QQ Messenger

QQ Messenger is a piece of software that allows for IM, voice, and video chatting, and it happens to be China's most popular chatting platform.

Most Americans would probably name Skype, Yahoo Messenger, or Windows Live Messenger when considering the best IM clients in the United States, but QQ Messenger is one that usually gets ignored in America.

This is quite a shame since the software is much more than a simple way to communicate. Over one billion people have successfully created accounts on the QQ Messenger platform, and those connections allow millions of people to interact with each other every day.

This app isn't really that much different from similar IM platforms. It contains an archive of your contacts that can be organized in a number of ways, and it supports file sharing, video chats, nudges, emoticons, and more. Perhaps the greatest thing about this free piece of software is that it contains a very limited number of ads.

While QQ Messenger holds many of the standard IM features, it also includes functionality that you won't find in many other IM clients. You can use the software to take a screenshot of the entire screen or a small portion of it, and you can capture video clips of activity on your screen. This content can then be shared with members of your contacts list right away.

You can also customize the app with a number of personal features. Message fonts can be changed, new UI skins can be used, and you can choose an avatar from the included selection or from your own collection of images. The software claims to offer more themes that can be downloaded, but it doesn't seem as if the themes are available.

Since the app has an integrated Remote Access tool, you can use it to walk your customers, friends, or family through computer issues, or you could gain full control of the system and make the changes yourself.

When most first-timers try QQ Messenger, they are initially surprised by the pleasantly organized UI. It also has some interesting bonus tools that transform the app into a fully comprehensive communication platform. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the software is how few users it has in America considering the popularity of the platform across the entire world.

Unfortunately, QQ Messenger doesn't make it easy to add new contacts. Also, contacts are organized and labeled by number. This isn't particularly user friendly, especially if you have many contacts that must be searched through to find specific numbers. However, these downsides aren't enough to bring QQ Messenger down significantly, so it's certainly worth a try for those in the market for a new IM client.