First of all I must say that I'm very glad that ovi uses standard im services. That is definately the way to go. However, since most people don't understand the benefits of using a standardized im like gtalk or ovi this application would need to support other accounts aswell. The service itself is ofcourse platform independent, and can be used on any im software that uses xmpp, and since there are programs that support xmpp and other protocols aswell, I'd say that this application is doomed to fail. If I could decide, everyone would be on xmpp protocol and this application would definately be top notch, but for now I can only add my friends that use gmail, jabber or ovi. Most of my friends however are on skype, icq/áim or msn. Out of the ~250 people on my list only about 15 use xmpp protocols.
As for the software, it's very nice and fast to use, and I like that it's incorporated into the contact list. There are some features, besides the services mentioned above, that I'd like to see:
- Logging: So that when you open a chat, you could see the last few messages of the previous chat with that person, and would also be able to view complete logs.
- Easy way to connect a chat user to a person in the phonebook
- multiuser chats
- Filetransfers
I hope to see this application get the attention and upgrades it deserves. Because it is very promising.