Scribe™ is immediately available for both free and paid users on Android – soon to be available to free users with iPhone devices too.

As before, the Scribe™ product that is currently available for purchase is Get The Gist™ – which transcribes the first 10 seconds of your voicemails, so you can read and ‘get the gist’ of the message before you listen, saving you time and promoting convenience. Get The Gist™ is priced at £1.49 for paid users (those of you with a subscription), and £1.99 for free users. Remember, if you exceed your message allowance (up to 50 messages) or exceed the month time-span of the product, you will need to purchase Get The Gist™ again to continue having your messages transcribed.

Enjoy, guys!

Natalie Bell

Scribe™ is HulloMail’s new transcription service, which has a fun and interesting product under its name -  Get The Gist™, which transcribes the first 10 seconds of your voicemails, using only machines (yes no humans), to give you the gist of what the message is about, before you’ve even listened to it. Ten seconds may not sound like a lot, however it only takes a few words to express a message, so Get The Gist™ has you perfectly covered. Picture how useful this will be where it’s inconvenient to pick up the phone, have a glance at your received message and … get the gist of it! Simple.

Available only to subscribers, Scribe – Get The Gist™ can be purchased via the in-app store for £1.49 for up to 50 messages, over 30 days. That’s $1.99 in the US and €1.59 in Ireland. As with other transcription services, Scribe™ aims for the most accurate transcriptions possible, however external factors have an influence and may affect the transcription of messages – a bad phone line for example.

Enjoy the new feature! It’s going to completely change how you experience your voicemail service, in a totally awesome way.

Natalie Bell

We’ve hidden 4 eggs throughout the HulloMail website, each egg contains a word – these 4 words come together to create a sentence. We need you to figure out that sentence, then send your answer to natalie.bell@hullomail.com. We will select 4 people who answered correctly, as well as the very first person to answer, making 5 lucky winners!

The eggs could be anywhere, on any page, so have a good look around. We will be announcing the winner shortly after the Easter break.

What are you waiting for? Quick, before someone else gets it first!

Happy Easter!

Easter Offer Terms & Conditions:

- Only 1 winner will be chosen. Competition commencing 05/04/2012 until midnight (UK time) on the 09/03/2012

- Open for all UK, US and Ireland residents

- Any entries after the closing date will not be counted

- The winning entry must contain the exact sentence that HulloMail has devised, without any changes or removal of words

- The winner will be announced shortly after the competition’s closure

- Acceptance of these terms and conditions is a condition of entry and the entry instructions form part of these terms and conditions

- The promoters reserve the right, at their discretion, to exclude entrants and/or the winner(s) if she/he does not comply with any of these terms and conditions

- There are no cash alternatives to prize

- There is no purchase necessary

- The promoter’s decision will be final and binding on the entrants and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the selection of the winners and/or the prizes

- The promoter’s accept no responsibility for any disappointment incurred of suffered by you as a result of you entering the competition or accepting the prize

- Events may occur that render the competition itself of the awarding of the prizes impossible due to reasons beyond the control of the promoter and accordingly the promoter may at its absolute discretion vary or amend the promotion. The entrant agrees that no liability shall attach to the promoter as a result thereof

- Upon winning 6 months’ subscription to HulloMail SmartVoicemail, the subscription duration will be added onto the end of any current subscription the entrant may have

Only 7 lucky people will win (7′s a lucky number, right?) – one for each day of the week. To be in with a chance, simply log on to Twitter, ensure you’re following us (@HulloMail), and tweet or re-tweet our special St Patrick’s Day message, which will be posted on Twitter today! Make sure you do not change the tweet in any way, simply re-tweet, or it won’t count:

Celebrate St Patrick’s! Retweet for a chance to win 6months’ FREE subscription to HulloMail! #HulloMail #StPatricks

The competition will last from today’s date, 15th March 2012, until midnight on the 21st March 2012. Make sure you’re re-tweeting our special message during and between these days!

It only takes 5 minutes to participate, and ultimately, what have you got to lose?

Happy St Patrick’s everyone!

