Recently got a chance to review a chat app called wechat
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This is a smartphone app, works on Android phones seamlessly ( I tested). They also support IOS symbian and windows and are coming up with blackberry though i suspect how many blackberry users will actually use it.
First thing that will strike you about his app is the beauty , its UI is simply great. good job guys
Think of this as an alternative to whatsapp(i am an addict), have group chats of up to 40 people, add people who have wechat account plus find people
As per the specs
- Provides multimedia communication flexibility and convenience with text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, Video/Audio calling, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, photo/video sharing, location sharing, and contact information exchange
One thing i liked was the range of emoticons and the ability to change chat backgrounds. Sounds trivial but gives it a personal touch.
Now lets talk about social features
- You can find people near you using wechat, this is a great tool if you are in a campus. It can act like an internal messenger
But the Con with this feature is that you can potentially set your own location and hence never be sure if the person on the other side is actually near you?
I tried this feature but there were too many Chinese/Japanese people around me. I am not sure if Chinese are that many in Hyderabad
One suggestion to developers: Have some sort of verification mechanism, via GPS maybe. there must be an option to chose only verified accounts
- Shake: shake your phone and get connected to random person
Ok this can be a little weird but can also be fun. One warning: when it connects to a new person it gives a horrible loud beep. I had my volume set to 0 still it beeped, i guess it overrides phone volume. I was in a class and it was little embarrassing
Another suggestion: Hate the default beep, it’s too loud and too shrill. Have a non intrusive sound
Games: Yaay, we have games. Always love any game that can be played on phone with a friend . they have a rock paper scissor game and more are being planned. Waiting to see more simple fun games
Plus they also have on demand backup, did not try it but would be useful.
Over all I liked this app a lot except for the features listed above. For me personally the biggest utility of wechat would be Group Chat. It is essential for me but again will depend on how many people adopt it
Some more features I would like:
Find FB friends
Import contact lists from other places, eg Google voice
Disclaimer: This is a paid review under the Blogadda program
http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/04/12/indian-blogs-sponsored-reviews-blogger
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