Bump

Bump is an application with a simple sounding name and purpose, undermined by a fairly complicated operational system. You’ll need to bump several times before you get the hang of using it.

The first thing you’ll need to do is make a contact in your phonebook that is you. Make it detailed, so that the people you bump with will have all your information. Think of it like a business card, you’ll need you’re name, position, email and website URL. Once you’ve done that, go into Bump, select contacts, and select your contact as you. This way, when you bump with people, they will be able to see that it’s you.

From here, you have to have the person you’re bumping with get their bump application running, then the two of you literally pump funs. A simple touch works, but we felt it necessary to put a little more oomph in our bumping. You can choose your own bumping style.

The first thing you’ll notice after bumping is that there is nothing to take form the other person’s phone. This is because you have to select files to send to their phone. If you exit the linked screen and go back to Bump’s homepage, you’ll see there are several choices of buttons on the bottom. You can select photos, music (only 100 at a time), contacts and social networks. Once you’ve chosen what you want to share, and they have as well, bump again. Now you can select the different options presented, skim through your choices, and download all the things you want to download.

Once you’ve done it enough, Bump runs pretty smoothly. And it’s free, which always helps. But choosing your files to share isn’t exactly intuitive, and there is usually at least a little confusion after bumping as to what is available for the taking, where it is, and whether it has actually been downloaded. Still, Bump is a fast way to share a lot of information, like contacts and pictures, and the fact that it’s free means it is definitely worth putting it onto your phone.