Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Beejive IM Released

I'll add my 2 cents here now that I've purchased and used the app for a few hours... Basically it just works as it is described to work!

I setup my MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk and MySpace accounts all relatively pain free, although I did realize I did a typo in my Yahoo account name so attempted to go straight back in and update it, which caused it to freeze for a little while but it recovered.

It seems to handle contact statuses correctly even on MSN where the other clients have all failed me plus it has a Hide Offline setting and respects all my existing contact groups (not sure if the others do that from memory) and I can manage my contacts - add/delete/block/permanently offline etc, which the other apps only have limited functionality for.

I have it set to keep me logged on for 12 hours of non use and as I am an AT&T subscriber with unlimited texts I have the email address set to XXX-XXX-XXXX@txt.att.net (don't insert the dashes just used those for illustration purposes) and that gives me 'push email' notifications if I get a message and don't have the app open quite nicely!

It does take some time to get used to the chats window and typing messages though as there is no text input box and I'm used to having to ensure the cursor is in the input box before typing, where with Beejive it will popup that translucent speech bubble when you start typing, which maximizes the screen real estate and is actually quite neat once you get used to it!

So all in all I'm impressed and considering I've paid in the vicinity of $30 for a desktop FTP client on the Mac in the past I don't think $15.99 for an IM client for various different protocols that has it's own server infrastructure in place is all that much!
 
Anyone else notice the quasi-push notifications?

I noticed this just as I was closing Beejive and receiving an IM. I guess this is what its going to look like once Apple gets their act together.

2902813682_9fd5c4bf34_o.jpg
 
A few interesting tidbits:

  • When making a change to the Beejive settings that will involve the server, be sure to open the app itself afterwards for the change to be transmitted.
  • Beejive won't add typing notification because it would add overhead and reduce battery life.
  • Set Beejive to push notify "yourcellnumber@txt.att.net" for a SMS notification. If you tried this before, they've reformatted the message and it's much better. (Some chat services can be independently configured to send SMS notification.)
  • Beejive's auto-away setting can cause problems for AIM users. Set it to "off" if AIM won't login.
Some stuff was mentioned already in this thread. More is on the Beejive forums, where it looks like the developers are responding quickly (yeah, yeah for $16 they'd better respond quickly).

Whine preemption statement: This post is for iPhone users with Beejive installed using AT&T. SMS messages may cost you money. These are just interesting things I've discovered, they are not necessarily the best solutions, in fact they won't make sense for everyone. The earth orbits the sun.
 
BikeRanger said:
A few interesting tidbits:

  • When making a change to the Beejive settings that will involve the server, be sure to open the app itself afterwards for the change to be transmitted.
  • Beejive won't add typing notification because it would add overhead and reduce battery life.
  • Set Beejive to push notify "yourcellnumber@txt.att.net" for a SMS notification. If you tried this before, they've reformatted the message and it's much better. (Some chat services can be independently configured to send SMS notification.)
  • Beejive's auto-away setting can cause problems for AIM users. Set it to "off" if AIM won't login.
Some stuff was mentioned already in this thread. More is on the Beejive forums, where it looks like the developers are responding quickly (yeah, yeah for $16 they'd better respond quickly).

Whine preemption statement: This post is for iPhone users with Beejive installed using AT&T. SMS messages may cost you money. These are just interesting things I've discovered, they are not necessarily the best solutions, in fact they won't make sense for everyone. The earth orbits the sun.
Click to expand...

Great post! Thanks for that, very helpful.
 
I just noticed if you have MSN logged in with Beejive and have an email address setup for alerts when you don't have Beejive open it will alert you if you log into MSN from another source saying so! Very nifty! :)
 
jaseone said:
I just noticed if you have MSN logged in with Beejive and have an email address setup for alerts when you don't have Beejive open it will alert you if you log into MSN from another source saying so! Very nifty! :)
Click to expand...
You inspired me to check AIM and I can confirm it does the same. What Beejive doing, at least in the case of AIM, is forwarding system messages as email to whatever address is set up for notification. I (AIM) tested it with txt.att.net, MobileMe and Gmail.

The more I play with this app the better it gets.

And thanks slicecom and jsamuelson!
 
jcde7ago said:
Shaun? Saverio? Is that you? :p:D
Click to expand...
lmao! Post of the week for me!

I'm veyr happy with Beejive so far. Push works like it's supposed to. I'm just worried at what's gonna happen once my MobileMe trial expires...hah.

Hopefully by then Apple will flick the switch on for push...
 
queshy said:
lmao! Post of the week for me!

I'm veyr happy with Beejive so far. Push works like it's supposed to. I'm just worried at what's gonna happen once my MobileMe trial expires...hah.

Hopefully by then Apple will flick the switch on for push...
Click to expand...


Create a yahoo mail account just for the purposes of receiving your beejive notifications via push. yahoo mail is free and is push enabled by default and works almost insantaneously with beejive.
 
tongteh said:
any information about them working on an update?? :) just curious...
Click to expand...

Over at the official Beejive forums (link is a page or two back) there have been numerous feature requests that people have suggested, and the devs have openly responded by saying that they are already working on those suggested features while also potentially adding some of the features that people requested that they hadn't thought of. As far as updates go, i'd be surprised if we don't get an update within the next few weeks, filled with a bunch of new features. :)
 
The auto away feature works from the beejive application if you using your phone but have not logged in for the amount of time you set it shows you as away.
 
Not directly Beejive related but damn AT&T and their From number on texts generated by emails to yourphonenumber@txt.att.net that I use for pseudo push notification! It seems the from number increments with each message so they don't get grouped in the SMS application, very annoying! I wish you could setup a contact with a wildcard number or something to group that way...
 
I just noticed that Beejive just made it into the Top 25 apps (at least in U.S. store), which is pretty impressive for a non-game app that has free alternatives and is still $16.

This makes me think they won't be dropping their price anytime soon, though. I still don't IM quite enough to justify spending $16, but if I did I would definitely go with Beejive.
 
I'm not a huge IMer on the iPhone, and have been awaiting Apple's update to allow push notifications. I told myself that I was going to wait until at least then if I was going to purchase any of the IM applications to at least see how each of them implemented it.

However, based on the almost unanimous praise for this app by everyone who buys it...even those who, like myself, were weary about paying so much for an IM app...I went ahead and went for it. Rarely will you find that an application is so universally admired.

This is a triumph for instant messaging applications AND a triumph for Apple's new application feedback/review system. Two weeks ago, and this application would be buried by 1 star reviews.
 
Now 49th in the UK. I've been using it for about 2 days, and I have to say I cannot recommend it highly enough.

They got it right with this one - and, hyperlinks and photo recieve/send is coming in the next update to Beejive IM. :cool:

R-Fly
 

Attachments

  • Picture 13.png
    Picture 13.png
    43.9 KB · Views: 394
It's 13th in Canada. Probably because everyone here uses MSN and Beejive is really the only decent app that supports it... or Canadians just aren't as cheap as the rest of you. :p jk!
 
wow they reformatted it for push SMS!!! So effing awesome!!! No need to enable push now :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back