eBuddy is one of the oldest players in multi-network chat clients and is available on almost every mobile platform out there. The free ad-supported version of eBuddy for the iPhone was released a long time ago, but now eBuddy Pro has been launched for $4.99 along with lots of new features that are already available in other IM apps for the iPhone. This includes sending pictures, changing display pictures as well as push notifications for 3 days. But are these enough to compete with the likes of Beejive and IM+?

eBuddy Pro still doesn’t show avatars in the contacts list unlike Beejive, which is the best IM app available in the App Store. Landscape keyboard is another feature that hasn’t been implemented yet. But if you’ve used eBuddy before, the UI is actually nicer on the eyes than other clients. It also features the ‘nudge’ option that is unavailable in Beejive. When you receive a nudge on your iPhone, it vibrates. This obviously doesn’t work for the iPod Touch, since it doesn’t have vibration.

The typing indicator is another useful feature in eBuddy along with group chats. The best thing about chatting using eBuddy is that you can swipe chat pages to the side to navigate to other chat pages. This is really useful when you’re simultaneously conversing with multiple contacts.

Beejive costs $6.99 and doesn’t have a free version to try out before buying. But with eBuddy Pro, you can always try the free eBuddy app before buying it for $4.99. If you’re looking to try out a new IM app, eBuddy is a good one to start with. Hopefully, landscape keyboard, contact list avatars and other such options will be provided with upgrades over time.

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