Bumpchat

Bumpchat is an app in the Social Networking category that connects users across the globe. It sells itself as a "location based messaging and dating app for the iPhone."

The application is reminiscient of Skype's SkypeMe mode, minus all of the spam. Users list their age, sex, height, and other info (all on a voluntary basis) in their profile, and add a picture of themselves. The main search page, pictured here can be filtered by most of the profile attributes to only list, say, 23 year olds with a picture living within a 100 mile radius.

What this all amounts to is a way to chat with random people in a slightly less anonymous manner than when using the Zen Jar. The app is kinda geared towards dating, but its been my experience that there are just as many people just wanting to have a chat as those looking for dating and other such things.

Now for the bad:

The interface is unlike any other iPhone app I've used. It looks like it is geared towards a computer, and not an iPhone. It doesn't autocapitalize, have autocorrect, or properly use accented characters. It does, however, seem to send Chinese characters fine. Crashes are common, and chat history seems to randomly disappear, as do contacts in the Hotlist, which amounts to a buddylist or a favorites list.

Filters seem to work mostly well, but occasionally filters out too many people. Server disconnects are common, even though network connectivity is fine.

Image distortion is another problem. Images can be sent in chats as messages, but unless they're just the right side, they're distorted to make them fit. Images taken by the iPhone's camera get squished.

I give this app a thumbs up for concept, and a thumbs down for execution.

Edit: On further inspection, it seems my Chinese did not work.