Ever since Apple introduced their Cards app, you knew there were developers out there thinking, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Instead of being bummed because of a missed opportunity, they slowly started to come out with their own versions.
Take for example, the one that I am reviewing today, named Cardmon, their version is somewhat similar to Apple’s, but definitely has some different options. I am not going to go into detail on comparing and contrasting them, and instead will show you what Cardmon is all about. Who knows, this could be a viable option to Cards.
Creating Your Card
When you first open up the app, there really isn’t much in the way of setting it up. Really, the only things you want to probably do is connect to Facebook and Twitter, if you use those services. After that, you can basically start choosing the card that you want to use. At the moment, Cardmon offers six different categories to choose from, with roughly 8-10 different cards in each one.
Selection of Cards
Once you have selected the type of card you want to use, it is now time to put your personal touches on it. Most cards have a place holder for a picture that you can insert into it. You can either use one that you have already have on your iPhone or take one at that moment.
Adding a picture
Next, you can start to work on your greeting or letter that you are going to write. Before you start to write, you can choose from a variety of different fonts, character size, and colors. You are given a generic template for your wording, but you are more than welcome to change it to whatever you want it to say.
Editing your card
Sending Your Card
What makes Cardmon different than Apple’s Cards, is that you don’t have the option to send a physical card to someone, you are only given the option to send it digitally, just like an e-card. With that being said, it gives you the option of distributing your card through Facebook, Twitter, emailing, or MMS. Your card can also be saved to the photo album and a variety of other apps if you have them loaded on your iPhone. For example, I could save the card to Dropbox, Evernote, Camera+, and Readdle Docs to name a few.
Sending your card
Designing Your Own Template
Let’s say you don’t particularlly like any of the designs that are on Cardmon, and you want to design your own. They give you the opportunity to do this by letting you create your own template that you can actually sell through the app. Cardmon gives you some pretty detailed guidelines on how to create your own card template and they share the revenue with you 50/50. Not sure how many people will actually take them up on this, but it would be interesting to see.
Designing your own card template
My Thoughts
The app as a whole is very intuitive and simple to use, but I am not sure that it will satisfy the masses. I say that because, unlike Apple’s Cards app, where you can send physical cards to people, you don’t have that option here. When it comes to sending someone a card, as much as we are moving toward a digital age, there is still something to be said about getting an actual card in the mail. In my opinion, nothing really says “Thank You,” like a card in the mail. Although an email or e-card would suffice, there is just something about getting it because you know the person went through the trouble to write in the card and then mail it off to you.
I can see where Cardmon is trying to fill a niche here where if someone wanted to send off a simple card from their iPhone they could. To that extent, they did a good job with the app and made it so that if someone wanted to do this, they could do it quickly and efficiently. That being said, it would have been nice if they could have incorporated what Apple did, where you have the option of actually sending a physical card in the mail for a small fee. I think if they added that option, it would really make the app a whole lot better and more useful for the masses. But, if their direction is to keep it the way it is, it would be good to add some interactive features to the card to make it stand out more. Maybe give the user the opportunity to add a video instead of just a picture or have some kind of animation that the user can choose from.
Conclusion
To put this all into perspective, we need to keep in mind that although I don’t agree with their strategy, I do like how they executed the app itself. There are really no complaints about it, other than I wish there were more cards to choose from and to make it more interactive. Bottom line, if you are looking for an easy and quick way to send someone an e-card, Cardmon can provide that for you. It is free on the App Store, so if you are even remotely curious about this app, go and download it and see if it will work for you.