I think that it’s hard to imagine life without communication as people are social creatures. Today at the age of mobile Internet we can communicate with our friends and relatives anywhere and anytime. Surely, we’d like to make video calls but unfortunately, this technology makes its first steps at the mobile market. Apart from that, not all gadgets are ready for video calls. So we have to deal with the apps that can’t fully replace voice communication but can replace SMS messaging.

There’re many such apps, and it’s really difficult to choose the one app that will fully meet the user’s requirements but at the same time won’t drain phone battery. Nevertheless, there’re some messengers that are better than others. And we are going to talk about them.

WhatsApp Messenger for Android

In order to use WhatsApp Messenger you need to register your number. To do this just click “Activate” right after the installation process and indicate your phone number in the international format. In a couple of minutes you’ll get a text message saying that you’ve successfully registered and from this moment you may use this service for free for a year.

Your next step is to add contacts to your contact list. But you don’t have to do anything – the app will scan the contact list on your device and show what contacts are already registered in WhatsApp. So you can immediately get down to texting.

In case some of your friends are not registered in WhatsApp but you still want to exchange free messages with him or her, all you need to do is to send them invitation and wait for their appearance. Before that you may tell them everything about WhatsApp. It’ll quicken the process of registration, I know that from my own experience.

Now about the messaging itself. The messages are represented in the form of a dialogue which reminds of dialogues in comics. Sent messages are highlighted in one color and are placed on the one side while received messages are highlighted in different colors and are placed on the other side. It makes the navigation through the messages much easier. You may insert smileys in the text. There’re a lot of smiles in WhatsApp, they are divided into groups and I think that everyone will find a smile to show the appropriate reaction. Apart from text you may exchange multimedia files (photo/audio/video), Google maps coordinates and contacts from your contact lists. You can make calls right from the messaging window. The messenger will notify you that the call is paid as opposed to texting, press OK and you may talk.

Another interesting feature of this application is the possibility to create group chats. You may indicate the topic of such a chat and invite your friends for discussion. Everything is done by a couple of clicks.

In the Settings you may set up sound alarms both for single and group chat. Here you may check general statistics of the program: the number of the messages sent and received, amount of traffic, and other details. Another important function is back up of all the messages. Back up is automatic though you can do it manually. This allows you to view all your messages even if you change the phone but don’t change your phone number. The messages are kept on the WhatsApp messenger servers and don’t occupy the memory on your device.

Get WhatsApp

eBuddy Messenger for Android

eBuddy Messenger is a free multiprotocol messenger that supports Push mode. It means that even if you close the program you still will be able to receive messages from your friends. In this mode you don’t need an active Internet connection. In the third edition of eBuddy the developers added group chat support.

This program has a pretty simple, attractive and easy-to-use interface. The app is translated into several languages. All your contacts are placed in one column with the indication of the service they use to chat (sometimes it is really useful).

eBuddy Messenger supports the system of metacontacts which helps you to unite all the contacts of one user into one metacontact. In order to work with eBuddy you’ll need to register your account either on the official site of the program or directly in the program.

Get eBuddy Messenger

IM+ for Android

Nowadays everyone has several accounts for contacting people. And sometimes you need to use one of them in order to send a message to your friend or your colleague. IM+ app unites all networks, chats, agents and programs you use for communication. Now you may stay connected wherever you are.

You can manage your accounts – either add new ones or delete those that are unnecessary. “Contacts” tab will show you all the contacts from your accounts. For you not to get confused, developers marked each contact with a favicon of a network or a chat you communicate with this person in. You may change your status or/and signature. “Chats” tab lets you manage all the open chats. You may easily switch between the chats, close the finished ones, etc. Apart from that, you may invite your interlocutor to a conference, send him or her files, look through his or her profile and your message story.

The settings of the app include interface editing, setting up of sounds and vibration when a message is received    , and other functions. Google Push mode is also very convenient. If you switch it on, then all your accounts will be online even if you don’t use the app. When you return to it, you’ll get all the messages that were sent to you. Also, you may display the widget with all your active accounts on the main screen of your device. The app has only one major drawback – you can’t make a regular call with Skype (not talking about video calls). But that’s understandable, because the app is intended for text messages.

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Conclusion

So if you prefer text messages for communication then I’d recommend WhatsApp application. In case you like to communicate in different networks and clients, then IM+ looks like the first option. But as a matter of fact, it’s all the matter of habit.

Written by Eugene Rudenko. Edited by Rahul Chowdhury.

Eugene Rudenko is a tech writer for Intellectsoft (click here to visit their site). His main interests and topics for writing are Android and iOS development and services.

Featured Image Source: Lukasz Milewski