Once upon a time we aquired these charming little things called "Cell Phones," remember those? All they did was wirelessly connect you by voice to anyone in the world, whenever you required. So simple was that magic... so 1999. Now we have "Smart Phones," and phone calls are about the most tedious thing you can do with them. The iPhone alone presents you a staggering number of new ways to inform and entertain yourself without ever even making one phone call. They're called Apps, they're cheap, useful and fun, and often they're even fantastic.
Take KittyCall, PuppyCall and PonyCall for example. Brand new from MightyExcellentPosse, these Apps instantly turn your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a messaging service for your pet. Yes, a messaging service for your kitty, puppy or pony. How good is that? Here's how it worked when we gave KittyCall a try:
With a inquisitive kitty on hand it took us no time to get a good picture with the camera of our iPhone, which we did right from inside the KittyCall application. Next we were offered with some cartoon-style "Talk Bubbles" to pick from, one pointing in each different direction, so we picked one that will fit well with our photograph. The bubble then appeared in the picture, and when we double tapped the screen a keyboard popped up, so we typed away and our message appeared right within the bubble, much like a regular text message.
Then it got downright slick. With two fingers we reshaped and resized the bubble, all the while watching our text wrap to stay within more or less whatever size we wanted to make out of it. So we were able to get our message right into the perfect spot in the picture. And with the touch of a button we had the final image sited into an email all set to send. We could have chosen to send it as a text message too. All of a sudden, this little kitty was speaking for us and we were hooked!
KittyCall seems to be very popular with kids of all ages - present company accepted - because it's so easy to use and provides an delightful new way to communicate with friends. "I love you," or "Let's meet at 7:30," or "LOL I win the cute contest" (which one do you think was our message?)... all these are much more fun coming from your cat.
One great thing about this App is that you don't even need the iPhone's camera. They've included a collection of sample kitty images to choose from as well as giving you one button access to the photograph library right on the phone. This makes KittyCall work perfectly on the iPod Touch and iPad, neither of which have a camera (yet!) It also made PuppyCall and PonyCall worth a try for us as well, since we didn't have a puppy or pony on hand! There are a number of really great images in the samples compilation of those Two Apps as well.
We can see these Apps being big hits with cat lovers, dog lovers, horseback riders, just about everyone. Particularly since MightyExcellentPosse is inviting users to send in a picture of their own pet, stating that if they decide the photograph it will show up in the samples collection in a future update for all to see, with the pet's name and user's name listed. Your pet's Fifteen minutes is waiting!
One thing we wished for with each of the Apps is more variety in the styles of the talk bubbles, and more sample photographs to choose from. It could only make it that much more fun. When we looked around the website for MightyExcellentPosse we found a promise to do exactly that in a future update. We'd like to receive credit for that, but they were most likely working on it before we even took our first test run.
KittyCall, PuppyCall and PonyCall are wonderful examples of why we love our Smart Phones more each day. With all the intricate and awesome games accessible for the iPhone, it's really wonderful to see an app that works so brilliantly and so easily, all rolled together in one very cute parcel. "Send a message to someone you love, FROM someone you love." That's what MightyExcellentPosse says. We say give it a go, you just may transform the way you text from now on.
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With Kitty Call you can snap a picture of your own kitty, add a Talk Bubble and enter your own text message. You can then send the image and message together in an email or via MMS (requires MMS on your device and on the recipient's device.)
Brand new from MightyExcellentPosse , these Apps instantly turn your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a messaging service for your pet. Yes, a messaging service for your kitty, puppy or pony. How brilliant is that? Here's how it worked when we gave KittyCall a try: