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Cloud Computing

Notes Pros

Once you’re all plugged in to Plaxo — which supports imports from the usual suspects including
Gmail and your smartphone — the system maintains a consistent sync among all devices its
linked to. With extra integration of Facebook, the system also populates your list with the
profile photos of all your contacts — something that could tickle even the most fickle completist.
If analog access to your contacts is what you seek, the service offers a free print-out of all
contacts.

From a maintenance perspective, Plaxo achieves the two necessary components of a good address
book: constant syncing and backup. And, in most cases, it can do a couple of notches better,
particularly with its responsive deduping system that recognizes and merges contacts that have
somehow appeared double in your phone. Plaxo also offers a Personal Assistant upgrade, which
automatically monitors a user’s address book and updates out-of-date or missing information
throughout the contact system using publicly available information from the White Pages,
LinkedIn and Facebook.

Cons

Plaxo’s Personal Assistant, as well as its other premium features, does not come cheap — use of
the system costs an extra $6.67 per month. Add in the company’s Platinum Sync feature, which
allows for syncing directly with Gmail and Outlook, and users could be paying a hefty $118 per
year for a contact manager.
Even with just the bare bones, Plaxo isn’t exactly the most intuitive application on the market.
It’s the only service that required a sync workaround to run its iPhone application, and its
current directions on how to do so were confusing even for a tech-fluent person. Furthermore,
the online vehicle takes some getting used to, especially when initially figuring out the services
and goals of the system. It has a steep learning curve — something that seems out of place for a
contact manager.

Bottom Line

Plaxo loves its premium members, and its premium members will love them. If you want to pay
to have a contact manager to take care of it, you’ve found a perfect match.

6.2.2 Evernote Hello

Hello rolled out its service for iPhone late last year, and followed up with an updated Android
counterpart in late May. It’s certainly not the first foray into alternative products that the company
has dove into — it achieved moderate success with its acquisitions (Skitch and Penultimate) as
well as its own developments (Evernote Food).

Did u know? Evernote Hello is the first venture into contact management for the highly
regarded note-taking cloud giant.

Hello’s development was ushered in, according to Evernote CEO Phil Libin, as a response to the
traditional, brain-blocking features of an address book. Focused more on meeting new people
than sorting out the ones you already have, Evernote Hello is a visual approach to the contact
management scene.

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