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Say It & Mail It: iPhone voice memos on steroids

by David Winograd Sep 17th 2009 at 11:00AM

Innovation is a wonderful thing. Developers are taking built in features of the iPhone and improving upon them. As Bookmarks is a subsystem for iPhone/iPod touch Audiobook listening, Say It & Mail it [iTunes Link] is a subsystem for Voice Memos that outclasses the Apple-designed feature by a mile. Apple's Voice Memo app lets you record a memo and optionally create an email to send it. That's pretty neat, but how about recording a voice memo and sending it as a pre-addressed email along with the option of attaching a picture (either shot from the camera, or photo library) and tossing in your location for good measure?

Say it & Mail it does all this in the easiest and most intuitive way imaginable for $1.99. Start by tapping on 'Say it' and record a voice memo. Tap 'Play it' and listen. From this point you can Mail it, or tap on a camera icon to take or use an existing picture. Then click on the little 'Interstate 10 sign' icon and the built in GPS will find you, display a road map or satellite view of your location, and add the clickable Google Maps link to the email.

You don't need to use it all, but you can't send email unless there is a voice memo created first. The other two options are, well, optional.

Read on for more details & a video preview.


In using the app, I was impressed with how well the user interface was thought out. I haven't seen many multi-faceted apps that make as much sense as this one. However, if you need a bit of help, the info screen displays detailed directions and links for even more help. There is no possibility of loading this app and then wondering: 'Now what?'

One downside is that each time you want to add your location you'll need to re-enable the GPS function and then wait a bit for it to stabilize. It would seem to make more sense to have this enabled as soon as you click on the sign icon. I can't think of any reason to choose the option and then not use it.

Future versions will include picture size and quality adjustments along with being able to send email to groups. It requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

If you have a need to send yourself media rich reminders, or email information without bothering to use the keyboard, this is for you. It's very clever, works well and fills a nice niche in a market made up of niche apps.

Check out this video for a run through:




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Innovation is a wonderful thing. Developers are taking built in features of the iPhone and improving upon them. As Bookmarks is a subsystem...
 

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11 Comments

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tomcon3

If you like "Say It & Mail It" you should give "vMail" a try. It allows you to send a text-to-speech message instead of a recording - good for people who don't like the sound of their own voice.

September 19 2009 at 9:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jennyp

I tried this and found it twitchy, and Note2Self to be better

September 17 2009 at 5:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
shane

The Note2Self app does the voice & email & gps even easier.

September 17 2009 at 2:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
randyharris

I appreciate the features of this app, they just don't excite me. I really want to like the built in Voice Memo app on the iPhone, but my issue is that the bitrate is not adjustable. File size grows very fast at the bitrate that it comes set to, for a voice memo to email to somebody it is overkill.

September 17 2009 at 2:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
LeftOfProspect

I highly recommend Voxie from Bottle Rocket (http://www.bottlerocketapps.com/), same folks who make the NPR news app. What I like about Voxie is its Express Mode, which lets you touch the screen (not just a button) to start recording. When you are done, it automatically mails the message to a default address. The UI is focused on getting a message recorded and sent quickly, without a lot of steps.

Cool things: 1) if you record by holding the phone to your ear, when you move the phone away, it knows (using the proximity detector, I suppose), and Voxie sends it (no buttons required). 2) if you want to hold the phone like a voice recorder, it only takes a double-tap to stop and send. 3) you can have Voxie transcribe the recording and send you the text via email or SMS.

September 17 2009 at 12:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jack sutton

I just bought this program hoping it would work as it says, and it does!!! What a time saver it is to just speak a message, whether it is a reminder to yourself, which I do all the time, or a message to a friend or coworker. Just record and send. Quick and easy. Highly recommended!

September 17 2009 at 12:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
William

This just confused me more about Apple's approval process for apps for the App Store. Doesn't this duplicate existing functionality on the iPhone? I don't understand why Apple chooses to use that reasoning to reject some apps.

I think Apple should just allow all apps, and not be the gatekeeper to content and functionality. If Apple wants to make it easy for developers, fine, but they need to stop being inconsistent with their policies.

September 17 2009 at 12:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
d3isme

What a cool app.

So far I haven't really used voice memo much, but the added features here seem much more useful.

I can see using this when I'm travelling as a way of tying general photos to my notes, or making quick references like a reverse travel guide (eg. "interesting architectural detail, especially the cornice, look information about the architect" + photo and location, mail to self).

I bet it could make for some fun 'hare & hound' games too

September 17 2009 at 12:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian Allen

Voice Memos lets you record and email your recording to anyone.

Okay, I can't send the map and photos without an extra set of steps.

September 17 2009 at 11:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Brian Allen's comment
Brian Allen

I would say this is another consolidation application, which combines other functions or applications into just one application.

September 17 2009 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ben

Also Brian - if you use voice memos it only gives you the option of .m4a if you want to email your memo ( which is pretty useless if you want something that easily listened-to on a pc ).

October 11 2009 at 6:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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