If you have a smartphone then you must be using a caller ID so that you can identify the incoming calls before picking them and once you know who is calling, you can make your decision to pick it or not. Many time you might have missed a call from an unknown number or you have noted someone’s number but you dont remember the name of that person, then in that case you can just search for that number and you will came to know the name and some other details of him.
But what if I tell you there is an app which can do a lot more than these basic functions of caller ID, lets meet Toost, its an new caller ID in town and its available on Android platform for free. This app comes with several useful features which we are going to talk in this review.
Download, Installation And Setup :-
To download this app, just visit Google Play Store and search for the Toost Caller ID, download it and install, its hardly a 1MB file and will be downloaded within a minute, once its install just launch it and it will verify your number by sending an SMS to you. That’s it, once you are verified, you are ready to rock and roll.
UI :-
UI of Toost app is very simple and sleek, you will find three tabs at the bottom of the screen, Search, Call Log and Feed.
Search :-
Now here is the interesting part, most of the caller ID only allows you to make a search on the basis of number which you have, but have you came across a situation when you dont have number of the Chinese Restaurant nearby you but you know the name of the restaurant?
Here you can make a search on the basis of number, name or by Business name, when you make a search on the basis of name then it wont show their number due to privacy reason, but allows you to send request to the person and once he/she approve your request, you can view their contact details.
If you you search for a business then you will be able to view its location on map, contact details and address as well. One thing which is good in this app is that it track your location and once you search for a business then it will show nearest one’s like if I search for dentist then it will show nearest to me so that I can reach it in short span of time.
Its obvious that you might not trust all business listed on the app, and to make things more easier for you, this app allows you to ask for recommendation from your friends about it, or if you are happy with that business service then you can rate or add your review through app so that others can get help with it.
A nice feature which i found on this app is that it allows you to bookmark your searched business, so that you can find them easily in future.
Call Logs :-
This is an usual option which shows all your call logs, here you will be able to view incoming calls, outgoing calls, and if you have missed an call which number is not shaved in your contact book then its name will be shown to you so that you can identify them.
Feed :-
Its the last tab which you will find on your main window, here you can see the activity of your friends or of all Toost users. If some of your friend rated any bar or anyone joined Toost then you can view it here.
Its a nice window in which you check for recommendations from your friends or from other Toost users for any business or for pub, bar or hotels.
Other Options :-
Apart from this, Toost allows you to block someone or you can create a list of numbers which you want to block. One this which i liked in this is that it allows you to block someone and forward their call to your voicemail, many other caller ID just pick up and hang calls which gives an idea to the caller that you are blocking his/her number, but here their calls will be sent directly to voicemail.
Final Verdict :-
App seems light weight and UI is simple too, you will not face any issue with the UI. App brings some interesting features to the table which were missing in others like searching by the name of business, or getting recommendation from friends.
If you are moving to a new place then this app can be very helpful to find local business, plumbers, electricians and so on.
But in our test we found that it has limited numbers in its database, company claims to have 750 Millions entries with them but when we tested it, we found several numbers were not there. Hopefully it will increase its database over the time and we will have a good app which we can use.
