About a week after I posted about imo, a multi-protocol chat client that lets you sign into Steam chat (amongst a plethora of other popular IM protocols), Vavle released news that Steam Mobile is coming out for iOS and Android. It is currently in Closed Beta. All you have to do is download the application and try to sign in with your Steam account to request an invite.
My account was activated a few days ago so I figured I might as well give everyone a look at Steam Mobile (BETA).
First of all, yes, this will let you sign into Steam chat, and it works quite well. To be honest, about the only thing you can't do is launch your games. You can browse the store, buy games, modify your wishlist, chat and just about anything else you do with Steams PC client.
The application will launch on your friends list by default. You can modify the default start section, but I think most people will be happy with having it show there friends list. I know that's the main feature for me anyway.
One of the first things I noticed when signing into the app on my iPhone was that I was still signed into the chat on my PC. That is extremely convenient. I can start chatting with someone on my PC and seamlessly pick up my iPhone and continue the chat. The only real caveat is that what I type will only show on either my PC or iPhone, however the replies will show up on both PC and iPhone.
There are two ways to get to a chat from the Friends interface. You can click on your friend and then click on Chat from the profile page, or you can simply tap the chat bubble to the right of the friend you want to chat with.
Loading a friends profile takes a few moments but once its loaded you have all the options and info you would expect: Chat, Remove Friend, About, Screenshots... you get the idea. Some of these features will come up as being a work in progress, and a few will display a 90s style animated "UNDER CONSTURCTION" GIF.
The other option you have form the main Friends list is the Menu in the top left hand corner (three horizontal lines).This allows you to access Community (Friends, Groups and Friend Activity), Store (Catalog, Wishlist, Cart, Search), News Feeds (Steam News, Syndicated News) and Finally -Settings.
Everything basically works the way you would expect them too. Catalog lets you browse Valve's always impressive library of games, you can view game information, screenshots and even add them to your cart. Wishlist, Cart, Search and Steam News and Syndicated News are all self explanatory and function about the same as they would from your PCs Steam client.
Settings will display your user information, it allows you to change Chat Sounds. You can either be alerted every time you receive a message, only on the first chat message or turn sounds off all together. As I mention earlier you can also change the start screen from here so you could have the app launch to either Friends (the default), Groups, Friend Activity, Catalog, Steam News or Syndicated News.
There is a Steam Preferences section but currently it just says that the feature is not available at this time, and finally About Steam.
Here are some screenshots:
*I covered my friends usernames 'cause I'm not a total ass hat.
Linkage:
Valves site here.
