For those of you who go back to the Windows Mobile days, you'll remember an instant messaging service called Palringo (www.palringo.com). The program was its own IM service, which allowed things like voice-clips to be instantly sent along with photos and files. In addition, it was also a multi-client meaning it could support and connect (by proxy) to other IM services such as AIM, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, ICQ and more. Finally, it had support for custom Groups which were basically permanent chat rooms that one could create and invite people to, in addition to supporting iOS, Android, Symbian and Mac/PC desktops.
We reported a few months ago that Palringo was finally going to support Windows Phone, heck we even showed some early screenshots. Now, v0.5 Beta is live in the Marketplace free to use for all. Of course that beta tag means it is still in development, so all won't be perfect, but we've been using it for the last day and half with little to no issues.
The app itself is fairly well designed and what it lacks in beauty it makes up for it in functionality. We hadn't logged into our Palringo account in nearly two years yet when we did, we were instantly reconnected to our old services and up and running within a few minutes (creating accounts on the device seems to be problematic for some, so perhaps use the web first, then login). Messages were sent and received instantly, the Live Tile is double sided showing the numerical notification on one side and the message on the back.
Voice clips, arguably one of the best features, were easily recorded and sent instantly. Likewise, the second device received them nearly instantly too--impressive for a 3G connection.
Overall, even for a beta we like where Palringo is heading with this app. We imagine the final version will cost a few dollars, but so long as they keep it below $4.99 (what IM+ Pro charges) we don't see a problem. For those looking for a multi-client IM app and even sending voice clips, we have to recommend you give this a go.
Pick up Palringo beta here in the Marketplace.
Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.
