WhatsApp, the mother of all cross platform instant messaging apps has finally been updated for Android. The new update doesn’t include any new functionality, but brings a much needed holo design to the UI. This is probably the first time that the app has received a visual face-lift after its release in 2010. The new app design brings an action-bar, new font, expandable notifications, redesigned chat bubbles and the emoticons window. The home-page and preferences page have been updated too. In short, pretty much everything has been given a visual face-lift.
Download: WhatsApp v2.9.2239

The new action bar.
Old conversation UI on the left vs. New on the right
Old Preferences page on the left vs. New on the right
Expandable Notification for new messages
Expandable notifications is only supported on devices running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or above.
Download: WhatsApp v2.9.2239
BUT I STILL WON’T BE USING IT
As a user who waited for several months in the hope of a visual revamp and eventually moved on to another app, Hike — a similar app, but with a better UI design and features, I cannot stress enough how irritating it was to use the old ugly UI of WhatsApp. The new UI is a lot better, but sadly it’s too late for WhatsApp to pull me back now.
Hike
And I’m not the only one who has made the switch. Almost half of my (WhatsApp) contacts have started using Hike as their secondary messaging app. Abhishek Baxi of ZDNet reports how mobile messaging in India is evolving beyond WhatsApp. I’m pretty sure this story applies to other parts of the world as well. WhatsApp may be the most widely used mobile messaging app for now, but other apps have started finding a foothold in this tight market space and WhatsApp is itself responsible for it. I’d like to ask the same question to our readers as well. How many of you still use WhatsApp as your primary mobile messenger app? Have you ever considered moving to some other app?