Posts Tagged ‘Android Communication Apps’

The jChat App for Android Review

The JADE agent framework has become one of the more popular online chat and text networks for smart phone use and that is why jChat has become such a popular free communication app for the Google Android platform.

Real time contact list tracking

The jChat app for Android has a lot of contact-related features that you should definitely appreciate. For starters, it can read contact information directly from the list already in your phone and that means that if your friends are also on jChat, you can know automatically just by getting jChat to automatically add contacts to your list.

Then, once you have those contacts, you can use the jChat “real time localization” feature to find out where those people are in terms of their relative location and distance from your current position. With pseudo-GPS usage, the jChat mobile application can give you a handle on exactly what is going on downtown. At the same time that you are tracking them spatially, you can also see their online/offline status in real time on your application’s front screen.

Chatting revisited

Although the contact features are impressive, chatting is really the bread and butter of this software package. You essentially have two choices when it comes to chatting over the jChat software package. The first is to do standard pseudo-SMS texting and the second is to actually do a real chat along the lines of what you would see in an instant messaging or online chat room situation.

You also have a heavy amount of choice when it comes to how you want to structure the chat sessions that you enter. You can choose to go with the standard of opening multiple chat windows and keeping them going at the same time with individual people. Alternatively, you can combine chat windows and create a big internet-style chat room with all of your contacts available to chat with everyone else at the same time. The choice is entirely yours when you use Android jChat app.

Final Score

This excellent free communications app for the Android receives 8 out of 10 for all of the above features. It is a little rough around the edges and could become more user friendly over time in order to receive better marks. As of right now however, you can download and install this software package and have top notch chat software ready to go whenever you decide that you need it.

SMS Pop-Up App for Android Review

You might not get to see this handy Android app in the ‘must-have’ list of most websites and magazines. But, if you are an avid texter, who also receives lots of incoming messages as well, you should try out SMS Pop-Up app in your Android smartphone. It eases the pain of having to open/close the inbox with every beep sound indicating the arrival of an SMS. SMS Pop-Up app gives a visual notification of an incoming message, in the form of a pop up, on top of most applications running at the moment in your smartphone. Also, the SMS Pop-Up app can be downloaded free of cost from the Android website.

Enter SMS Pop-Up

The best feature of SMS Pop-Up app for Android is clearly the notification window (with the full message view) that pops up with the arrival of each new message, and sits right at the centre of the mobile phone screen. The user can then choose between either of the options – ‘close’ or ‘reply’ – according to what they wish to do with the message. In the earlier versions of the app, clicking on ‘close’ would have hidden the notification, leaving the notification icon at the top of the window. But, in the latest version, doing so will not only leave the SMS marked read, but also removes the notification on the top altogether.

The new version also provides to the users an option to pick the color of the blinking light, or the vibration alert you want when a new message/email arrives in the inbox.

Further, there is the privacy setting that enables a user to let the message show only after the screen is unlocked. Users can even customize to let the background screen blur, to give a more visual effect when you receive an incoming message, or set reminders, especially if you belong to the elite group of forgetful types.

Regarding the app size, it won’t take up much memory space of the phone post installation, nor would it strain the processor resources while operating.

Final Thoughts

To sum it up, SMS Pop-Up Android app is a simple, yet powerful, mobile application one should consider having in their Google Android smartphones, especially those who text a lot daily. The user interface of the app is simple, yet not great, such that even a novice could run through the settings with ease. Further, the app won’t put undue strain on the phone resources either.

Definitely, SMS Pop-Up Android app is worth trying out!

Caller ID App for Google Android

Caller ID App for Google Android

Summary

Generally speaking, if you order caller ID on a mobile device, what you are going to end up getting is the number flashing across your screen. You won’t get a name with it because phonebook listings are not programmed into the caller ID screens for cell phones. The only time you will see an actual name on the cell phone screen is if you actually have that person in your cell phone contact list so that the phone can match the number to the name. With Caller ID App for Google Android however, there is another way to get caller ID working on your Google Android device.

User Interaction

Interacting with Caller ID application for Google Android is a breeze. All you have to do is take a look at the call when it comes in and then decide what you want to do about the call when you know for sure who is calling. It could not be easier to use any app than it is to use Caller ID for Google Android.

User Interface

The graphical user interface for the Google Android Caller ID app is fantastic. On one side of the screen you have information regarding the person that is calling that has been matched to their phone number and on the other side of the screen you have the options that are available to you at the moment that the phone rings. All you have to do is cross-reference one screen with the other and you are getting the most out of that particular application. Doing so is easy with text colours, sizes and fonts used liberally to denote a hierarchy of information. The design is absolutely perfect for an application of this kind.

Utility and Productivity

Becoming productive with Caller ID for Google Android is very easy to do. In fact, this particular app is one of the few that does not require active use on your part for increased productivity. It is a passive application, which means that you only have to set it up on your Android once and then let it do its thing.

Whenever someone calls your phone, the Caller ID app will kick into gear. It will cross-reference the number that is calling with the database of numbers supplied by the White Pages and then return a name, address, phone number and other available contact information based on what you have available in the White Pages database. All of this is completely automatic and kick starts when someone calls you. All you need to do in the end is decide which calls you want to answer and which calls you would prefer to let the machine get.

Rating

In the end, the only real criticism of Caller ID for Google Android is that it does require the caller ID to be present in your plan so that the phone number can be used as a lookup point. If you don’t have that then this app is useless. For that reason, we have to give it a slightly lower score of 8.0 out of 10.