Bonusprint was formed in 1965 and now processes around 1 million prints daily. These prints include images from traditional chemical film, digital cameras and, from November 2004, wirelessly uploaded images taken with a cameraphone. Cognima Snap provides the technology behind Bonusprint Mobile, to seamlessly upload photographs from Series 60, UIQ or either of Orange's SPV smartphones to a digital album. In addition to the photo services Bonusprint Mobile also replicates a phone's contacts so that images can be emailed from the Bonusprint Mobile web site.

Signing up to Bonusprint Mobile is a straightforward process. From the Bonusprint Web site at www.bonusprint.co.uk new users follow the link to Bonusprint Mobile and select the registration option. Registration requires name, email address, user name, password and the answer to a "forgot password" security question. Thankfully there are no unnecessary questions fishing for extra marketing opportunities.

Once registration is complete a series of dialogs provides a guide through the process of setting up the client. These dialogs are well designed. They allow users who understand the process of downloading and installing software on their phone to work through the process quickly, while offering novices a detailed step by step description of what to do.

The process works well, although in our test Vodafone blocked the download site, suggesting it contained R18 content. To complete the download it was necessary to first remove the R18 restriction from the phone number. Once done things went smoothly. (Subsequent enquires with Vodafone suggested erroneous blocking "sometime happens" so hopefully this problem was a one-off.) Once the application has been downloaded installation followed the usual process. Then, once the software installed, the Bonusprint Mobile client is activated with the username and password created during registration.

Following activation the Bonusprint Mobile client upload the phone's contacts to the web account. This process can take anything from a few tens of seconds to minutes depending on the number of contacts on the phone and the details stored for each contact. For most users the data transferred should be less that the equivalent of uploading one photo. Unless the user looses their phone, and needs to restore the contacts, the data usage for future contact updates (adding new contacts, deleting or changing contact details) will be minimal. Bonusprint Mobile uses the contact details to enable a facility that allow photos, along with album URLs and a message, to be emailed directly from the web interface. The backup of a phones contacts and a contact edit option on the Web (which may be more convenient for some editing than using the phone) are an added bonus.

Having uploaded the contacts Bonusprint Mobile is ready for its real job. (Photos can be taken immediately after installation. They would simply be queued for uploading after the contacts have been finished.)

So what does the photo service offer? Firstly an album with 100MB of storage. For photos from the test phone, a Sony Ericsson P900, using 640 x 480 resolution at the highest quality, this equates to approximately 1500 photos. For a phone such as the Nokia 6630, using a high quality 1280 x 960 pixel image, the number of photos that can be stored drops to around 200. This is still the equivalent of about 8 rolls of film, but could easily be filled by users with the latest high resolution cameraphones.

In addition to the basic gallery Bonusprint Mobile also allows a number of public galleries to be created. Two are available from the start, named Family and Friends. Additional public galleries can be added and all galleries can be given an access code to ensure only authorized people can view the content. The only drawback to this option is the URLs, which are similar to http://bonusprint.cognima.net/portal/photogallery/239f7-4278190080. Not exactly the sort of URL casually passed on at work or in the local pub or bar. (Cognima apparently have a solution in the works for these URLs.) Photos can be added to galleries either as they are uploaded to the Bonusprint album or later, either from the phone or using options in the web account.

The third feature provided is the ability to obtain prints. This feature is available to both the signed up Bonusprint Mobile user and anyone visiting the public galleries. This prints-for-visitors option saves having to get additional copies of prints for friends and family, as they can simply buy the ones they want themselves. The print service only appears to offers 4" x 5.3" prints. The largest image uploaded during this review was 1.3 mega pixels, so there may be larger sizes available for higher resolution pictures. Each print costs 12p (23c US) plus postage, which for addresses in the UK is 1.20 ($2.30 US) and worldwide is 2.50 ($4.69 US). Payment is made through a straightforward, secure interface with any major credit card.

On the phone the Bonusprint Mobile client pops into life each time an images is saved. This is worth noting as the client works not simply with photos (and videos) shot on the phone but rather any image stored on the phone. These include images uploaded from a PC or saved from an email or MMS. When an image save is detects the user is offered the options to "Save to Bonusprint" or "share". Saving the image upload it to the Bonusprint Mobile album. Selecting "share" opens a second dialog which lists the available galleries. The galleries the photo will be made public in can then be selected, before the image is queued for upload to Bonusprint Mobile.

The upload process in Cognima's Bonusprint is implemented well. Once a photo or video has been "sent", gallery or contact information updated it gets queued. The Cognima client then looks for the opportunity to upload the data. If the user is on the phone or out of network coverage it waits until a GPRS or 3G connection becomes available. The client will also suspend data transfer if the user starts a phone call or the phone passes out of network coverage, restarting when the call is over or network coverage restored. While it was difficult to be certain the process seems to pause and restart data transfer with little overhead. It is also worth noting that replication automatically suspends when a phone is roaming, a nice feature, given the cost of roaming data.

The Cognima Bonusprint client offers some extra features too. The client provides a browsing environment for reviewing the content of image folders on the phone and memory card. It is also possible to upload images which were not uploaded when they were first saved. The galleries uploaded photos are visible in can also be modified. Options allow the capture of photos and videos to disabled, or set to automatic or confirmed upload (the default). It is also possible to view the replications status, as well as pause, resume and deactivate replication.

Bonusprint charges 1.99 ($3.74 US) a month or 23.88 ( $44.83 US) a year for the mobile service. In addition to which the upload of photos will incur a GPRS or 3G data charge. This will vary depending on the resolution of the photos taken and the user's mobile plan. On the standard pay as you go data plan on Vodafone or Orange it costs 2.35 ($4.41 US) per MB. At that rate each photo from a Sony Ericsson P900 (or other 0.3 mega pixel cameraphone) would cost about 12p (23c US) to upload, while a Nokia 6630 image (or one from a 1.3 mega pixel cameraphone) would cost 92p ($1.72 US). Where a bulk monthly data plan is used the cost reduces, and the transfers may have no marginal costs to those pre-purchasing larger blocks of data each month.

It is worth noting that despite the fact that Bonusprint Mobile asks for phone number with country codes (and offers overseas postage on prints) the service is not usable from a non-UK phone number. This is because the SMS with the software download URL in it is not sent to number outside the UK and there is no manual download capability.

Bonusprint Mobile is a well executed application and service. It provides the simplicity to make wireless photography practical. The basic service and prints are well priced but there is a catch. The bulk of cost for the using Bonusprint Mobile will certainly be in wireless data costs levied by the operator. These costs rise steeply with the better, higher resolution camera phones. To make Bonusprint Mobile truly practical and a day to day tool data charges need to fall.

Bonusprint provide a one month free trial for the service. For more information visit Bonusprint's Web site at www.bonusprint.co.uk or jump straight to the mobile portal at http://bonusprint.cognima.net.

Cognima snap also powers OurPictures Mobile in the US and UK and Tango Snap for Tele2 Tango in Luxembourg.