I Think You Bumped Into Me: Bump Review

The iPhone has become so large as a social institution that their are actually trends that are exclusively within its realm.  Bump is one of these fads that only iPhone users can be a part of.  This takes exclusivity to a whole new level.  Bump, as the name hints at cleverly, is an iPhone application that allows you to smash your iPhone against another one to trade information.  This has a variable amount of success, mainly because of how long it takes to engage Bump in the first place.

With Bump you first decide what type of information you want to share with them.  There are several options for this such as your phone number, your email address, your photos, or your address.  You can also choose to Bump over your entire contact card, so you have to make sure all of this information is viable through bump.  Once you have selected all the information types that you wish to share you make sure that the other person has done the same.  Ready?  Now bump the iPhones together.  The information will be shared with the other person, adding it to your phone. 

There are also a few other options to Bump, such as Compare where you can see if you have any mutual friends through your Contacts List.  You can also choose to share other specific files between your iPhone's with the cleverly titled Other Files tab, which can actually be the most viable feature.

Other than sharing photos and Other Files, Bump is not always that practical.  Sure, it is cool to physically "bump" over your info to another person, but how much longer would it take to just verbally give it to them?  Besides this, you often run the risk of bumping over sensitive photos.  This is more than relevant with the kind of pics people tend to keep stored behind their touch screens.  You also have some set up options that will let you alter your default information and even use your Facebook account, which seems to be the go to of all iPhone applications. 

Bump tends to work relatively smoothly, except when you are not ready to bump phones and accidentally move it at all.  Any motion that the sensor on your iPhone picks up will initiate the bump phase, which can be really annoying when you are not quite ready for it. 

Bump has been hailed as one of the most fun and relevant iPhone applications at a time when sharing contact information needs to be quick and to the point.  There is a certain amount of truth to this, but it would serve to reason that injecting this function directly into the iPhone would make more sense.  This way you would not have to take the time of opening up an application and setting the Bump parameters.  At the same time this would further the already questionable security on the iPhone.  On the end Bump is fun and fashionable, but not always the most practical. 

Three out of five stars.