The thing about useful stuff is

Is VOIP service EQO going off air? Monday, December 01, 2008

Image representing EQO as depicted in CrunchBase

Image by via CrunchBaseAlthough I've recently been using Nimbuzz on my Blackberry as my IM aggregator application because of its' inclusion of skype amongst the networks it covers, I have retained EQO as well. Whilst it performs a similar service to Nimbuzz, I much prefer the EQO interface and its superior usability.

Sadly it appears that EQO may be about to shutdown if reports on GigaOM and Techvibes are true. Having raised $13m in VC funding, it was apparently under pressure to find a buyer for the company but seemingly hasn't been successful.

I previously blogged about my use of EQO here.

Labels: blackberry, EQO, Nimbuzz. IM

posted by John Wilson @ 9:51 AM Permanent Link ,

newsvine reddit

EQO - An excellent IM app for blackberry Tuesday, September 09, 2008

A couple of weeks ago I was in New York on business and took the opportunity to catch up with a couple of good friends who are Brits working in the City. One has been there for 6 months on secondment and the other has been living there for 10 years, but both have gotten to know the City quite well.

I didn't bother taking a laptop on the trip, knowing that any data or software applications I needed could be accessed via the web and decided to simply take my Blackberry.

I'd also deliberately diverted my phone before leaving the UK to my Spinvox voicemail account, thereby avoiding the obscene international charges from T-Mobile but still benefiting from the speech-to-text message from anyone calling me.

As a result I found that I was able to easily operate using just the following apps

Google mobile maps for Blackberry
email
web access via OperaMini which is excellent or the Blackberry browser
EQO, IM app for the Blackberry

Having tried a few IM clients on the Blackberry, I've found that EQO is the best to date, for several reasons

Excellent user interface
Able to access multiple IM networks including Gtalk, MSN and Yahoo
Combines VOIP, Text and IM in a single app
IM usage is free
Text is very cheap, especially if travelling

I was using Gizmo5 previously, but it didn't connect to Gtalk directly which was the initial reason I switched. Whilst it can connect to Gtalk contacts, you have to manually add each of them to your contacts list by entering their gmail addresses. It too offers Voip and Texting.

When travelling it's considerably cheaper to use the text messaging facility offered within EQO since this costs 5p to send a text, bypassing international texting charges.

Whilst email and text are near substitutes, I find having IM on your phone whilst wandering around is brilliant, particularly because of the presence indicator letting you know if a person is available. In this case, I was able to get suggestions and quick answers to questions as I wandered around, simply because I knew that the people I was asking were online. More importantly, I was able to co-ordinate meet-up plans with my two friends whilst on-the-move and based on where I was when they freed up from work.

EQO is available for free on a large range of phones including Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung and LG.