On a day where a juicy story is difficult to come by, we like to throw our readers a delicious bone to chew on while we wait for RIM to fill up our doggy dish.  But let’s get back to this review, eh?  PingChat is a multi-platform application, similar to BBM.  It allows you to create a unique username (similar to IM but without all the additional setup) and send messages to anyone who has a PingChat ID.  We over here at BlackBerryDog have found this application invaluable, as not all of us have access to our BlackBerry at any given time (possibly due to our hands being tied up with chopsticks, right Taylor?) and most of us have additional phones.  More after the jump!

PingChat’s user interface is rather straight-forward and easy to use.  Most of the functions are accessible only through the BlackBerry menu, where things can get a little confusing at times.  If you start a new chat, you will not be able to add from your contacts list (which I will get into in a moment).  You must either a) remember their PingChat ID, or b) Ping them from your contact list.  A handy little feature that comes alongside PingChat is the ability to link a specific ID with a contact in your address books.  This allows you to go to ‘contacts’ as opposed to trying to remember each individual ID.

All in all, I would give PingChat a 9/10.  It is a very easy app to use and invaluable for those of you without SMS plans who would like to be able to contact those with BlackBerry, Android, or iPhone.  PingChat is now available in the BlackBerry app world as a free download.