Symbian in Motion

YOYAP! by Skyestream

Now that Skyestream has conquered the S60 3rd full screen caller ID image/video ringtone market with their superior product Sykecaller PRO, they have set their sights on another aspect of mobile communications - MMS, but with a twist! No this isn’t your grandpa’s MMS we’re talking about here.

YOYAP! is a fun new tool that lets you create customized 3D movies (in 3gp format) starring a wide range of characters, add your own audio message (voice, music, or anything else), change the background image, and send the finished product via MMS or bluetooth. You can even control the character’s facial gestures (eyes, eyebrows, blinking, etc)! The character’s mouth will automatically move in relative accordance with the audio that you add and you can also set the character’s overall mood to match your message (happy, sad or angry). If all of that isn’t enough for you, YOYAP! can also engage with voice calls and provide live animation that mimics the audio pattern of the caller on the other end of the line so that it looks like the character is talking to you! Long story short, YOYAP! packs a whole lot of punch into a fun little package.

To start things off we’ll look at the characters in YOYAP! The app itself comes with one character included but there are several additional characters that you can add to the app and have some fun with. Once the app is installed on your device you can purchase additional characters (at 50% off!) at the link in the previous sentence, and you can download them from the Skyestream site or directly onto your mobile using the download links within the app.

Once you have your desired character there are a few different customizations that you can use. The app comes with several different background settings to choose from and as mentioned before, you can also adjust your character’s mood.

Looking at the Movie maker portion of YOYAP! everything is presented very logically, making movie creation quite easy. The current selected character will be used for your new movie and the app walks you nicely through each step of the creation process. To start off YOYAP! prompts you to record or import previously recorded audio, then you can add some facial gestures while your audio is played back and the character ‘yaps’ along with it.

The various available facial gestures such as eye movement, eyebrow movement and blinking are control by the directional pad and a few other buttons. All gesture controls are explained in the user manual available for download on Skystream’s site. The next step will allow you to preview your movie and then go back to adjust any of the previous components if desired. Once you’re happy with your movie, you can save it on your phone memory or your MMC. YOYAP! then walks you through the sending process - either by MMS or bluetooth - and your masterpiece is delivered. Remember YOYAP! movies are created in 3gp format so your recipient does not need the app to play the movies. Just about every mobile phone these days can play 3gp movies.

The second main function of the app is the Live Animation feature. When enabled, YOYAP! will run in the background and open automatically when a voice call is engaged. Your current selected character and customizations will still apply to Live Animation and it is enabled and disabled from within the app settings.

It’s quite an interesting experience putting your mother on speaker phone and watching her talk as a “Rastaman”. :)

As if I even have to say it, YOYAP! is a very unique app that makes excellent use of the S60 3rd platform. You can get really creative with it and have some good fun with your friends. There are also a wide variety of characters to choose from and I’ll enjoy the next time I speak to my boss on my mobile while he talks to me through the lips of Phil McCrackin! Beyond the 50% discount currently being offered on the price of each character, Skyestream is also offering a 10% discount on YOYAP! itself. Of course there is a free time-limited trial available for you to have a play before you commit.

Make a particular note of the list of compatible devices. While YOYAP! will work perfectly on most S60 3rd devices, there are a few Eseries devices such as my E61i that are not supported in the current version (3.00) due to audio codec limitations. I’m sure that Skyestream will have these issues sorted soon though and I can confirm that the app worked wonderfully on the other devices I tested it on. If you’re ready to have some fun with interactive MMS and live animation, head on over to the YOYAP! product page and give the free trial a whirl.

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