The APPera

Written By: Daniel Scott

Talk Mail Pro ($5.99; Free)

Apps That Rock developed a useful app that dictates your emails, a service invaluable to anyone on the go.

Talk Mail Pro, is a solid utility app for both iPhone and iPod Touch. There are many professionals who require to multitask and find ways to streamline their productivity. This is app is a must.

Ease of Use

For example, one might have a rough commute, dealing with aggressive traffic and whatnot. Why not listen to your inbox before signing on at work? Depending on your email traffic, it’s a definite time saver. Time saved maybe worth spending on things you want to get done, such as checking your Twitter or Facebook account ;p.

Set up is easy. There are default email services ready to go for Gmail, AOL, and Mobile Me. Just like how push email was set up on your iDevice, tap in your account name and password, and it’s set. One note about this (which is the same for push mail as far as I know), make sure IMAP is enabled for all mail accounts.

After which all the desired accounts are set up, tap which email account to listen and let it load!

That’s all! Easy set up, easy interface, good time saver.

Issues

However there are some issues that need to be addressed:

Volume

If I missed where the volume setting is, please tell me!  It’s only loud enough to listen like an incoming phone call or voice mail.  I’m not hard of hearing, but an adjustment to the volume is needed.  My thoughts were to have a friend send me the lyrics to a song from Lil Wayne or something unedited and have the app recite the song for everyone in the office. Much needed to lighten up the place at times.

Ability to Change Voice

The current settings allow speed and pitch controls, but what I want is a different voice dictating my emails to me. As a long time mac user, I use an app in the utility folder with several voices to choose from called Voice Over Utility. As of now, there is a lady telling me to be patient as it loads up. Once the email starts, the voice is easy to comprehend. I get flashbacks from the android from the movie “Aliens”. Specifically the part after he’s torn in half and Ripley defeats the alien. He says to Ripley: “Not bad for a human.” Exact match hands down.

12 Months of Service?

Once I buy an app, I don’t expect to have a monthly bill. This isn’t satellite radio and if I am going to be charged next year, I will be deleting the app from my library. If in doubt, the “lite” version allows talk email for 2 months.

Lastly, the developers added a feedback option within the app. Tap the feedback button and it launches your push mail pre-addressed to the devs, ready for a love letter pleading for updates. Good idea for any app in my opinion.

Those are my only minor complaints. Again the app is great and works well, but I hope to see these issues resolved to make it that much better.

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