Cheaper, easier ways to text

If your mobile doesn't come with free unlimited texts, that SMS habit can rack up quite a bill. To combat those costs, more and more people are using text chat apps instead. In fact, these days many mobile users have ditched texts in favour of free messaging services. Here's our pick of the best.

BlackBerry Messenger
BlackBerry
Free
Built into BlackBerry phones' operating system as a free element, BBM is hugely popular with teens who love to text. Indeed, such is the popularity of the BlackBerry-only chat client among cash-strapped kids that it was even blamed for being one of the primary networks for organising the London riots. Compared to other instant messaging (IM) and chat clients, BBM remains both basic, and annoyingly walled off. But it's the place to go to be down with the kids.