4 Postcard Sending Apps Compared When Snapchat Won't Cut It

Remember how exciting it was to get a mail delivery? You know, inside that small metal bin mounted to a wooden post at the end of your driveway? Well, now you can bring back that nostalgia. Conquer the digital divide by mailing real-world, physical postcards straight from your Android phone.
The cards were ordered recently.

Postagram

The Postagram service by Sincerely offers up a few free postcards to new users, so there’s no harm in giving this app a spin. The main differentiator with this service. Your designated photo is only printed within a 3×3 inch square on the postcard. And with perforated edges that can be popped out of the encasing card.

Postagram cards have incorporated QR codes. The sender gets free credits if the card receiver scans the QR code and downloads the Postagram app. It’s a neat bit of virtuality extending to the physical world. These postcards typically cost $2 for delivery and $3 internationally. If you’re mail-happy and buy a massive batch of 294 cards. You can get the price down to $1.85 per card for deliveries.
I am not a fan of the 3×3 size photo pop-out. I don’t understand how this gimmick adds value to these postcards. All competing services plaster a photo on the front of the postcard. Creating a nice picture and hung on a fridge or displayed elsewhere. I’m frustrated by Postagrams skimpy 140 maximum character text, the most restrictive I tested. You can only fit a tiny, Twitter quip on the postcards.
My Postagram postcard arrival was 5 days, and all of the other postcards I ordered arrived in 4 days. A mark against Postagram.

Postino

Postino has a few features that I appreciate. The app contains a small selection of frame borders that you can wrap around your selected photo. And providing the ability to add a little flair to the final image. Postino was the only service that printed a picture all the way to the edge of the card. And with no white or black padding. I wish all these services would follow Postino’s lead to provide borderless photo printing. A fun feature is adding a signature and giving it a personal touch from the phone.

Sign your postcard with Postino.

The max limit for the text portion of these postcards is 300 characters. Postino charges $2 per postcard if the destination is home or Worldwide. It was the most expensive service. They do offer a deal of 100 stamps for $149. And Bring the price down to $1.49 per postcard if you buy in bulk.
I did experience a few issues using the Postino app, unfortunately. First, the app would not run on my Moto X running Android 4.4, crashing every time I selected a photo. I did get the app to work on my Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.2. The process flow was not uniform or intuitive. Tapping the Android system back key would be best to continue in some areas. In others, you tap the menu button, and the save option to continue. My Postino card arrived after 4 days.

PostDroid (Postcards, Mugs, Calendars…)

PostDroid allows you to save and schedule them to be sent. And allows for a whopping 450 characters of text on its cards. This is the most permitted text on a postcard. There is no single postcard purchase option. The minimum amount available being $5 for 4 postcard credits or $1.25 per card. Looking at package prices, I saw a promo bundle offered 45 credits for $40, equaling $0.89 per postcard.
For some strange reason, the PostDroid app doesn’t allow image manipulation. No zooming, no cropping, nothing. You’ll notice that the PostDroid card I received has thick white borders over the top and bottom of the photo. Resulting from trying to squeeze a widescreen aspect ratio photo into a 4×6 postcard. The PostDroid app is cluttered and buttons are scattered in no particular order, with a jarring lime green background.

The PostDroid app has buttons everywhere.

My PostDroid card arrived on 3/22.

Touchnote

Postagram 5 — The Touchnote is designed well.

Touchnote was the most elegant and straightforward use of all the postcard apps I tested. After selecting a photo, you can reposition it, rotate it or zoom in using your touch controls. As you would expect it to work on a smartphone. One of Touchnote’s novel features is the optional map printout. If you send a postcard from your phone. Touchnote reads your GPS location and can include a micro map image of your whereabouts. Which it prints above the TO address. The app has Facebook integration. If desired, you can log in with your credentials and share your photo postcards with your friends. Touchnote cards for a 3-card pack cost $6 shipped worldwide.

My Touchnote card arrived on 4 days.

Postagram 6 — Clockwise from top left; Postagram, PostDroid, Touchnote, Postino.