Over here at FoneArena , we are very appreciative of the work that is being done by Nimbuzz. An active support team which constantly listens to consumer feedback coupled with constant addition of innovative services has led to their roaring success. The service adds over 100k users everyday and has over 10 million active users from India alone. So when the company launched their Ping service in Indonesia earlier this year as we found out from our interview with Nimbuzz earlier this year, we were genuinely interested. As soon as we got word that the service has been officially launched in India , we just had to give it a spin.
What is Nimbuzz Ping ? Its a very innovative solution to the problem of being constantly online. A constantly online service is definitely a battery drain but if you go offline , you might miss that important conversation with a friend. Phones which do not have a proper push notification system miss out on that front but not now. The service ties into the SMS messaging system of the phone and uses it in the form of notifications. Anytime someone ‘Pings’ you on Nimbuzz (no pun intended) , the server sends you an SMS message which then provides you a link to launch the application and continue the conversation. The following video should help you understand the service a bit more.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxx5AlxCoW4
The service is completely opt-in and is NOT activated when you install the application. I think it is a smart move as it puts all privacy related concerns at bay. In order to test out the service, i decided to do an installation from scratch to see how intuitive it actually is for a normal user. Launching Nimbuzz leads you to a log in box , on entering your credentials, you will be greeted by a loading screen as Nimbuzz pulls in your contacts.
A quick tap on the settings button bring you to the next pane. The Nimbuzz Ping tab is very clearly marked out here instead of being buried under menus.
Enabling the service is a simple deal of switching the tab from ‘Off’ to ‘On’. The application then registers your number with the server to enable the ‘Push’ notifications.
Whenever Nimbuzz is switched off and one of your contacts wants to chat with you an SMS message is pushed to your phone. A sample message can be seen below.
Following which you can switch on Nimbuzz as usual and continue your chat. Any message sent previously remains in the chat window. Small touch but which helps in maintaining continuity, while messaging.
Nimbuzz Ping is not a revolutionary service but it is a fantastic addition to an already great application. We are genuinely excited by the potential here. This will be invaluable to the millions of people using Nimbuzz for chat on feature phones. The free service has been launch on Aircel in India and there are plans to spread to other operators as well soon.
Have any of you tested out the service yet ? Is it working on operators other than Aircel as well ? Let us know in the comments below !