MessagingClient
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Windows Phone 7.5 SMS bug breaks messaging hub, hard reset is the only remedy
An SMS message on your Windows 7.5 handset could knock messaging out cold, a one shot kill you can't prepare for. Apparently, WP devices that receive a text containing a certain string of characters will reboot and return with a non-functional messaging client which can only be restored via a hard reset. The flaw is not device-specific and has been found to affect other parts of the OS, locking up your handset if you've pinned a friend as a live tile and that buddy posts the magic bug words on Facebook or Windows Live Messenger. Fixing the problem requires quick tapping fingers, as you've got to remove the pinned tile after rebooting before it flips and freezes the phone again. Before you go abandoning WP7's ship, just know that SMS issues are a known phenomenon and have affected all the major mobile players, iOS and Android included. Until Microsoft releases a fix, cross your fingers and hang tight, but in the meantime, all you mobile masochists can see the bug in action after the break.
BBM caught cheating with Android, CrackBerry epidemic to spread?
RIM's killer BlackBerry feature has always been BBM. So, you'll have to excuse us if we give some side-eye to these leaked shots of the private messaging service two-timing its Canadian maker. The pics over on TechnoBuffalo, supposedly obtained by a RIM employee, show off the BBM for Android app in question running on a crude developer phone. Not much can be glimpsed from the set aside from the application's icon and account interface. It could all be a slick hoax, or maybe the Waterloo-based co. really does plan to release its prized service into greener Android pastures. We'll let you know for sure when we hit up DevCon later this month.
Samsung's ChatON messaging service brings free texting to Android, iOS and BlackBerry (video)
It looks like Samsung is about to dip its toes in the mobile messaging market, with a new service called ChatON. Slated to debut at this week's IFA, the app brings texting, group chat and image / video sharing to not only Samsung's Bada OS, but to iOS, Android and BlackBerry platforms, as well. According to the Korean manufacturer, the new client will be available in two versions: a basic one for feature phones and another, more complex variation that allows smartphone users to comment on other profiles, send animated messages and visualize their most frequently contacted friends, as displayed above. The company is also planning to release a web-based version that would bring similar functionality to PCs. ChatON is slated to go live next month (in more than 120 countries and 62 languages), but you can find more information in the demo video and translated PR, after the break.
