Postagram: Real Mailed Postcards from your iPhone: $0.99

Postagram: Real Mailed Postcards from your iPhone: $0.99

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Postagram is a new iOS app and associated service iwhich allows users to send real life postcards, custom printed with any photo from an associated Instagram photo pool. Post cards are just $0.99 to send. The service was announced today by new company Sincerely on their blog: Introducing Postagram – Instagrams by mail.

At the 99 cent price point, and integration with your already great looking Instagram pool, this service sounds great – and hopefully it will take off.

What a real Postagram looks like
What a real Postagram looks like, with popout picture

 

Make your instagram come true.
Introducing Postagram: instantly print and ship your Instagram photos right from web or iPhone. Send high-quality photos to friends and family, anywhere, anytime.

After signing up and sending my first postcard, a few thoughts:

  • Super quick and easy signup, with immediate integration and authorization via Instagram. Also, upon creating a new Postagram account, a temporary password is mailed to your registration email address.
  • Simple layout and presentation of Instagram photos, with no options – pick which Instagram photo you want to add, and that’s it. No editing, captioning.
  • Pulls Instagram photo description for text, but is easily changable.
  • While ordering, the user must manually input the recipients full mailing address. What a pain! I already have all of my friends mailing address stored.. in my phones address book. That’s what it’s there for. So for version 2.0, how about seamless integration with the native iOS address book, with the option for manual input/modification?
  • Only integration with Instagram. Sure, Instagram is great, but what about all of the other great photo apps and sites out there, many with API access? Flickr photos? Foursquare checkin photos? Twitpic and Yfrog? What about just normal photos in the local camera roll?
  • There are no photo effects in the app, or any photo editing at all – and that’s FINE. The app is not for editing, so, if they would allow users to import photos from the local camera roll, it would be possibly for users to edit photos with any other fine photo editing app (I prefer Camera+), and then access the photos in Postagram. The only editing option that might be helpful would be a crop function, to take rectangle images and crop it square for the post card. Since they only use Instagram photos so far, which are square, this obviously isn’t necessary – yet.
  • Payment – Come on, you have to enter in your credit card info? What about billing through your iTunes account? Also, in the current credit card payment screen, the payment icons include the PayPal logo – but no PayPal option seems to be available.
  • Overall, great app/service – and version 2.0 will be even better.