REVIEW: Shout Postcards from your Treo

CLICK ON IMAGES FOR FULL-SIZED VERSIONS
While still in their infancy, true smartphone applications are starting to appear; and, range from the fully-realized (TeleNav GPS service) to the ludicrous (too many to name). That leaves a lot of room for applications which provide users with new dimensions of enjoyment (fun, entertainment, etc.) from their wee beauties; and, we have a dandy to talk about today:

This first image on the left is the final product of a Shout Postcard, created and sent from a Treo smartphone.
Shout Postcards are a free service that provides you with a single interface to create a digital postcard: complete with image, voice message and text (the free service limits you to 5 recipients per card).

The UI interfaces with your Treo PhoneBook and Photo Albums, allowing you to quickly leverage existing pix and contacts, while the Shout server manages the final formatting, notification and delivery of your postcard.

Lets look at the process of creating a Shout Postcard on a Treo:

Looking at the images on the left, the top one shows the Shout Postcard interface ready for the first step: adding your Photo. If you look at the bottom of the interface, you'll see 5 buttons:

* Add Photo
* Add Voice Message
* Add Text Message
* Add Recipients
* Send Postcard

For Photos, we have the option of selecting an existing photo from RAM or SD card; or, taking a new one (which I did in this case). Shout Postcard will engage the TreoCam, let you take your photo, and return you to the UI for the next step:
Adding a Voice Message (bottom half of this image).

As the image shows, the interface remains simple for all steps, and the highlighted button will always make sure you know which step you're at. In the case of making a Voice Message, you simply select 'Record' and then 'Done'. Use 'Play' to make sure that your Voice Message is satisfactory, and move on. If it isn't, simply hit 'Record' again, and the application will automatically record over your previous message. Its all very neat, and works without complication.

In order to add a Text Message, click on the third button (with the big capital "T"), and a text box appears.

Creating a text message is greatly enhanced because Shout Postcard (unlike some other 3rd-party apps), doesn't negate the functionality of KeyCaps700 (which gives the Treo keyboard the same functionality as a Blackberry QWERTY keyboard). On the other hand, Shout Postcard doesn't let you paste in any text, which is a bit of a bummer. There is always something on the web that properly describes the scene, location, statue, etc. that you are sending a photo of (especially for those on vacation). It would be a terrific enhancement if copy/paste of text was added. Another possible limitation is the amount of text that can be entered. There are no specifications included with the Shout Postcard .prc, or on the Shout Postcard website.

The next step is to select your recipients; and, we do that by clicking the 4th button, showing the icon of 3 people (actually, it shows 3 rectangles, topped by 3 circles...but, whaddaya gonna do?).

The Shout Postcard UI will give you the option of creating a new contact (name and email address), or importing one from your Treo PhoneBook. Unfortunately, if you create a new contact, you cannot save it to your PhoneBook, which would be another very useful feature to add.

For this demonstration, I chose to import myself from my PhoneBook, and send the Postcard to myself (see the top half of the image to the left). Apart from some troubling implications for the Space/Time Continuum, it all went off without a hitch; and, Shout Postcard shows you exactly what the final Postcard will look like before you send it off to its recipients (see the bottom half of the image on the left). In order to complete the process, you simply click the final button: "Send". As a note: the first time you send a postcard, Shout will send the postcard to its server, but will ask you to create your free account before its delivered. Once you fill out the (very) simple form on your Treo, you can quickly retrieve the 'activation' email via your Treo client or computer. Once you activate, Shout automatically sends the pending Postcard from its server to your recipients. Again, Shout has simplified the process to the point of making it foolproof for the rawest newbie. Many an established software house could learn a lot by emulating this philosophy.

Shout Postcard is a 'must-have' application for any Travelling Treonaut. Whether you are into real estate, take a lot of vacations, or just like to make sure your wife knows where your are, this is one terrific little app. Aside from the few enhancements I'd like to see, this is a beautifully engineered application, and is tightly integrated into the Treo's native apps, keyboard and D-pad.