We have yet to meet a person who didn't find the way text bundles are priced as anything other than completely mercenary. Seriously? Our only options are the just enough 200 (if you use sparingly) or the waaaay too much 1500 (unless you refuse speaking on the phone and only text)? No middle ground, AT&T? None?

This is precisely where third party app developers have stepped into the gap. And, boy, have they. There are nearly as many texting apps as there are fart soundboards. What's a discerning customer to do? You could spend a couple days downloading and trying out what the App Store has to offer, or you could sit back and let us do the work.

Textie (Free)

The fine app Textie from developer Borange is as intuitive and as beautifully designed as you'd expect from the creator of Tweetie (the app which grew to be Twiter's official one). The minds behind Textie opted for the simpler is better approach. It opens to a list screen of messages, tapping the write icon in the upper right brings up the compose screen which has one field for addresses, one for the message, keyboard, and a paperclip for attaching pictures. That's all.

That's What We Call Simple

Textie supports push notifications so if the app is running in the background or not at all, your messages will get as much priority as official texts. Best of all, anyone not using Textie can receive your messages in their email or as a regular text if you use their cell number. But, wait! It gets even better. Replies made by non-users will automatically turn up in the app. You don't get slicker or simpler than that.

Everything Nice and Clean

If there's anywhere this whole thing falters it's in keeping conversation threads together. Send to more than one person and their replies fragment into differing threads which can make things confusing if you're using Textie to organize a group of friends. Also, if you're an emoticon fiend, there don't appear to be any beyond your usual character style. That said, those are the whole of our criticisms of Textie. Sign up was a snap, use was a breeze, and the app is plain yet appealing to look at. Textie is a universal app, though the iPad layout keeps the simple approach and doesn't bring much in the way of additional functionality.

TextNow (Free)

Enflick's app TextNow charts an entirely differing course from Textie and walks the more-is-better route. The UI on this iPhone app is crammed full of features, buttons, ads, etc. Open things up and there are four buttons across the top, below that an ad, below that a list of your texts, then five buttons at the bottom of the screen. Tap the wrench and you can set wallpapers, alert sounds, colors, signature. The @ button gives up your personal info. Shopping cart lets you make on app purchase of sounds, a second voice number, lets you earn credit for purchases, the developer logo gives info about their other apps, and refresh does what you'd expect.

Holy Moley, That's Busy

An app maker with this many notches on their belt and you'd think they'd lay this out a little less cluttery. Every page is crammed full and distracting. Your messages show up with a default background of a lake and pier with boat and mountains in the distance, the date across the screen, an ad at the bottom, then a teeny tiny text box that only shows three lines of the message you're working on at any one time. The same number of buttons and functions show up in the iPad version, but again, there seems little additional in functionality.

More Busyness

TextNow inhabits one of those new areas in apps, the first-one-is-free area where everything beyond what you signed up for initially comes at an in-app purchase cost. It purportedly offers you a phone number in your area code, but that comes at a cost or you can have the one they give you which is nowhere near your area code. Want it? That's $2.99 a month for 100 minutes or $29.99 for a year. You can turn off ads, but only temporarily. Everything has its price.

textPlus (Free)

Another app in the clutter upsell market is textPlus from GOGII. This app gives you a small bait and switch in the setup portion of use where the app directs you to select your state, then your area code, then a number from a list, then they cut to the "if ya want it, ya gotta pay, or you can have this totally random number we assign you." Granted, $1.99 per year with in app voice mail is not a bad deal, no matter how you slice it, but the transaction comes off as shady.

Phone Number Bait

That's the upsell aspect. While textPlus' message list screen shaves off a couple buttons from TextNow, there's still more than there should be, and the actual composing screen feels too busy to want to use much. This, as above, is ameliorated with the additional screen space of the iPad, though pocket-size iOS devices really dominate the texting world. textPlus, however, is not too difficult to navigate, with the app pulling up your address book and giving you the options of contacting people in multiple ways. However, you can only text friends using the app or directly to someone else's mobile number.

Another Busy Screen

 
The one place textPlus did seem to differentiate itself was in connecting its users. Lost among the many buttons the app offers, the one for Communities connects you to groups of users of the app with interests ranging from pets to movies to books and current events. If this app has one interesting feature lacking in the others, here it is.

Get Your Beer Group On

Kik (Free)

Kik takes its page from Textie and opts for the whole simplicity direction. Four buttons greet you on your message list screen and four await you on your compose screen too. Pinning down the corners of your screen, you find tappable ability to see your contacts, to edit your list of messages, to begin writing, and to access your account settings. No more is really needed. Inside the message screen, you can go back to the list view, trash a conversation, send a typed message or insert an emoticon.

Nothing To It

Push notifications keep you on top of your messages, and the conversations are presented in simple colored speech bubbles the way Tweetie used to do. There is no additional iPad version currently in the store, though as we've seen, it isn't as if a larger version would prove more functional or immediately accessible.

Simple and easy, yes, but flexible, no. Kik is limited to communicating just with other Kik users, and at this point there appears no way to talk to anyone through their email or SMS unless you're interested in shilling for Kik. It  was also the only app that didn't appear to have any ability to send pictures throught texts, which can be a major selling point.

WE CAN'T DECIDE!!!!!

Lol/jk. ;) No, this one is simple. With its ease of use, its ability to message your friends outside of the app, and its refreshing lack of pushy advertisements or sales pitches, Textie blew the competition clean out of the water, off the interwebs, and away to nowhereland. Kik made a strong play for our hearts with its remarkably stripped down interface, but they really weren't bringing anything original there the way textPlus brought in random communities for serendipitous meetings. No, Textie ran away with the show in every category and that's all there is to it.