A clever alternative to AIM apps

September 9th, 2008, 05:24 Posted By: IndianCheese

Ever since I got my iPhone, I have been struck with the difficulty that while my RAZR V3t had a very useful AIM app that handled messages by SMS, my iPhone was dumbfounded by the idea of instant messaging on a cell phone. Now that the app store is available, people are turning to apps such as AIM, MobileChat, and several others to get their IMing fix, however, these apps are quite glitchy concerning staying logged in, receiving messages while not using the program, etc. Until a fully stable solution is unveiled including notification of IMs, stable log-in, and an interface that doesn't look and feel like it was tossed together, I will stick with my solution: AIM TXT.

Right off the bat, if you use IM services other than AIM or have few text messages per month, you can probably overlook this.

Here's how it works: you send a text to 246246 (AIMAIM), then give them your screen name and password. They log you in and give you a list of options, to which you reply with a number (e.g. 7 is buddy list). You can call up your current online buddies, send IMs, change your status, go away, go invisible, and almost anything other basic AIM functions.

Here's a few pros and cons to choosing this over the apps.

Pros:
-Notification. This is a BIGGIE for me. Since AIM TXT works over SMS, it informs you as if it was a text message. No matter what app you're using, or even if your phone is asleep, you will be informed of the IM.
-Login stability. Your login is entirely on the server end, so you can ignore it for as long as you want, respring, or restart and you will be logged in until you send 246246 the word "logout."
-Familiar interface. Obviously, since it runs through SMS, everything looks and sounds exactly as if you were texting someone.
-No data plan needed. Running on T-Mobile without T-Zones and don't have a way to access the internet? That's not a problem since the service is all SMS-based.

Cons:
-Uses up texts--fast. Although this may not be a worry if you are lucky enough to have an unlimited messaging plan (like me), this method will suck up your available text messages fast if you are a moderate to heavy user (like me) and can't stand to be away from AIM for a moment (like me).
-No GUI. Unfortunately, starting an IM conversation isn't as simple as tapping a screen name and typing. Instead, you have to send an SMS to 246246 saying "send *screenname* *message*" to start a conversation, but after it is started, replies work just as they do with normal texts.
-Extra text gets annoying. You'll most likely start to get annoyed with the "(You can reply to this message)" after EVERY...SINGLE...MESSAGE...or even the repetitive screen name in every SMS as well.

More info on AIM TXT available here

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