RefreshingApps.com

AttenzoSMS is an AIR application that is the gateway to the AttenzoSMS service. It allows you to send SMS text messages to your contacts around the world either individually or in bulk.

AttenzoSMS is an application that combines the benefits of a bulk-sms application and the most popular features of web. Based on Adobe Flex and Adobe Air platforms, it is a bridge between three worlds: mobile, desktop and web. Whether your need is to send a simple sms to a friend, a product update to all your clients, or an sms invitation for an upcoming event to your Facebook friends, AttenzoSMS will enable you to achieve it in an easy and enjoyable manner.

So the AIR application is free but you will need to register and purchase credits to use the SMS features. There is integration with your Twitter and Facebook accounts allowing you to import contacts and send them messages as well as the usual microblogging functionality. That said you can import your contacts from various other sources like Excel.

You get full reporting on your messages status and can stack messages up for sending when you reconnect online. For more detailed info see the website. You can register directly from the AIR application. Credits for SMS are reasonably priced given the wide service.

There is some seriously good functionality available to you in this application, unfortunately you will be searching around the UI to get it.

Design Eye

When i first started the application I did wonder if it was the same one I had just downloaded from the AttenzoSMS website. The design was totally different to the site and looked quite amateurish and garish in colour. You can change the colors from a quite innocuous looking cog icon however you only get to choose other garish colour’s that are quite hard on the eyes after a while.

The tabbed menu can be altered between horizontal and vertical orientation which is nice. I do find some UX issues in this beta version. The validation on the mobile number should be better as it allows you to enter a number starting with a 0, for us in the UK this will produce an invalid number when paired with the country code like 0044.

On the contacts screen I had to search hard to find the ‘add a new contact’ button, personally I would make this clearly visible as this is a primary purpose for this screen. When added a contact appears with an SMS button underneath, pressing this does not take you to the messages screen ready to send the contact a message – confusing.

Summing up there is a lot of very good functionality in this AIR application and I applaud the engineers involved. What is it lacking is the input of a good UX and interface designer to clean up the user journeys and interface. Loose the awful colour scheme and tone down the appearance will create a more pleasing and professional application.

Technical Eye

This application is built using Adobe Flex 3 and Adobe LiveCycle Data Services for back end communication.