Nimbuzz is the latest addition to the growing list of applications providing VoIP/IM services on Nokia 5800. Nimbuzz just released their mobile client for the symbian 5th edition and am very much impressed by its interface and feature set it offers (Although it took me a few minutes to figure out some settings, just after installation). After playing around with Nimbuzz for around a day, I could hardly find anything to complain about.

Installation

Nimbuzz can be downloaded right on to your mobile devices just by pointing your mobile browser to http://www.m.nimbuzz.com. The installation file is a massive 1.3 Mb file and hence data charges should be considered before downloading it on your mobiles. The installation process is fairly simple; just a couple of clicks here and there and the application is ready for use in no time.

Login screen

It can be seen that there is no other way of logging into the application without opening a Nimbuzz account unlike other clients VoIP/IM clients like fring, talkonaut which give the users various options for logging in. So we need to trust Nimbuzz with all our login information. One can sign up for a Nimbuzz account right from the phone  as seen in the screenshot above. Once you sign up for a Nimbuzz account you can login into Nimbuzz:

Login screen

After signing in, it took me a while to figure out my way to sign into the various VoIP/IM services that Nimbuzz had promised. One has to go to settings to subscribe to your IM and VoIP services. Nimbuzz does provide an exhaustive list of services to chose from:

IM/networking services

The number of SIP service providers supported is not small either:

SIP service providers

It can be seen that Nimbuzz has covered most of the SIP/IM service providers here and I don’t see anyone complaining of their service provider of choice not being supported. Once you select your service providers, you will be required to enter login details for each account and once the sign in is confirmed, your contact list is updated with contacts from all your service providers. A contact screen looks something like this:

Contacts-screen

This is one of the best features of Nimbuzz. The contact screen shows profile photo, service provider and online status for all the contacts. None of the VoIP/IM clients available on symbian platform today have this option. The contact screen looks very familiar to the Symbian contacts screen on 5800. The contacts screen is so intuitive that the icons are self explanatory in most of the cases and the best part is these are the most widely used features in chatting. Like say, file transfer or flaunting your new hairdo to your best friend (got this one from Nimbuzz website), everything can be done in a couple of clicks. I haven’t seen a better designed user interface for the contact screen on 5800 than the Nimbuzz contacts screen. Hats off to developers of Nimbuzz!

Wanna add some smileys in your chat? Nimbuzz doesn’t disappoint you here either, providing with more than ten smileys to chose from. It does add that oomph factor to your chats:

Smileys

The number of smileys was definitely more in Talkonaut (eighty) but Nimbuzz smileys have the new age 3-D look compared to the 2-D smileys of the Talkonaut.

Multiple chat sessions are supported and easy to manage. The chat window in a multiple chat session looks something like this:

Multiple chat sessions

Confused on how to initiate a chat with a new friend? Nimbuzz has the answer with its templates. One can edit and add templates to use during their chat sessions. Another feather in the cap for the developers of Nimbuzz.

Template screen

Some screenshots highlighting the feature set on Nimbuzz:

File transfer is fast and easy to start

VoIP with gtalk with impressive voice clarity

Notification alerts on Nimbuzz can be customized under the settings tab. The default notifications are optimum with a vibration alert for a new ping, a ringing alert for calls and no alerts for contacts status (online/offline). This notification system is such a relief from the annoying trings in Fring and alerts for every update on contact status (Talkonaut).

Nimbuzz also has this awesome widget, which you can put up on your blog, myspace, facebook (and a plethora of other networking websites) profiles to let your friends contact you anywhere, anytime for FREE. You can customize the widget to suit your preferences. The widget has a very cool look:

Nimbuzz widget

Now lets sum up the pros and cons of Nimbuzz on 5800:

Pros:

1. One of the best designed user interfaces for any  third party application on the symbian fifth edition platform
2. Support for almost every IM/SIP service provider under the sun!
3. Intuitive contact screen with two line display for status messages and profile photos
4. Impressive 3-D like smileys
5. Template addition and editing
6. Multiple chat support
7. The only IM/VoIP client on 5800 today to incorporate mobile camera for live photo sharing
8. Amazing features of the Nimbuzz widget

Cons:

1. Cannot use the client without a Nimbuzz account (We need to trust Nimbuzz with our login information)
2. With such a diverse feature set, video chat over skype/msn/gtalk could have also been provided

Verdict

Nimbuzz is definitely the best designed third party application on Nokia 5800 today with its innovative feature set and intuitive user interface optimised for finger touch browsing. Its been just a day of Nimbuzz for me and I just cant put my phone down. I haven’t seen any client that made the use of mobile camera for live photo sharing this easy before. To illustrate how user friendly this is: I was partying after office today when I came across a menu with some hilarious cocktail names. I saw my best friend online and I just snapped a picture of the menu and shared it with him over file transfer, laughing over it all the while. This is what I call seamless connectivity! The developers of Nimbuzz have to be lauded for bringing such a great product on the symbian platform. Nimbuzz is definitely a must have on your 5800. So my fellow 5800ers, just go ahead and install Nimbuzz on your devices and enjoy seamless connectivity!