

Evernote Hello - sumeetjain
http://www.evernote.com/hello/

======
joshklein
I've been a diehard Evernote user for a long time, but making it useful
required developing my own complicated system "built on" Evernote. To me,
Evernote is a platform, rather than a product or system. I don't find it very
useful out of the box, and I feel like they have a fairly myopic vision.

So it didn't surprise me that the product demo video demonstrated a shocking
lack of understanding of customer problems and behavior. Okay, everyone's
first red flag is surely the idea of taking pictures of faces, so let's pass
right over that one. Now, are they really juxtaposing their contact list
manager with a rolodex instead of Apple's Contacts app? While showing their
app on an iPhone? I know you can import people from your address book, but
this is just... a bizarre demo.

Anyway, no one has a problem with how to keep notes on their contacts or
remember who they are. People have a problem with not bothering to keep notes
on their contacts or remember who they are. The obvious (only?) solution is to
automatically "add encounters" when they occur.

I haven't tried norada.com yet, but I've been scoping it out because it seems
like using it requires no new behavior (it just goes right into Gmail in
Chrome). Any norada users care to comment?

The way I WANT contact management to work is that when I email or call someone
for the first time, it starts a case for them, and slowly grows that over
time.

Final note, from the appstore reviews of Evernote Hello, another big red flag
demonstrating myopia:

"Be aware that this app sends a message (without any warning or chance to
review) to people when you add them to the contacts list. In my case it was a
little embarrassing to tell my clients that I was trying a new app and didn't
know it would send them an email without my knowledge."

~~~
azolotov
Check out contactually.com, it just connects to your gmail account and tracks
who you contact.

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adriand
I think that there's definitely room for an app that helps you remember
people, but this is not it. First of all, photographing people to save them in
your phone is just plain weird. At least in my circles, it is not socially
acceptable to acquisitively photograph people and add them to your own
personal database. I think many people would react with, "Is this because you
don't think you'll remember me?"

Secondly, "Add an encounter" is too involved.

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mikeryan
Am I the only one who see's the whole "meet someone, and fill out a profile
(or have them fill out a profile)" to be a major source of friction?

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adorton
That was my first thought. Does the iPhone support something like near field
communication?

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lbotos
The 4S doesn't have NFC but speculators assume the iPhone 5 will.

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SquareWheel
I don't know about that, I can't see Apple wanting NFC to succeed. If they do
they will need to already have some killer apps that use it, and have big
deals in place with stores. Apple is incredibly secretive, but that'd be hard
to prevent from getting out.

~~~
Elepsis
Are you suggesting that Apple would ignore a whole technology because it's
hard to keep the fact they're working on it secret? Surely you're joking.

~~~
MaxGabriel
No, square wheel is saying _if_ apple were adding NFC to the iPhone 5, they'd
have major apps prepared to use it, and be partnering with retail stores. He
or she suggests that those are so big that despite Apple's secrecy, stories
would come out. But because they haven't, Apple is unlikely to be adding NFC
(Just paraphrasing--no opinion of my own here)

~~~
SquareWheel
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. To do anything big with NFC would require
cooperation with a lot of parties, and that would be hard to keep a secret.

This is purely speculation on my part of course.

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psychotik
"Hand someone your phone" is a dealbreaker. Specially someone I want to
remember - it means I don't know them already, ergo don't trust them with my
phone.

~~~
coderdude
Do you often request phone numbers from people who you believe will run off
with your phone right in front of you? This seems more like a terrible
inconvenience than a risk to your property.

~~~
psychotik
Run off? No. Have them peek at my email? Maybe. Have them see a notification
popup? Maybe. Have them accidentally lock phone and try to unlock it with
wrong code? Maybe. I hand a phone to someone, get distracted and lose track of
them for a few minutes? Maybe.

~~~
coderdude
I suppose there isn't much you could do about that, aside from getting
distracted, but that's stressful having to worry about it every time you hand
your phone off to get a new contact. As another commenter suggested though,
people do this already when getting people to enter in their own details. All
in all, I think the idea of having to hand your phone off sucks regardless of
possible privacy or theft issues.

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gglanzani
When I saw the video my first thought was: VC money. They have to show how
they're spending it, and so Evernote is more likely to develop a product could
be the "next big thing" but that feels completely wrong for people outside the
"VC money bubble".

Can you imagine if I had to go to a client and ask him to take a picture of
him, going to "photo booth-mode"?[^1] Or a potential client, met somewhere?

[^1]: The video says the go automatically to "photo booth-mode" so I wouldn't
have to ask, but still…

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zpc
Can someone do a Captain Planet like feature.

All users hold their phones in one hand. Put their phone-holding hand in the
middle. And then, all together, raise their hands at the same time. (Think
awesome team building morale boost.)

You would get:

1\. The history of which elements were around you during such Captain Planet
amazingness.

2\. The contact information for whoever possesses: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water,
and everyone's favorite... Heart.

3\. The location where Captain Planet should find you.

4\. A clear reminder you grew up in the 90s.

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jenius
First of all, this is silly and far more awkward than just exchanging business
cards. I feel like they entirely forgot about business cards while developing
this. Why would anyone want to enter in all their contact info over and over
when they could just have their face and info printed on like 500 cards and
hand you one of them?

That being said, I go to a lot of networking events and I have found that not
bringing business cards is the best way to make connections - they often are
forgotten or thrown out. What I do is I hand the person my phone and say send
yourself an email. Then when you get it tomorrow, reply back and we can talk,
maybe arrange to meet up later for drinks or something.

This strategy has been incredibly effective in maintaining the conversaton -
usually they send an email with something about the event or what we were
talking about and it provides context.

This comment isn't really going toward any great conclusion, really. I feel
like they are on to something with the 'give them your phone' part, but doing
it wrong by replicating a business card. And nobody wants to take a picture of
themselves up close, that's just awkward.

