Writing and sending postcards is a traditional vacation ritual and, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, can cost you no more than a little time and energy.

Don’t be forced to choose among cheesy print postcards at your vacation destination — use your own iPhone photos with one of these fabulous, free apps that creates electronic postcards you can email.

While your dear old grandma may still prefer a card of the paper variety, next time you’re on a trip away from home, why not drop a line to your friends, family and colleagues using one of these apps?


1. SodaSnap



SodaSnap offers a simple app interface that matches the simplicity of the final product. To get started, choose an image. You can either select a photo from your iPhone's camera roll, snap a pic of your surroundings, or use your location.

Using your location brings up the maps app from which you can screengrab. This doesn't make the most compelling picture postcard, but it may be a useful tool for meetings and invitations.

Once you're happy with your image, you can add text and hit the "Share" button. The way the app is designed, it's pretty much what you see is what you get, so you'll have a good idea of what the recipient will see in the inbox. As well as email, there are options to share to Twitter and Facebook.


2. Photocards


The Photocards app allows you to snap a pic or grab one from your camera roll. When you've sized the photo to fit the frame, you can choose a background.

The available backgrounds display classic stock photography — the sky, greenery, sand, landscapes, etc. — but the pleasant surprise is that the images are actually decent quality. The not-so-pleasant surprise is that you have to pay for some of them.

With your background and picture in place, it's just a matter of penning a few lines before emailing your creation.


3. Montager


Montager is a little different because it acts as more of a photography tool. However, we really like that it lets you get creative with your pics.

It offers a number of templates that allow you juxtapose three images into a mini-montage. You simply double-tap the empty space you want to fill, and then create your triptych either on-the-fly with photos taken with the iPhone's camera, or from pics saved to the camera roll.

Although there's no built-in text options, you can email from within the app, so add your message there.


4. Current Postcards


Once you've snapped a photo or grabbed one from your camera roll, the Current Postcards app lets you select a font (a big bonus in our book) before opening the theme gallery.

Themes categories include Birthday, Special Events, Holidays, Everyday or Just For Fun. While we'd struggle to pick a theme from most of the clipart-esque options, the simple postcard in the "Everyday" category (as seen above) is quite classic.

You can send your Current Postcards creations via email or post to Facebook.


5. Postino


Creating a postcard with the Postino app is a four-step process. First upload a photo from your camera roll or capture one anew with your iPhone.

Next write the message, and then you're onto the really fun step — adding your signature.

You can scrawl your John Hancock on your iPhone screen with your finger. We think this would be a really nice touch if you're sending postcards with a child — although, if your finger writing skills are as rubbish as ours, your signature may end up looking like a child's anyway!

Once you've added that personal touch, email your postcard.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Steve Moses

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Here at Mashable, we’ve been putting the iPhone 4 through its paces, and have come up with some handy tips and tricks that can help you get more out of your Apple-flavored mobile.
We’ve covered all kinds of basics, like making search results more relevant, creating shortcuts for your favorite websites, better organizing your apps, and making the most of Maps.
And, as ever, if you’ve got suggestions for more iPhone magic not covered here or in our previous Keyboard Shortcuts post, you know we want to hear them in the comments below.
1. Change the Spotlight Search Result Order

The iPhone’s Spotlight Search functionality is a great improvement from early incarnations, but you can make it even more relevant to you just by tweaking the settings.
In the “Settings” menu, go to “General,” then select “Spotlight Search.” You are then presented with a list of categories. By touching the three bars icon next to each category, you can change the order of how the phone presents search results.

This feature can be an extremely useful time saver, as it prioritizes search results based on what you’re most likely to look for (e-mails, apps, contacts, etc.).
2. Lock the Screen Orientation

A great feature for anyone who reads iBooks in bed, you can now lock the screen on your iPhone to stay in the portrait orientation and avoid that annoying wobble between portrait and landscape you can get in certain situations.
To activate the lock, tap the home button twice, then scroll to the screen on the left, at which point you’ll see a square gray icon with a circular arrow on the far right. Tap this to lock the screen (you’ll see a locked icon in the top right of the display now) and unlock by tapping again.
3. Change the Display to White on Black

This one falls under the iPhone’s Accessibility features as it offers a high contrast, more easy-to-view display, but it can also be employed just to make your phone look a little different.
To make the change, head to “Settings,” then “General,” then “Accessibility” and then toggle “White on Black” to “On.”
The colors on your phone’s display are now inverted, however, the Apple magic that makes this happen must have something to do with the phone’s display, rather than a software change, as you can’t export screen grabs showing this setting. To see the effect in action, you’ll have to make do with our real-life photos.

