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Trillian for iPhone finally released after being in approval limbo

D

dhartung02

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2007
301
3
Little Rock, AR
I dont think this has been posted yet but Trillian has finally be released to the App Store. Article below:

http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=815#more-815

Trillian for iPhone: Now available on the App Store!

NOW AVAILABLE ON THE APP STORE: We are proud to announce Trillian for iPhone, a native application for your iPhone and iPod Touch! With the advancements of iPhone OS 3.0 and our latest Astra technology, we are happy to be able to give you the best possible IM experience on your favorite mobile device.

Trillian is now available on the iPhone App Store!


Trillian for iPhone is now available for purchase on the App Store, competitively priced at $4.99! This price is for all customers, including existing Trillian Pro users. Unlike desktop versions of Trillian, all mobile and web ports require the use of Cerulean servers and bandwidth to keep you connected and generate push notifications. In light of this, we felt a small fee was appropriate.

We’re re-posting our original beta announcement blog today in celebration of the release. Thanks to everyone for your patience and support these past few months. We hope you enjoy Trillian for iPhone!

All the essential features you expect from a good IM client

Everything in Trillian for iPhone is straightforward. A contacts screen displays all your IM contacts, properly grouped and sorted. Chat windows showcase a neat bubble view and tabs so you can easily chat (including copy/paste!) with multiple contacts just like you do on your desktop. You can set your status, set your avatar, set your status message and so on. In addition, since this is Trillian, you can manage your many IM connections grouped under multiple identities!

Instant synchronization between devices

Trillian for iPhone is always connected to the Astra server, and utilizes the ability of Astra assets to be instantaneously synchronized across multiple clients. If you change your avatar or display name on your iPhone, the change will be immediately reflected on your Windows client as well as your Astra Profile online. If you add a contact on the iPhone, it will show up on your Windows client right away, or vice versa – there is no need to re-add or re-organize your contacts.

Simultaneous sign on

When allowed by the backing service, Trillian supports multiple devices utilizing the same IM services with the same usernames. Your Astra, AIM, and all XMPP-powered services will always be online without ever worrying about kicking another connection offline. Because not all IM services support this concept, we’ve also made sure that Trillian for iPhone has its own autoconnect settings, independent of your desktop!

Never lose your sessions

Chatting on a train as it heads into a tunnel? Thanks to our in-house “Octopus” server technology, your Trillian for iPhone sessions are safely stored server-side, ensuring you’ll never miss a message due to spotty service conditions. Even if you exit the application, upon coming back online all of your previous chat windows and messages will be waiting for you. You can even configure Trillian for iPhone to set itself away when the application closes down.

Push notifications

With the new iPhone OS 3.0, iPhones can now receive push notifications from service providers like Trillian Astra. What this means is that once logged on, your iPhone will instantly alert you whenever you receive an instant message, even if the application itself is closed! A pop-up window will appear showing the message with the signature Trillian sound; simply click the “View” button to reload Trillian and reply in the chat window right away.

Favorites and contacts search

One downside to mobile devices is screen real estate. If you have 500+ friends, the iPhone may have a hard time fitting all of them in one place. That’s why we are introducing a brand new feature, Favorites, which allows you to pin the contacts you chat with the most in a separate list for super quick access! What’s more, in order to let you find your contacts as quickly as possible, we’ve implemented an instant search feature on the contacts screen – simply click the search button, begin typing and watch the results appear.

Active chats at a glance

Trillian is built to manage multiple contacts, multiple connections, and multiple chats at the same time. To achieve this, we’ve implemented a chats screen and a tabbed chat window to show all your open chats at a glance. With the chats screen, you can see all the latest messages from each contact in one place – no fiddling between tabs. With our tabbed chat window, you can switch between chats with a single tap, or browse between them with swipes. The tabs also display useful real-time information including avatars, typing notifications and unread message counts.

Astra features and more

Our native Astra service shines in Trillian for iPhone. You can instantly send pictures from your photo album or directly from your camera to your friends. Friends on the Trillian Windows client can also send you pictures or even hand-drawn messages for easy display on the phone! The included user information viewer allows you to see a simplified version of one’s Astra Profile: location, basic demographics, and status. Even the buzz feature will vibrate your phone like it should!

Clean, concise, and coherent

Clean: A basic layout – everything is laid out in plain, simple lists.

Concise: No excessive buttons or cluttered interface elements, just the minimum controls necessary to achieve all basic IM functionality.

