How Samsung’s ChatON Will be Better Than BlackBerry’s BBM Service [Video]

Samsung became the latest contender for the mobile messaging service sector Monday with the announcement of its new ChatON ervice.

One of the most dominating companies in this domain is BlackBerry with its BBM service, which eventually helped launch of the entire messaging service market. The BlackBerry-based messenger service recently made unwelcome news as a tool for London rioters.

Google is set to launch its service this fall, and Apple's iMessage will release along with the iOS 5 that is set to arrive with the upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 3.

Lately Skype, which was previously acquired by Microsoft, has purchased GroupMe for an estimated $85 million. Facebook, on the other hand, has released its Facebook Messenger app for iOS, after Marc Zuckerberg decided to purchase Beluga in March.

The greatest similarity among all the messaging services is the free usage facility. Users can send messages and even music and photos to others via these services. The free messaging service facility is also said to have made AT&T to kill its $20-a-month messaging plan.

Samsung says ChatON will be the most internationally compatible mobile messaging service. The company also said that it will be made available in 62 languages and 120 countries over the next few weeks as it reaches out to Android devices, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

With ChatON, Samsung has vastly simplified mobile communication by allowing users to connect to our upcoming feature phones and all major smartphones in the market, said Ho Soo Lee, head of the company's Media Solution Center. “Users around the world can now enjoy easier and richer interactivity with whoever they want, in the format they want — this is mobile communication reinvented and democratized.”

The service, in comparison with the BBM, will feature two functionality options. A basic functionality option is available for feature phone users who prefer simple and easy usage, allowing users to share text, pictures, calendar and contacts through an easy-to-access client.

For smartphone users, advanced feature options will enable richer communication by letting users see how often they communicate with their buddies using the Interaction Rank feature and post comments on buddies’ profile pages.

Users will also be able to create an animation message' that will allow them to create their own content by scribbling texts, adding audio and choosing their background pictures. All photos and videos in each conversation window can be viewed in an automatically-generated content sharing Trunk.

Samsung ChatON will be made available gradually across all major smartphones, tablets, notebook PCs and Samsung feature phones, including forthcoming devices showcased at IFA 2011.