*QQ Messenger* may not sound familiar, but it's the *most popular IM client*
in China. When you think about IM clients, the first names that come to your
head are Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and the likes. But have you
ever heard of QQ Messenger? With more than one billion registered accounts,
QQ Messenger is now more than just a simple IM client: it's a whole social
phenomenon that millions of people use on a daily basis, and an essential
part of their lives. The truth is that QQ Messenger is not that different
from other IM clients you may have used. There are the typical contacts list
– which you can organize by groups - support for voice and video chats,
smileys, nudges, ability to send photos and share files (with support for
pause/resume!), and other utilities we're used to finding in IM clients.
There's one important difference however: in QQ Messenger you hardly find any
ads! Besides the traditional IM tools, QQ Messenger also includes some
not-so-common features. You'll be able to capture an area of your screen or
record a short video clip on the spot, and share both of them instantly with
your contacts. Another area where QQ Messenger stands out is personalization.
You can customize almost anything, from choosing a skin for the interface to
selecting the font for your messages. The program also includes a wide
selection of avatars and personal pictures to choose from, but if you don't
like any of them, simply upload one from your hard drive. The only thing that
didn't work for us was downloading more themes from the Web. QQ Messenger is
mainly a tool for chat, but it can also be used to help your friends or
customers thanks to its integrated Remote assistance tool: a basic remote
control app that grants you access to your friend's desktop and enables you
to help them with any computer issue. In general terms, QQ Messenger
surprised us for various reasons: first, it features a nicely designed
interface with cute buttons and icons, which is hard to find in IM clients;
second, it has interesting extra features that make it a complete
communication tool; and third, it's amazing how such a popular program with
more than a billion users is still known by so few people over here! On the
downside, I have to admit that QQ Messenger was a bit unreliable when trying
to add contacts - which, by the way, are identified with numbers, like good
old ICQ. Not a very user-friendly method, I'd say. Other than that, QQ
Messenger is a great IM cilent that is definitely worth trying out. *QQ
Messenger, the most widely used IM client in China, has now an international
version that may help it become even more popular!*Download *QQ Messenger
International 1.3* in Softonic