Coherent: Designed to fit in with the same look-and-feel as Apple’s own applications, making the entire program intuitive to existing iPhone users.

Astra Account: your key to many other devices

To use Trillian for iPhone, an Astra Account is required. Your connections and contacts are seamlessly kept between devices, and a single account means you can optionally and securely share your connections between devices. As our Trillian Astra platform continues to mature, you will begin to see strong ties between Trillian’s desktop and web editions. Once you register, you will be able to use the same account on any edition of Trillian, no extra setup necessary! The best part: registration is easy and painless and can be done right on your iPhone!
 
I already have Beejive and don't have a reason to switch, but I am glad this has finally been released.

I find the pricing was low enough to "undercut" IM+ and Beejive. Yay competition!
 
I won't say it's "better" than Beejive when it comes to features. But speed-wise. Trillian blows Beejive away. Much cleaner presentation as well.

Now that it has been approved let's see what kind of fun stuff they have up their sleeves. Hoping we see some updates in the not too distant future.
 
Does the push work? have it set to 24hrs yet when I go back into the program I have to sign in again?
 
rendez2k said:
Does the push work? have it set to 24hrs yet when I go back into the program I have to sign in again?
Click to expand...

That has nothing to do with push

Push simply sends you alerts if someone messages you

What medium are you using? Yahoo and MSN will currently log you out if you login at another computer/app. AIM should stay connected, as well as GTalk.

If not, head over to their support forum and post a question.
 
dhartung02 said:
How is Beejive better?
Click to expand...

Some things to consider.

Beejive has Facebook chat (which is fairly buggy since Facebook doesn't really have support for other clients, it's a hack at best though it does work most of the time). Currently Trillian does not support this.

Trillian is brand new. Just released version 1. Of course Beejive is going to have more features. But that doesn't mean Trillian is going to sit around and do nothing. They've stated on their forums they're going to be adding new features and options to the application in coming releases.

My opinion is that while Trillian may not be "better" (you have to define better for yourself) right now but it won't take long and it will be. Beejive is a bloated pile in my eyes. It's slow and buggy. With an update or two I fully expect Trillian to surpass Beejive in my own use.

Landscape keyboard is not in yet. It needs a UI redesign for it to work (there's info on their support forum under Astra Chat if you're curious). But it is coming.

It'll get there. I think $5 is worth it. I didn't expect it to replace Beejive right away. I bought it to support Trillian on the path to making a much better chat client than Beejive. So I'm willing to wait for a couple releases before I expect to use it in replacement of Beejive.

One other thing to consider is that Trillian is working on a Mac client as well. Which means it'll have an added advantage over Beejive in the not too distant future by having some integration with your desktop client.
 
Can somebody comment on the message reliability in Trillian? I currently use BeejiveIM, but I frequently have issues with not receiving messages. The problem is usually due to my office WiFi blocking the Beejive servers. If I launch Beejive without first disabling WiFi, it fails to connect and the unreceived messages are permanently lost.
 
I'd like to know as well, as I've been having problems with Beejive and connection issues. Yesterday the recipient of my message says my IM's are coming in twice.

err404 said:
Can somebody comment on the message reliability in Trillian? I currently use BeejiveIM, but I frequently have issues with not receiving messages. The problem is usually due to my office WiFi blocking the Beejive servers. If I launch Beejive without first disabling WiFi, it fails to connect and the unreceived messages are permanently lost.
Click to expand...
 
I haven't had any real issues. There were some issues with Push being delayed yesterday. But that likely had something to do with Apple.

Even though I wasn't receiving push notifications as soon as I logged into the app they showed up just fine. Only one way to find out and that's to try it. It's $5. Far cry from the $10 that Beejive is and the $17 or whatever it once was.
 
bozzykid said:
I really have to wonder if you have ever used Beejive.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have it. I have both Trillian and Beejive. I'd gladly take you a screen shot if you don't believe me.

Beejive is slow, buggy as hell, and while it offers many options it's overloaded with crap.

For example. Even in the newest release if I am viewing a safari page in landscape mode. Get a push notification from Beejive saying someone messaged me. I click View. It opens the app (which opens in portrait mode) and attempts to switch to landscape mode. However, it messes up it's own UI and nothing works. I have to quit the app, turn the phone to portrait mode, open the app, then rotate to landscape once the UI has loaded. This is on a 3GS. This bug has been in 3.0, and exists today. I purchased 3.0 and haven't used anything prior.

