I’ve recently become a big fan of the developers at Chennai, India-based Nextwave Multimedia. They have a great sense of humor that shines in their work, and they know clever. One example, the award-winning Comics Creator, which we reviewed here in the blog last week (it won the Grand Prize in the Entertainment category of Forum Nokia’s 2010 Calling All Innovators contest).

And, while we were waiting on the contest results, we already had our eye on another app from Nextwave called Express (subtitled “The Proximity Communicator”). This free app in Ovi Store is so gosh darn cute I can’t stand it. And, I mean that in the nicest possible way. Using Express, you can – like the name implies – “express” a wide range of ideas and emotions simply by showing someone nearby the words or image that is displayed on your Nokia touch-enabled device, such as the Nokia N97 mini.

This short video demo from the developers will give you a quick preview of the app:

As you can see, you have a number of choices available to you in the app, labeled Aloud, Quiet and Flash.

We’ll take a quick look at each section of Express now.  “Aloud” provides an animated pair of hands that clap repeatedly – either with sound or not. The hands look like they might be borrowed from one of Mickey Mouse’s cousins. Applause made easy – is it perhaps the sound of one-handed clapping?

In the “Flash” section, there is a lengthy list of pre-written short messages – see below for a partial list. When you click on one of these messages, it is then automatically displayed on your device, like a marquee, scrolling across your screen in landscape mode.

A nice touch here is that you can add your own custom messages to this section – just type in what you want to have displayed using the “Touch here to type” section, which then brings up a virtual keyboard on screen. Those custom messages can also be saved for re-use, if you want. And, if you decide you no longer need one of the messages, simply hold your finger down for a long press on that specific message, and you can delete it from the list.

Now, perhaps the best part for last. The section of the app called “Quiet” is really super. Here you have a wide rane of over-sized, and customized emoticon-style images that you can use to express what you are thinking or how you are feeling to someone nearby. You can select the image to display from the list view, or you can scroll through individual images simply by swiping your finger across the image displayed to move on to the next one.

And, the choice of faces is quite fun. As you can see, the art is simple, but it is clear and easy to interpret (and, of course, the name of each one is displayed below the faces).

So, suppose you’re in a meeting, and you don’t want to interrupt a speaker, but you still really feel the need to communicate with someone on the other side of the room … the choice is yours. Here are a few of the many faces available to you – a couple of my personal favorites in the collection. You can’t customize this section, but as you will see when you try the app, it is quite thorough.

So, next time you are at a loss for words, let Express help you say whatever might be on your mind.

Express is free to download in Ovi Store.