TalkMyPhone Sends, Receives Android SMS Messages Through IM

Android: If you’re tired of typing SMS messages on your tiny Android keyboard while sitting right at your computer, free app TalkMyPhone will forward those messages to your IM client, so you can reply without even picking up your phone.

While you can always forward SMS notifications to your PC, TalkMyPhone allows you to take action on those messages as well. TalkMyPhone sends you notifications of incoming SMS messages, phone calls and battery states via Jabber, meaning you get the notification right from Pidgin, Adium or whatever other IM client you use. You can then reply to SMS messages by simply responding to the IM, putting reply: before your message.

There are a few ways to use TalkMyPhone; I prefer to use two separate accounts: my standard Google Talk account, on which I’ll receive notifications, and a separate Jabber account set aside from which my phone can send notifications. So I recommend heading over to jabber.org on your PC and creating an account specifically for your phone. Once you do, make sure your phone’s account and your personal Jabber or GTalk account are authorised to talk to one another — sign into your personal account on Pidgin, Adium or whatever IM client you use, and add your phone’s Jabber account to your contact list. Do the same on your phone’s Jabber account too, then download the app from the Android Market to set it up.

Once you’ve downloaded the app, head into its preferences (accessible from the app’s home page) and set the following preferences:

• Address to notify: your Gmail address or personal Jabber account
• Use a different account: check this option
• Login: enter your phone’s Jabber login
• Password: enter your phone’s Jabber password

Then head into Additional Settings and make sure your Server Host and Service Name are both jabber.org. Your Server Port should be fine at the default 5222. Lastly, go back to the main page and start the TalkMyPhone service. Now, when you receive an SMS or phone call, you should get an IM from your phone’s Jabber account. You can reply to the message as well as send SMS messages to other contacts, make your phone ring if you lose it, or even have it send you a Google Maps link pointing out where it’s located. Check out the documentation for a full list of commands.

TalkMyPhone is a free download for Android only.

TalkMyPhone