being able to see all of your buddy’s icons – which my daughter thinks is pretty cool.
I love how easy it is to hyperlink things. Sending links to websites, videos, and email addresses is a breeze. The same can be said for phone numbers. I really like that part because I’m old fashioned and I’d rather talk to someone most times then “chat” with them. Plus I’m still a little slow on the touch keys.
Speaking of the typing… this app allows you to text in either portrait or landscape mode, and also supports customized color settings for conversations.
Want to chat in any language supported by your iPhone? Sure, it does that as well. Like to use all those cool emoticons (my daughter does), it’s got you covered. Block people you don’t like? Covered.
Oh… and you want to stay connected even when you’ve closed the app? Why not? BeejiveIM will keep you on and you can get notified instantly if you have push email. If you do not have push email your still covered as the second you reconnect your conversation will continue.
You have the option to save your conversation logs for reading them later as well.
You can also setup your accounts to be viewed in personalized groups on the iPhone. These can differ than your computers groups as well.
Basically this app sets out to do everything you’d like to do with an IM, and does it. The developers has kept improving their app through frequent updates.
So we have to go back to the price… is it worth it? First I’ll point out what all the $1 apps have done for us. They’ve made us forget that we used to pay at least double this price for an app this good and didn’t blink. They’ve made us think that we should get everything for a $1. Well, if you want the dollar menu at McDonalds go right ahead. I’ll enjoy a nice steak at a good restaurant and be happy I paid a little more for it. If your a heavy SMS user this is a GODSEND as well as this app does not charge you for the messages there paid in full with your purchase.
In short, you get what you pay for, and, yes, I think this app is more than worth it.
The Good
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Seamless account management and conversations
ability to customize everything to your liking
Voice support, and hyperlinking, PUSH!
Too many to mention.
The Bad
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Now Glenn can reach me every time I turn on my phone!
