CardSharing, a Cool App for Sharing Contact Information
by Paul Wilks
Dec 2, 2011 1:56 PM –
Install
CardSharing is the undoubtedly 21st century way of swapping contact information. Replacing the notion of having old-school cardboard business cards, the app instead allows you to create your own card in-app and then share it in different ways. Perhaps the coolest is the way it can create a quick QR code that your contact can barcode-scan for immediate information download. Very cool.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Very easy to set up!
- Simple to share!
- Good UI!
- Information updates automatically among fellow CardSharing users!
Cons
- Could perhaps do with options that let you add/share social network details.
- Email address entry is inexplicably managed by auto-correct.
Features:
CardSharing is one of those staple activities that flourish at any trade conference or business meeting. Visit such conferences and it doesn’t take long for someone to ask ‘Do you have a card?’ Such exchanges seem to be essential to networking. Alongside this you often meet people in your personal life who you want to share details with, whether it be a phone number or an email address and whether this is done via a scribbled note (the note that always gets inexplicably ‘lost’ in most rom-com movies!) or some other boring way such details are exchanged on a regular basis.
The CardSharing app is step forward for both these kinds of exchanges. Simply create a couple of profiles; one for business, one for personal. Then when someone asks you for your details you have a few simple options; either email, create a shareable vCard or create a cool QR code for your associate to scan directly onto their phone. It’s a cool, modern way of sharing contact information. It also negates a host of issues sharing such information in the old-fashioned way; business cards get lost or forgotten about, those scribbled phone numbers get wet or lost or become indiscernible due to horrific handwriting, and so on.
With the rise (and rise) of social networking, it was a shame you couldn’t include your own social networking details when it comes to CardSharing app. You can include your own website, but more dedicated social networking possibilities would be far better. You could add your Facebook to perhaps your more personal friends, while perhaps your LinkedIn to your professional contacts. CardSharing is quite a new app, so there’s room to perhaps develop this.
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CardSharing – Create an easy QR code
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CardSharing – Home
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CardSharing – Work
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CardSharing – Sharing options
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CardSharing – Information entry
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CardSharing – Sample ‘All’ information
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CardSharing – Card sending UI
Usefulness:
There are plenty of uses for this, sharing information among friends or colleagues, it certainly makes you look pretty cutting edge compared to old-school business cards in my opinion. Also, you might even want to be trying to cut back on the volume of paper you use. If offices are endeavouring to move towards paperless workspaces, why not make your business interactions paperless as well?
One other cool feature is that, if your fellow contact has the app installed too, and you exchange information in this way, the app will update your information on your contact’s phone, and vice-versa. This way if, for example, your mobile number changes, it will also change on the contact information they have for you. Pretty smart huh?
Ease of Use:
It’s simple to create your cards, and it’s cool that you are able to have both a business card and a personal contact card. One weird problem I found was that when you enter an email address when you want to share your details by that method, the input is governed by auto-correct options (unusual for email), so be careful to not allow automatic correction when you’re typing someone’s name!
Frequently Used:
This depends on how much of a social butterfly you might be. You might attend conferences as part of your daily routine, and you might be flooded with new people in your life on a very regular basis. Alternatively, it might just be a cool additional tool you use when you run out of normal business cards. Very much dependent on the user.
Interface:
The interface is really nice, very responsive and looks very good. The menus, etc. are very similar to what you would see on an iPhone, or if you use the Android MIUI ROM. This is a little odd to see on your Android device, but it still looks fresh. I think there could be room for improvement, perhaps if the developers made the interface a bit more colorful or gave it more detail- but this isn’t really a criticism. It looks good and performs well.