Multi network instant messenger imo adds voice calls, eats less, goes grey

Update: imo is dead!

With all those chat networks out there, you can either install a homescreen full of apps for each network, or use a multi network app like imo.

With imo you can chat on MSN, Google Talk, Skype, Yahoo IM, ICQ, AIM, Facebook Chat, all Jabber networks, and more.

You could also use an XMPP client for that, but then you'll have to find a server that will let you talk to all your networks. With imo it's a lot easier.

You can't chat on WhatsApp or Viber with imo (maybe they're working on it?), but you can try a new experimental imo feature: free voice calls. Yep, that's right: imo goes VoIP! It only works if the other end runs imo too, but if you can talk all your friends into using imo it's like a crossbreed of WhatsApp and Viber on steroids.

The new imo eats less data and battery, and its user interface got a new layer of paint too. It makes things look more Ice Cream Sandwichy, but of course I always find something to bitch about. The old imo made its notification bar icon change colors depending on your connection status, so you could see if you were online or incommunicado without opening the app. The new imo icon is grey and stays grey no matter if you're connected or not. Maybe the imo coders can do something about that in the next update? Some other changes didn't go down that well either. Judging from the Market comments, I'm not the only one who thinks it's a stupid idea to rename the Networks tab into Me. And the smilies in imo are still all of the green Android type. Maybe someone can make a classic yellow smiley pack for imo?

• imo

Update: imo is dead!