14 DAY TRIAL // Almost a full year after the introduction of its iOS Messenger application, Yahoo! has finally rolled out the ‘universal’ version of its popular IM client, taking advantage of the increased screen real estate of the iPad with a two-pane layout, video calling for the iPad 2, and more.
Requiring a minimum iOS firmware 4.0, Yahoo! Messenger 2.1 is the first version of Yahoo’s to support the iPad natively.
No longer will users have to blow up the iPhone-sized app to see a fuzzy version of the simplistic layout with no taking advantage of the big screen whatsoever.
The new app now offers the ability to see your contacts at all times, even during messaging, via a two-pane view in landscape mode.
In portrait mode, users can see more of their current talk, while switching through conversations is done by swiping left and right.
In addition to the iPad-optimized layout, Voice & video calling is supported on the iPad 2. Set to rival Apple’s own FaceTime application, Yahoo! Messenger will make it extremely easy (and fun) to initiate or receive video calls.
The app boasts improved spam management, enabling users to block one or all add requests from a single view, and features a number of bug fixes, including one for the unexpected sign-out issue.
We’ve tested the new app on the iPad and it’s clearly everything it should have been from the beginning.
Why Yahoo! took so long to release the iPad-optimized version remains a mystery, but it’s a welcome update for avid fans of the IM client, yours truly included.
The Voice function is available for both the iPhone, and iPod touch, as well as the iPad, while Video is available for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 4G, and iPad 2.
The Yahoo! Messenger app also does SMS, but the company warns that recipients may be charged by their carriers, therefore users are advised to ask their friends first if they wish to employ the service.