Evernote’s contacts app Hello comes to Android, gets LinkedIn integration

In its ongoing quest to kill the alphabetical contact list, Evernote is bringing its Hello app to the Android for the first time on Wednesday. The app will have a few new features not available on the iPhone, including LinkedIn integration.

Hello, previously only available on the iPhone, uses picture tiles and a bit of psychology to make remembering people easier.  The app uses contextual information — such as where you met someone, who introduced you, and what the person was wearing — to help you remember the people you meet. Its photo-heavy interface encourages you to remember faces and names together.

Now, Hello is coming to Android with a few features not seen in the iPhone version of the app. One feature that has Evernote chief executive Phil Libin excited is a LinkedIn integration.

“The LinkedIn [integration] complete changes the workflow of the app. All you need is an email address and it gets everything else automatically,” said Libin in an interview with VentureBeat. “It gives you an easy way to connect [and] reduces the time to capture the encounter to about three seconds.”

With someone’s LinkedIn login email address, you can add their name, phone number, photo, and other information to their contact in Hello. You don’t even have to be connected with them on LinkedIn to grab their information. If someone’s not keen on giving you their LinkedIn login email, you can always manually enter their information into the app.

Hello for Android is also able to connect with call and text messaging logs to easily add contacts. Libin stresses that Hello only accesses your call logs and text messages locally and won’t send data anywhere you don’t want it to go.

Just like the iPhone version, Hello for Android will find your location and language to figure out to display someone’s name, based on the cultural standard.

“Hello was made for me. I have a hard time remembering people and it gives me a lot of stress. Evernote Hello is a natural way to remember people the way your brain does,” said Libin.

Hello’s original design encouraged you to hand your phone over to the person you just met to enter their contact info. Most people felt this was too invasive, so Evernote redesigned the app to give people the option to enter contact information themselves.