Internet Relay Chat chatter client, wmIRC 2.2, Released! A comparative review

http://wmirc.com

There're several Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients, particularly if you also take into account the midlet-based ones, which, in general, also run on the Pocket PC. wmIRC is one of these, and, in a lot of respects, it's the best. For example, it can log chats, which is impossible with other IRC clients. You may want to read this IRC client roundup for more information on wmIRC and all its alternatives; in addition, there's an additional, strictly WM5 compliance-related blog post here for Windows Mobile 5 users. Please note that the current blog entry is in no way a complete introduction to the capabilities of the application – consult the above-linked IRC client roundup and the homepage of wmIRC for more information. It's because wmIRC's being arguably the best client that I jumped at the brand new version right after it has been released to find out whether the bugs have been fixed and the capabilities enhanced. Enhancements Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many changes; the only difference I noticed was a new text area input component in the IRC server setting dialog in Preferences (this is how it looks in version 2.1). Bugs mentioned in my previous articles Unfortunately, the bugs I've found in version 2.1 still haven't been fixed:

1. The bug of the client not noticing it has already joined channels (this is what is visible on the PDA, while it has long ago joined two channels) is still present.
2. On WM5 devices (the application works OK in this respect under pre-WM5 operating systems), the Commands/Last Messages list is still empty

Bugs not mentioned in my older, linked articles

1. Unfortunately, the application is almost useless in landscape mode (for example, on the HTC Wizard using the built-in keyboard) if you chat on more than one channel/pane because when you switch back to a channel/message pane from another one and the given pane has more messages than the height of the window, you won't be able to scroll down to the latest messages as can be seen in here – here, the last messages (for example, 'last' sent by another client) are just invisible. A quick switch to Portrait mode and switching back to Landscape helps in this case; however, this is very akward, especially if you need to slide back the keyboard to do so.
2. There was also a very annoying bug in wmIRC 2.1. If you have many channels open and you're kicked/kickbanned from one of them, the received messages/texts in the panes that have been opened after the one where you've been kicked from will in cases be the same for all panes. That is, when you're told something in a channel/private query, it will be visible in all panes, not just the one that it's belonging to. I will keep you posted on whether this bug has been fixed in the new version after some additional testing.

Minor annoyances

1. The "invite" annoyance is still here (this is exactly the same as in version 2.1)
2. The 10-panes-at-max restriction could also be eliminated; most other IRC clients allow the client join much more channels/private queries.

Verdict Much as these bugs/annoyances can be in cases really prominent (especially when you use wmIRC in Landscape mode and chat on more than one channel), if you need chat logging, colors or easy switching between channels/chat panes, wmIRC is the way to go, even when it does have bugs. Hope these bugs will be fixed before long.