Summary: Looking to whip your contacts into shape? Brewster, a startup that offers contact cleaning services, now syncs with iCloud or Google, so users can use their phone’s built-in contacts app.
Even though contacts are a basic preinstalled function on modern smartphones, for many, there’s still a lot to be desired about the experience. For instance, you’ve probably got old numbers for people you no longer talk to, contacts with nothing besides an email address, and eight different numbers under “Chinese food.” Even some of the best how-to articles end up recommending a manual contacts edit. It’s enough to make a smartphone user pine for the days of the Rolodex.
Enter Brewster (see disclosure), a startup that seeks to whip your contacts into shape by intelligently merging your address book with various social networks. On Friday, the company announced an update with a new beta feature that syncs Brewster contacts with either Apple iCloud or Google. The feature, which the company calls streaming, uses the CardDev protocol. This means that users don’t need to go through the Brewster app, but instead can use the autofill functions built into default dialer or messaging apps. Your contacts app will mirror the Brewster app.
Sure, there are other companies that offer similar features, like adding Facebook photos to your phone contacts, but Brewster sweats the details. For instance, Brewster uses a machine learning algorithm to increase merged contact accuracy. According to founder Steve Greenwood, Brewster correctly guesses which contacts to merge over 98 percent of the time.
If your friend uses Brewster and changes his phone number, now Brewster will automatically update the phone number in your address book. It’s handy, but as of now I don’t have many peers using Brewster. It’s a classic example of the network effect: As Brewster becomes more popular, then it will become more useful.
Source: http://www.gigaom.com
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