Tagggit – Social Networking for the real world | Best of Symbian

This is a review of Tagggit – a social network for the real world.

Review Conditions

Tagggit Beta 1.0.3 was installed in a Nokia E 71, an S60 3rd edition, FP 1 device.

Installation

Four install files comes with the Tagggit installation package. All the four have to be installed using the Nokia application installer in the order in which they are named. The readme says there is a bug in the Symbian installer that doesn’t allow installation of all the files together. But I have installed the Skyfire browser which comes with a single sis file that includes all these libraries built-in. Tagggit must update its installer sooner to avoid the pain to the user.

The four install files in the order of installation are given below:
1. Symbian OS PIPS Version 1.02 (Nokia)
2. Open C LIBSSL Common Version 1.00 (Nokia)
3. Open C gL Library (Nokia)
4. tagggit software

First View

Tagggit is a very novel social networking concept that focuses on location based social networking in a unique way. How often have we found good parking slots, great restaurants, corner coffee shops and cobblers hidden away in back streets, that are worth remembering and sharing with like minded people. Tagggit allows you to tag a location immediately onto its website using the GPS coordinates.

Main Features

The application opens up and immediately begins to get the GPS coordinates using the built-in GPS on the mobile phone. Locking coordinates takes just a few seconds. I don’t know what it means by “City mode is turned off”; I get the message all the time but it doesn’t affect the GPS lock.

Once the GPS coordinates are received, you can tag a location by pressing the big “+” icon. You can enter a description, add a photo and click send. At this point, Tagggit asks you to add a tag. Its important that the tag is a meaningful search-able item so that it has a higher chance of being found in a search. A great Sushi restaurant can have the tag “Sushi” or “Sushi San Jose”. The latter tag can probably be found more often.

Tagggit links the locations tagged to Google Maps. This is where Tagggit is very useful. When a search for tags on Tagggit yields results, the tag can be located on the Map so that I can find the location easily. Tagggit uses the 3G / WLAN network connection for accessing Google Maps.

Tagggit also has a website where the tags are synced to the user’s account. Tags can be private or can be shared with the general public or Friends. Friends can be added to the account on Tagggit’s website. You can also create Communities and tags relevant to the Communities can be grouped together.

Handling

Tagggit is very simple to use. It seamlessly integrates with the GPS on the phone. As a user, I didn’t have to setup GPS for tagggit to work.

Weaknesses

Tagggit uses Google Maps. It makes sense since Google Maps are available on the Internet and any phone with a data connection can access Google maps. I would like to see a version of Tagggit integrated with Nokia Maps so that after I find a tag of interest, I can get turn-by-turn navigation to the location. That would be useful.
The other feature I’d like to see is that I would like to follow some friends or famous people just like Twitter, so that all their tags are made available to me immediately after they tag them.
That would be Tagggit plus Twitter. That would be great.
I don’t want to call both of these comments as weaknesses but as feature-requests to Tagggit in future.

Conclusion

Tagggit takes Social Networking to the next level. Its very simple to use and has the potential to become very popular. However, it will benefit you if its commonly used by people in a location or community so that your search yields good tag results. Keep using Tagggit and it will be more useful to you. Its definitely a good application to have. I’ll give it a 4 out of 5.

Rating 4.00 out of 5

Tagged as: social networks, tagging