Marketplace Spotlight: Omicronle

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

A fan of casual conversation? Omicronle is a free app being offered over at the Windows Phone Marketplace that is a simple, anonymous chat application that randomly matches you up with others users.

It's an interesting application in that you are tossed into a conversation with a complete stranger. There are no profiles, no names, no clue as to who you are talking to beyond what is offered by the "stranger". Conversations ranged from the weather to someone pitching their website to the more adult oriented/creepy (e.g. what are you wearing?)

While it had it's creepy moments, Omicronle has an addictive quality to it. I found myself disconnecting from the unappealing conversations only to tap the "talk" button in hopes of finding meaningful conversations. Not knowing if that was possible with such an application, before I knew it fifteen minutes had passed.

The jury is still out on Omicronle. It reminded me of the old party telephone lines, not knowing who might be on the other end when you pick up the receiver.  It does give you the opportunity to meet people but with the anonymity factor, you have to take what is said with a grain of salt.

As with any chat room that is full of strangers, be careful with the amount of information you offer. If you want to give Omicronle a whirl, being a free app makes trying it all the more easier.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

17 Comments
  • A little off subject but I just got a Tilt 2 which Microsoft claims is a Windows Phone. The funny thing is Windows Phone is so far behind that I can not get either the dictionary app from Dictionary.com or any real IM for the device, that is really sad from the days when they were at the top. I've said this before and I will say it again, Microsoft in the mobile market is irrelevant and will be really lucky if their mobile division even survives. I called Microsoft for a dictionary and they sent me a link to translators and that was it, so watch it if you are a student that needs reference guides, stay away from Windows Phone. By the way, Blackberry, Google, and IPhone all have an app for reference found at Dictionarydotcom, just not WINDOWS PHONE.
  • So you're saying Google is to complex for yourself?
  • I found an IM from ATT that is just useless, if this is what to expect from Marketplace and Windows Phone, then why waste our time.
  • Both your statements are incorrect on so many levels.
  • To John Staples, I am not sure you should have that phone and I am not sure you read the article your commenting on. I have the same phone of which I have IM (for instance IM+) which is in Marketplace. And why do you need a dictionary? My suggestion would be find a phone that fits your style the Tilt 2 it seems is maybe a little too advanced for you. Prince I have to agree with you on this one...
  • Yes, maybe so. Lets see, I've had the phone 4 days and I've already customized it with tons of software, running SPB mobile shell, with some custom registry hacks from myself and the fine folks at XDA, SKtools running some of the customization, with MemMaid bumping my memory performance. I locked the phone in landscape mode to see if I liked it, excluding apps that will not do landscape, but did not care for it. The biggest complaints I have had in this category is that apps like Kinoma and so many other developers have stopped developing for the platform, so not all functions work. That's just it, coming from the background of using every platform to the max, this one seems to be all but dead, and Microsoft calls it Windows Phone; NOT.
    I think maybe I have a little experience since one of my devices in front of me is a Palm Lifedrive with 32gb of external memory (thanks to palmpowerups back in the day) and tons of cusomization. Before you make accusations, know what you
  • No need to be defensive, no one is questioning your experience with other platforms. However, I do not agree with comparing palm to a window's phone because palm is a closed system. Ok I fully understand and I too used to be a Palm user, and I LOVED IT. I Still use my palm behind my boyfriend's back. Of which I agree programs worked perfectly I had no issues loading them using them, etc....,. Both Palm and Iphone are closed operating systems so for those of us who are not phone savvy and do not like to tinker with programming these would be preferred systems to use. But for those of us who want the option to have an imagination when it comes to a product we will use every day I think windows phone's have done a great job, I love 6.5 much more than 5.0. And you've read they will not have cut/paste capabilities? My current WP does this and so have the ones before it with 5.0, etc.... I can't see them omitting this from the WP7 phones, and I hope it's not true. I agree that these are very valid things to bring up in questioning the newer WP7 phones that are on the horizon. I just think we should not write off the WP7 phones before actually handling one. You are fighting with twitter as well? I have found MO TWEETS and Touch Twit are both good programs. As for Facebook WP7 is supposed to fix that video issue so I heard.
  • Ok thanks, but the old Palm's I disagree was a closed system, I could do as much with Palm as I can with any form of Windows Mobile. To my point about the social networks is that yes they will have it for WP7, but when they go to claim they will support Windows Mobile 6.5, they need to do just that. By the way, I'm not defensive, just passionate.
  • And yes, WP7 will not do multitasking or cut/paste for now, we will have to wait for that. As for the openness of Windows Mobile it will be gone in WP7, get to know XDA very well if you wish to continue the greatness of being open. I believe that lies with Google Android alone for now, but even then they too will most likely close their system due to market pressures, if for no other reason than to be like the rest.
  • By the way, the Facebook app shows me no post that have video links, this happens in all but Opera 10 and Skyfire, which both seem a little clumpy when going to show the video. I should not have to fight this hard to get things working. Wheres a good Twitter app?????? DEVICES: Dell Axim x51v, HP 2495b, Sony Clie, HP Ipaq 211, Treo 680, G1, Nokia N95, Treo 680, Blackberry Bold 9000 (my favorite device), Tilt 2.
  • I love the way Marketplace gave me no choice in where to install Skyfire, got around that one. I liked Windows 6 where you could install all your apps that needed no system recognition onto a new phone; installing on the SD card, run each app, register, do a hard reset, place software that requires system recognition and short cut the apps that are on the card and presto, all apps work and are still registered and you have extra space, have not got that to work on this platform yet. I will get this device in top performance but it is rather sad that the device that is Windows Phone is not going to have any 3rd party support at all here pretty soon, just as always with Microsoft mobile devices. (The Update button that never updated anything on any of my devices.)
  • Oh, by the way, I love the platform and always will, this might be why I am so passionate about where this platform is heading, a clone to all the others and way way behind.
  • I can dig that, but let's not call WP7 way behind before we have a chance to see it in person. Microsoft has a huge ecosystem and they are finally seeing the need to integrate. I know Google is doing a decent job of integrating its products but Microsoft properly integrating is much more powerful considering that its products are so much more established.
  • Well I have read that like the IPhone when first released, Windows Phone does not do cut/paste or multitasking, that is behind. Not to mention I just read a article on how poorly the OS is developed and how it will lead to tons of bad mobile apps. I can not verify this of course, but just the fact that it is going to be missing multitasking and have far more control of use tells me in some ways it is far behind. Whom ever was the Project Lead for the new platform I would imagine missed his/her deadline by a country mile considering that the new platform is still not in the market, this too leads me to believe they are way behind. We will however soon be able to tell and the criteria I will be using to judge this is how well the product performs, how good the 3rd party apps will be, and finally on sales - this last one kind of concerns me no matter how the other two do. The reason, the late arrival to the market.
  • That late arrival argument has been run into the ground. History has shown time and again that in the tech world there is a fine line between late arrival and next new thing. Think Nintendo vs PS1 timeframe. Sony was late getting in, but they did ok, right? In the meantime, I recommend you use Opnmarket. It has more flexibility in regards to location of stored apps.
  • I agree Openmkt has been extremely helpful for me as well.
  • Thank you guys, what about a good Twitter and Facebook app that shows all post. The Facebook I have doesn't show any post associated with video, that is kind of strange.