Trillian Astra provides iPhone interface to IM
Chatterboxes of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your inability to IM from your iPhone. Cerulean Studios, maker of the popular Trillian multi-service IM client for Windows, is hard at work on the next version -- Trillian Astra, which in addition to being cross-platform will also include a full web interface to all of the social networking features present in the standalone app.A wee birdie (thanks Victor) pointed us to this post on the Trillian Astra dev blog, which shows an interesting version of the TA web access portal. Seems that the code monkeys are psyched to do a carefully-designed Trillian Astra portal that is tuned to Safari for iPhone's specs... nice. Go ahead and sign up as an alpha tester if you wish, and do tell them that you are an iPhone owner, but note that it will be a few weeks before the iPhone UI is ready for test.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
nick said 2:06AM on 7-07-2007
Sorry... instant messaging will never work on an iPhone. EDGE is like a dial up modem, when you are using the internet, no phone calls can come in. They go straight to voice mail. Which means, if I'm signed onto a chat service, I wont be able to receive calls. Sorry people, iChat cant come to the iPhone until the 3g version comes out.
Very few people have figured this out yet. Apple's decision to use EDGE makes the iPhone 100% useless.
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mayo said 2:22AM on 7-07-2007
@ #2, #1 is right, but slightly mis-stated. Your calls will be diverted to voicemail if there is an active connection via EDGE. This means that if you get a call at the same instant as you are _loading_ a page, the call will go to voicemail. Once the page is loaded, the calls will come through.
This is not limitation of the iPhone, that's just how EDGE was designed and how it works. 3G solves this problem.
Apple even mentions this in a KB article ... http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305711
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mayo said 2:25AM on 7-07-2007
IM via web page must suck bad though. Your browser must be either reloading the page all the time (be it reload or ajax, it's all the same) or once every 30 seconds or whatever, but basically you have lagging conversation or you constantly get data transferred. I'd rather SMS and/or use SMS gateways to IM than do it via web page. Or just wait until flash arrives or 3rd parity apps are allowed (or hacked to work)
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Nick Mendez said 2:31AM on 7-07-2007
I stand totally corrected. I suppose they could enable iChat to work only over Wifi. I would really love an iChat solution for iPhone. I don't regret my purchase however, the UI is just so pleasing.
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Christopher Bragg said 2:51AM on 7-07-2007
EDGE data can be transfered at the same time as making a call. I do it on a near daily basis with my BlackBerry, and I tried it a few times previously with my old Sony Ericsson.
Sometimes phones will poorly implement EDGE and will not be able to do them simultaneously (like my old HTC 2125) but those cases are few and far between. I'd hope the iPhone would be better than that.
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Sparks said 2:52AM on 7-07-2007
It's also worth noting that Astra is still in an /alpha/ release stage after basically all the code was thrown out for a clean start; not all features are yet back in place on either the desktop or web versions. This is not even a beta release yet. :)
On the down-side, this means it's still not yet feature-complete (though obviously that is likely to affect the desktop users more than web-based users). On the positive side, however, it means we are still accepting feature requests and considering them for inclusion in the Astra development roadmap.
No doubt there will be MANY new suggestions and feature requests for the mobile web portion when it hits the end-users. :)
Rachel Blackman
Cerulean Studios
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Q said 3:05AM on 7-07-2007
Actually all of you are partially right.
You CAN make/receive calls while using data IF you have a GSM class A device. However most phones that use EDGE aren't class A devices (including the iPhone) as they need to operate on two different spectrums. Most EDGE phones use a DTM to route voice and data which permits voice through if the data connection is temporarily closed.
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Leonard Nimrod said 3:10AM on 7-07-2007
@ Nick,
"So much FUD, so little time" is your motto, isn't it.
1) "EDGE is like a dial up modem"? Come on, Nick! That isn't jsut misinformation or sliding over some details, that is an out and out lie.
Dialup speeds are 56Kbits/sec, with an FCC cap of 53.3kbps in the states. That is only 6.6KBytes/sec. Note: One's actual through put is typical about 50 to 80% that speed on dial-up.
AT&T has recently upped it's bandwidth. It's previous max of around 2x that of dial-up is now around 4x that of dial-up. Not blazing, but certainly a lot faster than the FUD you are spreading.
2) Instant Messaging worked on the internet when dial-up ruled the land so why wouldn't a service that 4x as fast be able to do it? Oh yeah, Nick is a douchebag and lier, that is why?
3) can't receive calls if using a chat service? Hold up, Nick. I thought you said you couldn't use a chat service over EDGE? More FUD, I see.
You also fail to mention the WiFi access which allows you have speeds much faster than 3G, as you so generically put it. The iPhone is a GSM phone so why not mention the higher-speed data services that it could use over AT&T's network?
I don't live in a very large city but there is scarcely a place I travel that does not have WiFi. Maybe I'm lucky in this sense.
4) What is this crap about EDGE making the iPhone "100% useless". Dvorak, is that you? Besides the HW issues with using HSDPA on AT&T's mostly devoid 3G network the iPhone certainly is useless. If EDGE is too slow for you and WiFi ran over your dog so you've vowed to never use it or talk about it you still have an iPod and a Phone. Sensationalist remarks can be fun to read but at least make them truthful Nick.
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nick said 3:28AM on 7-07-2007
Leonard... I never said EDGE was too slow. I have no problem with EDGE speeds, its plenty fast enough for a phone. For god sakes, try it yourself. Load a web page from EDGE and try calling yourself. It will go to voicemail, which is completely absurd for a 500 dollar phone. Apple made a horrible decision going with EDGE, and they depend on retard fanboys like you to justify it.
