Nestling among the Java apps on one of my handsets is some beta software from UK company Trutap. I first heard of this company some weeks ago thanks to TechCrunch 40, and I’ve been playing with this applet while it was in private beta. Now the company have now opened the beta, so if you’re interested in instant messaging or blogging on the move, then you can have a try too by pointing your mobile browser at m.trutap.com.
Trutap allows you to see the presence of your contacts on MSN, AIM, Yahoo and ICQ, and send them IMs from your handset. Definitely challenging from the regular keypad on my Sony Ericsson, but a useful tool to add to the arsenal. Trutap also allows you to configure details of your blogging accounts, including Blogger, Typepad and Livejournal, and then to post from your phone. It’s a good looking piece of software, and looks like it should become more useful in the future as they add support for other platforms like my favourite IM client, GoogleTalk.
Users of smartphones based on Symbian and Windows Mobile seem to be well served for applications, but until recently the more humble run-of-the-mill handsets have been left out. However, it now seems that we have turned a corner, and we’re starting to see a good flow of apps for the low-end. I’ve been playing with Gizmo 5 in recent weeks, which overlaps in functionality with Trutap; I’m also evaluating another company’s private beta which I hope to write more about in the next couple of weeks.
Some of you may also be familar with the application from Eqo (pronounced ‘echo’), which is also on my phone. I spoke to their CEO Bill Tam a couple of weeks ago at Fall VON in Boston and we discussed his company’s product. Tam, ebullient and razor sharp, is a serial entrepreneur now working in this same area of mobile messaging and cheap calling. Eqo’s product is further down the curve than Trutap, and it already offers a longer list of interconnects from the IM point-of-view. Like Gizmo, and Jajah, the cheap calling is provided by making two outbound call legs and joining them together, providing cheap long distance or international connections. Also like Gizmo and Jajah, the Internet capability of the phone is used to send a small data message back to HQ, which then initiates the call legs to make your call. Data charges can still be very complex and unpredictable, especially if you are roaming abroad, so this is a useful approach.
Right now I can’t say that any of these apps has freed me to the degree that I can always leave the laptop in the office, but they certainly do have their place in staying connected. I hope to come back in the next few weeks and give a more measured head-to-head comparison.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
well done, dude