To start with, Palringo, due to unknown problems, had never worked on the two iPod Touch in our lab. It quits when we press on the software button. Their official site says they support iPod Touch, and we don't know why.
fring has an advantage of in-software Skype SkypeOut calls (and of course you have to pay to use the SkypeOut function). Its fatal problem is that even if you delete/block someone in your contact list in MSN (or other IM), it still shows up in fring no matter how you set the options. This is extremely annoying if you accidentally added some unwelcomed "friends".
- Voice support and direct SkypeOut calls possible
- Skype support
- no flexibility in contact list
- Fring spam is on by default - your buddys will see annoying ads. Make sure you turn it off first.
- Advertisement pops out in an user unfriendly way
- Does not allow users to add friends with a period in the first half of email address
eBuddy is famous for being one of the earliest provider of browsed-based IM software.
- Unlike fring, you can do pretty much with your contact list, including deleting
and renaming.- With the iPhone OS 3.0 update, It also offers continous PUSH support for a customizable period of time (0, 5, 10 or 30 minutes) after user logs out and quit the program.
- It does not support Skype - and it does not support voice chat at all.
- AutoCorrect is disabled by default (but can turn on)
- No advertisement so far
In short, if we need Skype with MSN/Facebook/GTalk on at the same time, go fring. If we don't need Skype, eBuddy for sure. And we are using eBuddy.
useful to know the difference, thanks!
parlingo was hard to use and i couldnt log in..
as for ebuddy, its amazing.. u can add more than one IM account to your ebuddy account.. sign automatiacally into them all or a a few ones.. emotions, shakes when msg are recieved, multiple chats at t he same time and its very easy to switch from one conv to another..
will try fring but so far ebuddy is good.. only neeeds to support landscape view and audio chats..
Has anyone noticed a bigger battery drain on eBuddy even when it is not being used?
Great concise comparison! Thank you!
"Has anyone noticed a bigger battery drain on eBuddy even when it is not being used?"
No, I haven't. When you close eBuddy it isn't running at all (the push notifications are done from their servers) so it's not going to be using any battery!
Yeah I get a bigger battery drain when eBuddy is on...
I realise eBuddy does drain more battery too