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Tom said 3:41AM on 7-07-2007
I personally love my iPhone and have been surfing the web a lot lately, usually while on the bus. I have in fact missed a few calls while using it as I can see the new voicemail message pop up while I'm browsing. While its not a deal breaker for me, that actually really sucks to be missing calls like that, and if they dont leave a message, I'll never have known I missed it.
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SRSco said 3:57AM on 7-07-2007
LOL....LEONARD U NEED TO CAAAAAAAAAAAAALM DOWN WITH TEH NAME CALLING.
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Leonard Nimrod said 4:14AM on 7-07-2007
@ Nick
My apologies. I misread your post. I thought you were comparing the spped to a dial-up modem.
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Nick Mendez said 10:33AM on 7-07-2007
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it doesn't work that way. I receive calls while using EDGE all the time. Nice try though.
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Mark 2000 said 12:14PM on 7-07-2007
Trillian Astra has been under deveopment for four years. It the biggest piece of vaporware on windows. Don't hold your breath for this.
BTW, Trillian wont be cross platform, only the web interface will.
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Adam Maras said 2:05PM on 7-07-2007
@#13- Read post #7 again.
@#14- Trillian Astra is not vaporware. It's just taking a while because the developers also have personal and professional lives outside the Astra development team. Trillian Astra will be finished, it's just a matter of time.
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Josh said 3:25PM on 7-07-2007
OK, so can I get this cleared up? Can you or can you not receive calls while web browsing using EDGE? Nick and Tom say you can't receive calls while surfing, but Nick Mendez says that you can. This kinda might be a deal breaker for me as I never realized this and I planned to get one next month. Can someone clear this up for me?
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Michael said 3:46PM on 7-07-2007
As someone who has used edge for many years ala the Sidekick II, you most centainly CAN receive calls while using EDGE. I actively browsed web pages while maintaining and active connection to AIM via EDGE and when a call came in, I was asked if I wanted to accept or ignore. If I accepted, the EDGE connection was temporarily disconnected but immediately reconnected once the call ended. If I chose ignore, the call was routed to voicemail. So to those out there that say it's not possible, try either experiencing it for yourself or do a least research before you start spewing about stuff which you know nothing about.
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Mike Rose said 3:48PM on 7-07-2007
#16 and all: As Josh correctly noted earlier, there is an Apple KB article on the issue of EDGE data and incoming calls. The relevant section is at the bottom.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305711
"Note: While iPhone is actively transferring data over EDGE%u2014downloading a webpage, for example%u2014you may not be able to receive calls. Incoming calls may go to voicemail."
This seems to be fairly cut-and-dried to me. While there are some EDGE phones or other smartphones that are capable of handling incoming calls during an active data session (for example, EVDO rev A Blackberries from Sprint or Verizon -- but they have to be rev A, older rev 0 devices cannot do this) the iPhone is not one of them. As far as I know from my conversations with carriers, this capability is relatively new to the cell fleet anyway, to the point that they mention it as a selling point when it's available.
I'm not sure how much of a dealbreaker this is for normal iPhone use, as the amount of time you'll be actively downloading/uploading in Safari or Mail is a small fraction of the time you'll spend reading/browsing in those apps. Add in the seamless WiFi capability, which very few other smartphones have and which should lower your overall EDGE time, and I don't think you'll be missing a lot of calls.
#17 Michael: Thanks for sharing your experience, but I think the Apple KB is more pertinent; whether or not the Sidekick II, or the EDGE network itself, is capable of simultaneous voice and data is beside the point. Apple is stating for the record that calls may end up in voicemail if you're using EDGE and the stars align; I think we have to accept that at face value for now. Now, it isn't stated how many calls or how often this will happen, but the possibility is acknowledged.
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Josh said 4:18PM on 7-07-2007
I understand that I Should be using WiFi more often... but the thing is I didn't realize most people payed for those WiFi hotspots. I know everyone is saying that there are so so many hotspots but what they aren't saying is that they all cost money. If I go to Starbucks and don't have a subscription its ten dollars a day. I could pay for it but that's only Starbucks. Where I live I have searched for free hot spots and there are only about three and I would really never have any desire to go to those places. So, technically, I will be using EDGE way more often since I can't be paying for the phone service monthly and paying for hotspots all the time. At home, it's a different story. I'm wondering, how many people pay for the T-Mobile hotspots regularly?
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nick said 5:11PM on 7-07-2007
Yeah, the WIFI argument is bogus. I travel a lot and rarely ever find a free wifi spot. There's been initiatives in Seattle for years to do city wide wifi and it never takes hold. The municipal one in bellevue is so weak, it drops every 10 seconds.
Some people on this board need to stop spouting out bad info. For the record, iPhone can NOT receive calls while downloading. Very simple test... load digg on edge (5-10 second load time). Call yourself. It will always go straight to voice mail.
I'm a diehard mac user and bought an iPhone on the first day. However, this is a showstopping bug in my opinion that people need to learn about. I have my iPhone on craiglist and told the 2 people I showed it to this morning about its limitation. Both said that was a deal killer. I have a feeling the only way I'm going to sell this thing is to exclude that fact.
I think if Apple fans were serious about quality products, they would demand apple to fix this. I'm pleased to hear that the limitation isnt EDGE. Maybe Apple can fix it in a software update. If not, they absolutely need to do a RECALL on the iPhone and update the hardware so EDGE can receive calls while downloading. Its OK if the download gets canceled, but it is NOT OK to miss calls just because you are browsing the internet.
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