14 DAY TRIAL // Hardcore Nokia fans will be happy to know that the Chat messaging application powered by Yahoo! has just received a major update. Given the fact that the application is still in beta, Windows Phone users won’t find it in Windows Phone Store yet.
Nokia Chat beta 1.3 comes with a handful of new features and improvements that bring it close to the final release. First of all, developers have announced that the application now starts much faster:
“When you start Nokia Chat from a pinned tile or the app list, you’ll immediately see your contacts list and have access to past messages, while we simultaneously update both in the background after a network connection has been established. Previously, you had to wait for these updates to complete before being able to use Chat.”
Furthermore, the new version of Nokia Chat is much more stable and responsive. The update now allows contacts list and conversation threads to load faster, and scrolling through both is said to be much quicker.
Last but not least, Nokia Chat devs have introduced offline support. With the new mode, Nokia Chat users will be able to read past messages and see a cached copy of their contacts list.
When the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network or mobile data connection is enabled, users will only need to tap the connect button, if they’re already inside Nokia Chat.
Once Nokia Chat is connected online once again, it will re-enable message sending, retrieve new messages and update the contacts list.
It is also worth mentioning that the update also brings a number of bug fixes and enhancements, which have yet to be detailed by the developers.
The Nokia Chat for Windows Phone beta is now available worldwide in all the countries where the service is enabled. For more details on the extra features offered by the Windows Phone 8 version, check out Nokia Chat page on Beta Labs.