St Patrick’s Day Offer Terms & Conditions:

- Only 7 winners will be chosen, for each day of the week commencing 15/03/2012 until midnight (UK time) on the 21/03/2012

- Open for all UK, US and Ireland residents

- Any re-tweets after the closing date will not be counted

- The tweet must remain exactly as HulloMail provides, without any changes or removal of text

- The 7 winners will be announced shortly after the competition’s closure

- Acceptance of these terms and conditions is a condition of entry and the entry instructions form part of these terms and conditions

- The promoters reserve the right, at their discretion, to exclude entrants and/or the winner(s) if she/he does not comply with any of these terms and conditions

- There are no cash alternatives to prize

- There is no purchase necessary

- The promoter’s decision will be final and binding on the entrants and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the selection of the winners and/or the prizes

- The promoter’s accept no responsibility for any disappointment incurred of suffered by you as a result of you entering the competition or accepting the prize

- This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You are providing your information to HulloMail and not to Twitter

- Events may occur that render the competition itself of the awarding of the prizes impossible due to reasons beyond the control of the promoter and accordingly the promoter may at its absolute discretion vary or amend the promotion. The entrant agrees that no liability shall attach to the promoter as a result thereof

- Upon winning 6 months’ subscription to HulloMail SmartVoicemail, the subscription duration will be added onto the end of any current subscription the entrant may have

As of today, you will have the opportunity to opt into a FREE  14 – day trial of HulloMail SmartVoicemail’s paid features! You will have access to the Individual Greetings function, where you can record a special valentine’s message in time for your beloved to receive on the day! Plus, longer Hullos and voicemails mean more time to tell your special someone just how much you care.

All you have to do, is accept the in-app invite you will receive as a drop-down message. When you see the prompt to ‘press here’ – get pressing! Once you have accepted the invite, you’re good to go, for 14 days from that day!

Just our way of sharing the love …

Throughout these last few weeks, there has been emphasis placed on how HulloMail benefits you on an individual level. While this is important (and also very true), HulloMail of course is not strictly limited to personal use. Businesses have found HulloMail to be incredibly efficient when it comes to flowing and uninterrupted voice communications.

The opening quote up there comes from Anna Smee, the director of Hundred. Within the Hundred consultation group, communication heavily relies on the use of smartphones, in order to respond to clients quickly. This is why the ability to receive important messages that would otherwise be lost or delayed when data connection is low or non-existent, is crucial. When it comes to the benefits of using HulloMail within their business, Smee comments: “We can now respond to our customers and our colleagues much more rapidly, and crucially more reliably. We are no longer at the mercy of the mobile phone networks’ coverage and have improved capacity to deliver even greater customer service.”

The second case study, which can also be found here on our website, involves a business that relies on similar requirements. Call-handling is a situation that can quickly become complicated when communications become interrupted – the team at A Suit That Fits found that HulloMail ensured that all customer enquiries were received and resolved immediately, as the HulloMail service is used to take calls where the Customer Service team are unable to get to the phone. Warren Bennett has expressed his satisfaction with: “It has become an integral element of our customer service strategy, and we rely on it daily to help us deliver the very best service to our customers. Using HulloMail has increased productivity of our Customer Service team as they are able to prioritise calls effectively.”

You don’t have to be a specific type of business to reap the advantages of the HulloMail service. You don’t have to be a specific type of person either, that’s the beauty of HulloMail’s dynamism.

Natalie Bell

Not only this, but the way in which we put the ‘voice’ in voicemail ultimately means a more accessible service for everyone overall. Better than that of any other operator. That’s right, I said it. I went there.

This is especially true of the Hullo feature – it’s the ideal in instant voice messaging tools [exclusive to us] that you can use to contact people without having to suffer an entire phone call. At this point you’ve probably grabbed your computer monitor and exclaimed, “But as a HulloMail user, I already know about this feature. We all know about it. Why are you mentioning it again? Who do you think you are?? Was that the doorbell?? WHO AM I??”

The reason I bring up this well-known feature again is to ensure that you are all getting the most out of it as is humanly possible. It’s a key feature within the HulloMail phone app, and has an incredible amount of possible uses and benefits. We just want you to have the best of the service!

Our still-running competition, as you know, encourages you all to use the Hullo feature. Judging by the entries we have received so far, it isn’t hard to see that Hullos are extremely fun to record, a dynamic and versatile message medium and much faster than composing a text message. It is in this light that we encourage you all to make the most of Hullos – perhaps begin by sending us your entry to the competition? This iPad 2 WiFi isn’t going to win itself [it would be a conflict of interest].

Natalie Bell

As with the Android, get 5 of your friends to sign up to HulloMail, using your Voucher Code, and bag yourself 6 months’ free subscription to HulloMail SmartVoicemail. There’s literally no room for error, it’s dead easy. Plus, I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d personally high five whoever get’s 1000 years’ free subscription – I’m even thinking I’ll go one better and buy you a beer [or cocktail, if you're feeling fancy].

