Featured app: Lucy Phone
Hate waiting on hold? There's an app for that!
Lucy Phone eliminates the wait, protects your ears from muzak and saves your minutes.
This app calls that 1-800 number using your internet connection. Once you've finally got a human on the other end of the line, the app connects you to the call by calling your phone.
To get started, you can choose a number from the crowd-sourced business directory or just dial a number, and then input your own callback number. After tapping "start call" you instantly receive an automated call from Lucy asking you to hit 1 to connect.
After navigating through the company's menu options, you can break free from the call by pressing ** and wait for Lucy to call you back when a live operator is available.
While you're waiting, Lucy Phone displays the call in progress on your device, documents wait times and gives you the option on the screen to disconnect or join the call. Choosing to join the call prompts the app to call you back and patches you back in.
One of this app's challenges is the fact that it depends on the operator/ customer service representative to engage the system. Service reps on the other end of the line are required to press 1 to connect the call and this sheds some light on why a few of the calls tested reported back "disconnected".
With the help of apps like LucyPhone, waiting on hold as we know it will be a thing of the past, provided that companies embrace its model.
Head to Head: Keeping a finger on the social pulse
With the iPad's large touch-screen surface, it's easy keep up with all the buzz, all the time. Here's a look at two instant messaging apps for social bees.
IM+ simplifies the messaging process by gathering your contacts from ten social networking sites into one slick interface. As you import your contacts, they'll appear in a list organized by social network. Every friend you engage with will appear in an easily-accessible message inbox.
The chat interface helps you send pictures, video, GPS location or voice message, and also supports multi-user conversations on Skype. Additionally, members of the Twitterverse can access their follower and following lists.
One of this app's most useful features is its well-designed web browser. Flipping to landscape mode lets you surf the web while keeping an eye on incoming messages
Grouping your contacts is possible but tricky. Facebook and Twitter friends must remain as such and cannot be added to a 'co-workers' folder, for example. An app like this should give you the ability to drag your friends into folders, especially on the iPad's touch interface. Here's hoping they will in later updates.
BeeJive IM provides all-in-one messaging access to contacts from eight social networks. The app sorts your friends in the main contact column by network and online status, and adds them to the "active" column once you begin a chat.
Grouping your friends is easy with BeeJive, which allows personalized contact folders.
One of BeeJive's best features allows you to customize the background of each of your chats with different images. Pictures, audio messages and emails can be shared with friends during a chat.
There is a web browser included, but it consumes the entire screen when a page is launched, which could be frustrating when you're trying to keep track of incoming messages.
One issues with this app is that Facebook is prone to timing out, prohibiting you from logging on.
The Bottom Line:
BeeJive IM wins in terms of aesthetics, but with unfortunate Facebook glitches and fewer available networks, the more robust IM+ takes the upper hand.