4. Create a Homescreen Icon for Any Website

This is a really nice option for anyone who regularly visits websites that don’t offer their own app. You can easily add a one-touch shortcut for any webpage to your homescreen in the iPhone’s Safari browser.
Simply load up the site you’re interested in and then press the “+” on the bottom of the screen. Select the “Add to Home Screen” option.

You can then label it something appropriate. Now, as the screenshot below shows, there will be a shortcut icon to the site on your homescreen.

5. Use the Front-Facing Camera for More than FaceTime

The iPhone 4’s front-facing camera isn’t just about FaceTime. You can also use it to snap quick portrait pics (as above) and even record video of yourself.

To access the front-facing camera, go to the main camera and then hit the camera with an arrow icon on the top-right corner. This switches the view to whatever the front-facing camera sees, meaning you’ll be able to see yourself on the screen to press the shutter at the correct moment.
To toggle between capturing stills and video, it’s the same as the main camera — slide the toggle from either icon at the bottom of the phone’s screen.

6. Open and Save PDFs in iBooks

The iPhone offers handy “Quick Look” functionality for viewing PDFs, but what’s even cooler is that you can auto-save them into iBooks and then access and view them from there.
Simply press and hold on the PDF icon and you’ll see the option to “Open in iBooks.” Hit this, and the PDF will be ported over, and be available to view in the app from then on.

7. Turn iBooks Into Audio Books

Another one of the iPhone’s Accessibility options for the visually impaired, the “VoiceOver” feature is a gesture-based screen reader.
Using slightly different controls (double tap to select and three fingers to scroll), VoiceOver essentially reads aloud what is on the phone’s screen.
Aside from the obvious uses for the visually-impaired, this also means that iBooks can become audio books. To activate it, go to “Settings,” then “General,” then “Accessibility” and toggle VoiceOver to “On,” at which point you get options to tweak the settings (the speed of reading) and try out the new controls.
Once activated, if you head over to your iBooks app, VoiceOver will read your selected texts to you. It might not be something you want to employ that often, but tired eyes might appreciate having a book read to them at certain times.
8. Manually Add Pins to Maps to Mark Locations

In the iPhone’s Maps app, you can add pins which make navigating to a point or sharing your location super easy to do.
In Maps, you’ll see a blue Post-It-style note icon on the bottom-right corner. Tapping this will give you the option to drop a pin. Selecting this drops a purple pin in the map, which you can drag to exactly where you want it.

Now that you’ve placed your pin, you’ll see a label that hovers over it. This leads to even more functionality.

Clicking through on the label gives you the options to get directions to that point, from that point, and also share that location via e-mail or text message as well as bookmark it. We think this functionality could be super useful for navigating your way back to your car, or a camp site, for example.

And while we’re on the topic of Maps, here’s a bonus tip. Did you know that hitting the arrow-shaped icon on the bottom-left of your display will activate the phone’s compass and show you on the map exactly which direction you’re facing? Clever, huh?
9. Swipe to Delete

There are some handy features for deleting messages more quickly. The most common way to delete multiple messages in e-mail is to hit “Edit,” select the messages you want gone, and then hit the big, red delete button. Alternatively, you can simply swipe to bring up a delete option.
In your inbox, swipe your finger from right to left across a message and you’ll see a delete button appear. Press it and the message is toast.
Gmail users, however, may only get the option to “Archive,” so if you’re using Gmail you’ll have to tweak your settings first. To do this, go to “Settings,” “Mail, Contacts, Calendars,” “Google Mail” and then toggle the “Archive Messages” option to “Off.” This will now reveal that delete option.
This swiping trick can also be used for phone messages, Notes and more.

10. Add Folders to the Dock

The ability to create folders is one huge improvement brought with iOS4, and is a very popular feature when it comes to organizing and accessing apps. In using folders, there’s a neat trick that will let you have all your most-used apps on your phone’s homescreen.
To create a folder, just press and hold any app until it starts wiggling. Then, drag the app into another app that you’d like to include in the same folder. The iPhone will automatically generate a name for the folder based on its contents. You can edit this name by pressing and holding the folder icon.

Once you’ve got your folders made, if you clear something less useful out of the dock (you can only have four things in at a time) you can drag and drop your folder into the dock for super-fast access.
With clever folder creation (Work, Play, Phone, Tools, etc) you could pretty much have everything you need one tap away from the homescreen, rather than scrolling through endless screens of apps.

More iPhone Resources from Mashable: - HOW TO: Make Free iPhone Ringtones - 10 Useful iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks - 10 Incredible iPhone Portrait Photographs - 10 Incredible iPhone Photographs - 10 Ridiculous iPhone Accessories [PICS]
Reviews: Gmail, SafariMore About: apple, how to, how tos, iBooks, iOS, iOS4, iphone, iphone 4, iphone apps, List, Lists, tips and tricks
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