The number of features is overwhelming and ridiculous. Tell me setting the background to some lame wallpaper makes this product amazing! Seriously. I've yet to find any built in wallpaper that they include to offer any usability improvements over the default. Same goes for the chat bubble's and their color options. If you change these things just looks stupid.

The only real positive I can give it is that they support a large quantity of chat mediums. But outside of that it's buggy and bloated with features that just make the app worse. Their support is atrocious and their community forums are full of asshats who belittle you if they don't agree with you. Sounds an awful lot like here sometimes.

This has been MY experience with Beejive. No doubt some people are happy with the product. I am NOT however.
 
IronLogik said:
Beejive is slow
Click to expand...

Again, if Beejive is slow for you, then that suggests an issue with your setup. Try using IM+ an compare it to Beejive. The latest Beejive opens really fast compared to any program, not just IM programs.
 
err404 said:
Can somebody comment on the message reliability in Trillian? I currently use BeejiveIM, but I frequently have issues with not receiving messages. The problem is usually due to my office WiFi blocking the Beejive servers. If I launch Beejive without first disabling WiFi, it fails to connect and the unreceived messages are permanently lost.
Click to expand...

I just installed Trillian and it is much better about not dropping information during unstable connections. The UI is also very nice (needs landscape!). My initial impressions are very positive, but I'll need to spend more time with it to decide which I like better.
 
bozzykid said:
Again, if Beejive is slow for you, then that suggests an issue with your setup. Try using IM+ an compare it to Beejive. The latest Beejive opens really fast compared to any program, not just IM programs.
Click to expand...

Why is it always this answer? If there's something wrong then it's you?

I use the app, remove inactive chats, close the app.

It's always the same. It's always something _I_ did to make it work this way right?

No. I use the app. It's slow. It might load faster in this latest update, which I will admit, but it hangs extremely badly at times as well, even on wifi.

I have done nothing different than is suggested by normal use. Heck I don't even use it THAT much. I load it once or twice a day to see if anyone is on when I'm bored. If not I close it and go about my business.

You must be one of those Beejive apologizers I run into all the time on their Forum when I say I have problems and all I get are people saying it's just me and I did something to mess it up. Which goes to show you the app is buggy when simply using the app introduces slowness for no apparent reason.

Once again, I'm glad it's working for YOU. But it isn't for me and THAT is why I am ditching Beejive as soon as I can.
 
err404 said:
I just installed Trillian and it is much better about not dropping information during unstable connections. The UI is also very nice (needs landscape!). My initial impressions are very positive, but I'll need to spend more time with it to decide which I like better.
Click to expand...

Yup. It's pretty darn slick looking. It needs some features added to it. But it is pretty darn rockin for an initial release.

It was supposed to have landscape. But the design they had in mind when implemented only offered minimal view of the text (due to the bar at the top) so the code is THERE to make it work. It's just a redesign of the landscape mode's graphics that are needed. They say they're going to work on it probably for the 1.1 release. *crosses fingers*
 
After trying Trillian for just a little bit I can say that this version isn't worth $4.99. Clearly, the Trillian devs are not use to iPhone development based on some of the design choices. Taking up 1/4 of the screen to show my avatar is such a waste of space and interferes with using your contact list on a small screen. Lack of a widescreen keyboard is killer for some (personally it didn't bother me that much but it is still disappointment considering it should be a standard feature for a IM program by now). Lack of options to set how long you are connected after you exit the program is a killer feature (no way to set to "Away" after x hours/minutes). I see no way to see offline users at all. No metacontacts (which is very important on a mobile device) with limited real estate. No facebook chat. Managing contacts/groups seems non-existent from what I can tell.

I'm sure Trillian will be addressing these issues but it still can't compare to the other IM programs on the App Store just yet. The UI looks nice but it doesn't seemed to be designed for functionality (I guess they chose looks over usability). I personally will hold on to the app but will not use it until some of these issues are addressed. IM+ and Beejive are way ahead of the game at this point.
 
Hmmmm, definitely seems to have some sort of Push issue (with MSN anyway). Had several messages not pushed now....
 
rendez2k said:
Hmmmm, definitely seems to have some sort of Push issue (with MSN anyway). Had several messages not pushed now....
Click to expand...


I think they're aware of it. There's a thread on their forum. I'd suggest making an account and posting something in that thread. Might help
 
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