Review: Foundbite

Score:
63%

Author: Mednzapp

Version Reviewed: 1.4.3.0

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Working with the sharing feature that is part of Windows Phone, Foundbite will let you pass links out to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (based on the social media accounts you have set up for your People hub), as well as sending a link over email and SMS. It does feel like there are one too many steps in this process, but it feels familiar and comfortable, as it should be.

When I first started Foundbite, the app asked me if I wanted to have sounds auto-playing. While that's a nice touch, I decided that I wanted to stay just a little bit discreet, so I toggled this to off. You can turn it back on at a later date (and you can also do the same with the location access).

Location plays a big part in Foundbite. Not only can you tag your own location to any media that you upload, but you can also search your nearby area for Foundbites to see what is around you to discover. It's a nice use of the mapping ability of Windows Phone, but it does show up how few users Foundbite has added since we noticed the app in November last year.

 

The other request the app makes is for you to sign into your Foundbite account. The chances are you don't have one, so you're taken through the process in the application, which is a nicer option than passing off the registration to a mobile version of the website.

Hoops jumped through, it's time to move on to the app. It feels a lot like Instagram or Vine, with a square picture taking up the width of the screen. Because I've turned off auto-play, a tap on a picture will start the audio sample playing. It's actually quite surprising not to see any movement in the picture because I am so used to mobile video kicking in with this option. That's not the point of Foundbite, and the designers are asking you to focus on the sounds. It's an interesting twist on the regular social media play, and one that is different to the point of being attractive, and not too quirky in operation.

Grabbing your own Foundbite is a two stage process, and truth be told it is a bit fiddly. First up you need to take an image of your surroundings, and once you are happy with that, tap the microphone to capture the sound in the area. There doesn't appear to be a time limit on this, so be artistic in what you capture. Once this is done, you can add in the metadata and post your Foundbite to the server, with the option to share the posting on Twitter and Facebook as well.

There is little room here for spontaneity. Yes, you can use an image from your photo albums, but capturing the sound has to be done inside the application, and after you have selected an image. You are going to need to put in some careful thought to your Foundbites, and while that can be a good thing for the quality of the resulting slice of media, it removes the key advantage of speed and 'must grab' nature of moments with a mobile device.

 

Foundbite is a good idea, and the developers have surrounded it with all the expected social media elements to drive recognition and promote viral growth. My biggest issue with all of this is that it feels geared towards 'get more users', perhaps more than 'do something cool' with the application. I wonder what came first; the need to build a social network or the idea of sharing sounds?

My gut feel is that Foundbite is going to struggle to gain the sort of traction that a social media app needs to achieve critical velocity in today's markets. A user base needs to be measured in the millions to have the sort of pay-day that investors like. I don't hear (sic) Foundbite managing that, but I do feel they can gather a niche audience together. I hope that this will be enough of a user base for the team to monetise and profit from, because there is promise here - just not enough of a promise to work in the mainstream.

Reviewed by Ewan Spence at 11:08 UTC, February 20th 2014