Just to refresh your memories, here is a reminder of the Voucher Code process:

And the never-ending chain of Voucher Codes and invites can begin! Remember there’s no limit to the number of months/years you can build up with your code [I would advise exploiting it wherever you can]. Have fun with your new feature!

Natalie Bell

The good news is that I have not lead you all astray, and there is actually something worth your time behind all this build-up.
I present to you the HulloMail H-Factor Christmas Singing Competition!

I know what you’re thinking. “What a long-winded title…” Well to be perfectly honest with you it is simply known as ‘The H-Factor’, but some room has to be made for description. I would like to stress that The H-Factor is nothing like The X-Factor – at least not in the sense of name, nor the sense of employing a rather [incredibly] intimidating [deluded] judging panel. This is merely for some festive fun! There will be no real ‘judgement’ beyond that of deciding which entrant wins the prize.

Oh, did I forget to mention what the prize is? It’s an iPad 2 WiFi, you know, no big deal …

This is, after all, a Christmas competition – therefore all you have to do is send us your best renditions of your favourite Christmas carols, sung by you, via Hullo message!

The competition begins today and will finish at midnight (GMT) on the 3rd of January 2012, so you’ll need to warm up those vocal cords and get singing sharpish! Your recording can be one of yourself, a friend or family member, your children, a hobo on the street – anyone you like! Whoever has the best entry will win an iPad 2 Wifi plus a free subscription to HulloMail SmartVoicemail for one year – two runners up will also win a years’ subscription each.

The winner and the runners up will have their entries posted on the HulloMail Facebook page, for everyone to hear! What are you waiting for? A bus? NO. So get singing!

UK & USA residents can send Hullos here: 7777888999
Ireland residents can send Hullos here: 777888999

Alternatively, everyone can send their Hullos to this email address: hfactor@hullomail.com
Just to make your lives that bit easier. You’re welcome, you don’t have to thank me *grins in a smug manner*

If you feel you need a reminder as to how Hullo messaging works, do not fear young squire, simply visit our website for help: http://hullomail.com/uk/sendhullos.html

Merry Christmas!

Loquax Competitions

He then suddenly picks up: ‘Hello?’

Elated I reply, ‘Hey Joe! How are you?’

‘I’m good and how are you?’, he inquires.

I begin to answer, preparing to discuss possible pub crawling [cow tipping?] scenarios, until I hear this obnoxiousness down the phone:

“HA! Just kidding, I’m not actually here, leave a message”, followed by the familiar ‘beep’.

Needless to say I was hurt. Well not entirely hurt but I was mildly disgruntled to say the least. Yet somewhere, Joe was undoubtedly laughing to himself, thrilled that he had managed to fool me – on top of just about everyone else [as it turned out]. He personalized his operator voicemail message deliberately just to mess with our heads, knowing the affect it would have on his sober and significantly cow-less friends.

It does go to express, however, how much fun one can get out of certain voicemail features, which leads me to my point – here at HulloMail we’re always thinking of new ways to make your voicemailing experience a pleasant one, and believe there should be fun ways in which you are able to bring your own personality to the app.

Thus, I place emphasis on our Individual Greetings feature in the paid-for app! Those of you who have subscriptions to HulloMail SmartVoicemail are able to record unique greeting messages for each of your contacts – which they will hear upon leaving you a voicemail. When you think about it, this is incredibly useful for conveying a simple message that doesn’t need a lengthy phone call to describe, such as ‘Hey Bob, I’ll be in meetings all day today, will call you back this evening.’

Perhaps you will record a fun or silly message for a sibling? Then have a separate more personal recording for your significant other. Or maybe you will follow Joe’s example and relentlessly annoy your friends to the point of them wanting no further contact? [Joe now resides in Mexico. Whether this is due to his personal commitments, or that we chased him out with pitchforks and torches, is irrelevant].

You may be thinking ‘How is this any better than standard voice-mail services, where you can record yourself in a similar way, as Joe did?’ Well my answer to you, reader, is this: firstly, it just is. Secondly, this feature’s uniqueness derives from your ability to have a different greeting per contact – it’s more personal and a lot more fun.

Make the most of the feature and be creative! And Joe, upon your return from Mexico, we’ll go on a pub-tipping-cow-crawl…[??]

Natalie Bell