14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like Samsung has a very busy calendar these days, as the Korean company has just announced two LTE devices, the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Tab 8.9, as well as the ChatON messaging service.
Even though all products will be showcased later this week at IFA 2011, in Berlin, Samsung decided to make the announcements ahead of the trade fair.
Samsung's ChatON is a free messaging service that allows users to communicate instantly with any mobile phone, which means it's not limited to Samsung or bada phones.
In this regard, Samsung confirmed that service will be available across all major smartphone and feature phone platforms.
“With ChatON, Samsung has vastly simplified mobile communication by allowing users to connect to our upcoming feature phones and all major smartphones in the market. Users around the world can now enjoy easier and richer interactivity with whoever they want, in the format they want—this is mobile communication reinvented and democratized,”said Ho Soo Lee, head of Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics.
The service works the same way as RIM's BBM, but allows users to interact with friends and family, regardless of device platform.
In addition, users can chat in groups, while a Web client will allow the easy sharing of content and conversations between mobile and PC.
Samsung will make the service available in more than 120 countries and added support for up to 62 languages.
With ChatON, feature-phone users who prefer simple and easy usage will be able to take advantage of a basic functionality option that allows them to share text, pictures, calendar, contacts and emotions through an easy to handle client.
However, the messaging service also offers advanced feature options, that offer richer communication by allowing users to see how often they communicate with their buddies using the Interaction Rank feature and post comments on buddies’ profile pages.
As Samsung stated, the ChatON messaging service will be made available gradually across all major smartphones, tablets, notebook PCs and Samsung feature phones.