The problem with having a Mobile phone is that you are always available. SUre, you can switch it off or just reject calls as they come in but that just means you will either miss out on calls you DO want, or keep being bothered and having to filter incoming callers yourself. What you need is a Personal Assistant. Failing that, maybe what you need is a call manager app. One such is BlackBaller Pro - it can answer calls for you, reject them out of hand and even follow them up with a text message. Find out how we got on with our BlackBaller Pro review...
At it's most basic, BlackBaller pro is just a list of phone numbers that you don't want to receive calls from. You can create this list by typing numbers in directly, adding numbers from your contacts or letting BB Pro suggest numbers to you after they call for the first time. You can also specify patterns of numbers - if you never wanted to speak to anyone from central London, for example, you could block any number that begins with '0207'.
This isn't just a call blocker, though. You can specify some numbers are let through & merely logged. You can have the app reply to certain callers with a text message ("Sorry I missed you, I'll be available from 12:00 onwards") or even play a select group of callers a pre-recorded message. You can record sound clips within the app and keep a load on file for later use and the app can also work as a sort of voice mail, but with personalised greetings to any caller you think deserves one.
This kind of flexibility really separates BlackBaller from some of the other call blocking apps - you really can use it like a call answering service and it is powerful enough to be able to handle multiple situations with ease. We quickly set up blocks on several telemarketing numbers and recorded a message to be played back whenever family and friends call during a meeting. Rules are easy to set up and equally easy to disable should you find you are blocking calls that you actually want.
If we had a complaint it is that the user interface is a bit non-standard with everything being located behind tabs which are rather tricky to navigate to due to the tiny left-right icons used to switch between them. You are also restricted to one rule per number - it would have been useful to have rules that were active at different times of the day, for example.
These are relatively small quibbles, though, and if you need to be able to filter calls we think BlackBaller is well worth four of your English pounds.
Details
Price: £4.00
Size: 0.3 MB
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