Textgram
The Post-it note de nos jours?
Android App of the Week Textgram is another app designed to differentiate your digital self from the masses, in this case by letting you send graphically enhanced missives as MMS messages, or as pictures to your social network.
Maybe it’s the use of 'gram' in the name, but Textgram has already racked up between 100,000 and 500,000 downloads since its release on 11 April, so it’s worth a poke with the Reg Hardware stick.
Type in your message (left) and apply your formats (right)
The app is certainly easy to use. On the first screen you create a message - 200 characters maximum - then justify, underline or strike your copy as the mood takes you, and select your preferred size of text. You can also pick from a large selection of emoticons.
The next page lets you change the message background and the font. Currently, there are only 14 layout options but I suspect this number will grow. The developer’s website even contains instructions on how to make your own designs and upload them.
Apply interesting backgrounds
A recent update has added the facility to use a picture from your gallery as a custom background, but the end results are rather unrefined, with the text layer clearly visible over the image. Best avoided, then.
Beyond that there aren’t exactly a lot of options. You can’t change the text colour or even underline or italicize selectively. But this sort of limited choice never hindered Instagram's success.
Emoticons aplenty
Hit the next button again and you get the option to either save your new graffiti to your gallery, or share it over almost every communication medium on your phone: SMS, e-mail, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and so forth.
If you get to this stage and decide your grammar stinks, or the design doesn’t get the message across, you can rewind to the plain text screen and edit away.
There are numerous sharing options for your message (left), including Instagram (right)
After a week's worth of use, I can see why Textgram has become so popular so fast. If you want to post a nicely designed 200-character Post-it note to your social network, Textgram is nigh on ideal and it lets you ginger up your text messages too. ®
Apps2SD Yes
Size 5.7MB
We make our choice of the best Android smartphone and tablet downloads every Tuesday. If you think there's an app we should be considering, please let us know.
More Android App of the Week Winners |
||||
 Google Currents |
 Instagram |
 TED |
 Runtastic Push Up |
 Dijit |
COMMENTS
Simply....
....why?
Is this just for the skinny jean and white plimmy brigade?
Maybe that's why I just don't see the need for 98% of the apps one these stores.
Re: Simply....
I think you have to be a barista is appreciate it. So I'll join you in the chorus of "meh".
I wonder how many of the skinny jean brigade as going to get a shock at the end of the month because they didn't realise MMS weren't included on their free text allowance?
Seriously El Reg, is that the best app you could find for Android?
"No reason other than aesthetic."
The only reason I can think of to use this app certainly ends in "thetic", but it doesn't start with "aes".
Like a moron
I installed the free version, had a fiddle, realised what a pile of excrement it is (I particularly like the "functionality" of deleting everything you've written when you rotate the device) and uninstalled it. It serves no useful purpose, doesn't work properly and will only be used by tossers, so as someone has already said, Zuckerberg will be in like a shot.
Cynics
It has a *gram suffix - therefore brilliant !
Dropping the final vowl from your app's name is so last yeargram.