~~~
cwilson
I came here to say a version of this, so I'll just comment/expand on your
post.

First, like you, I don't think business cards are the solution. Not only are
they insanely wasteful, but the only way to "stand out" of the pile of
business cards someone inevitably has at the end of an event, is by having the
best or most clever design, which is of course all subjective anyway.

I too have started handing my phone over to people I meet who I actually want
to engage with later, and usually this involves trading phones, so I can give
them my information as well (it's more likely one of the two of us will
actually follow up).

That said, it's almost always a different medium where we exchange
information. It might be sending a text, adding to contacts, friending on
Facebook (if we're really hitting it off), following on Twitter, or simply
sending an email. By the end of the night I've initiated conversations in
multiple places, and it becomes harder to follow up and remember who is who.

This is why I DO think the design of this application is actually pretty
great. The idea of it all being centrally located, based on time/encounters,
as well as showing faces, does make sense. The execution, and real-world use
however, is where it falls short.

Like others in this thread, I also agree that having someone take a picture of
themselves is potentially awkward (I'm sure some people would be perfectly
happy to do this, but I'd personally feel odd about it).

The last problem is what kills Bump for me, and that's that it's rare that
others have Bump as well. We both have to have the application for it to work,
and because of that... I've deleted Bump (as have others). I suppose Evernote
has half solved this here, but the trading part of the demo does face this
problem.

What makes more sense to me is working with a service like Rapportive, and
based on one piece of data, instantly pulling in everything I need to know
about this person for future reference, as well as all of their networks.

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ahsanhilal
This app fails to do anything innovative in my opinion, as the fact that you
have to hand your phone to a stranger and ask them to add their details
illustrates. How is that better than just using the contacts app on your
phone?

I think Cardflick is a much better solution. It is still not optimal, but
definitely a better solution than Evernote's hello:

<http://cardflick.co/>

~~~
lbotos
It would be cool if they implemented a QR style code that would work out as
such:

1) I have evernote Hello and create my profile. You do the same on your
device.

2) We meet and each snap a picture of our QR-like codes generated by the app.

3) Data is imported into our devices and we go on our merry way. It's like
bump, but using a QR code.

Downsides: both of you would need the app, but if it saved a lot of typing a
networking event I could see it being really popular. Why make someone type
their details more than once?

~~~
kooshball
Doesnt Bump basically do the same thing with the QR code?

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brisance
I'm not sure how this is better than Bump at exchanging profiles/contact info.

~~~
zemo
bump requires that both people have the application, whereas this does not.

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fourspace
Interesting concept. After spending the last week at Startup Riot and
LessConf, intensely socializing with several hundred people, I'm not convinced
this would have helped much. The one thing that stands out is taking a photo
of the person, though I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable handing my phone to a
stranger (nor would they).

I still hand business cards to people, but only after 2-3 minutes of
conversation and only as a means to prevent having to spell my name and
email/twitter in a crowded, noisy environment. I collect all of the cards I
get and batch process them later, following folks on twitter, adding contacts,
etc. This systems works much better for me and seems more efficient than
typing into my phone.

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edash
I actually use Evernote for this all the time: I have a note with a list of
new acquaintances along with descriptions and how we know one another. Like:

    
    
      Becky: Friend of Kellie, works at UT. Likes chicken n' waffles.
      At Nau's: Omar is young. Lulu is young. Gilbert is older.
    

While this method is far from ideal, I don't see Evernote Hello replacing my
list anytime soon.

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donniezazen
It would seem inappropriate to ask people to take their pictures because you
can't remember who they are. Can you actually do that to girl you met at a
bar? Or a new client you just had a meeting with.

I have been collecting a lot of information on Evernote and I am also getting
rid of my online social profile. I certainly do not think social networking in
Evernote can be of any use.

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ilhankudeki
I'd really rather just find out their full name and add them on Facebook or
LinkedIn. Pictures then show up automatically, and it's already a shared
platform with network effects that add value while reducing the awkwardness.

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zs11
This app has been around for a couple of months ... why the HN love now? This
is OK for random networking. If you're looking for a proper CRM manager on
iOS, try out Contacts Journal.

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SkippyZA
Nice idea, but when I meet somebody I am not going to take photos and log who
I was with etc. It seems a little overboard.

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rufugee
Yet another app I'd buy immediately if there were an Android version...

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trustfundbaby
Clever timing ... just in time for SxSW

