Best Iphone Apps Review

StopMotion Recorder Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

The art of stop motion is a filming technique that’s been around since the late 1800s and popularized in the swinging 1960s. It’s created by photographing every movement a character or prop makes, then stitching them together in rapid succession. Although, it’s quite complicated and therefore mainly left to the pros. Now, you can make your own stop motion film easily with just your iPhone and StopMotion Recorder.

The app is basic; just point and click. When you first go into the app, the camera will be deployed. The principal is easy – pose your characters and touch the screen to take pictures. A nifty feature to make sure you line up each shot from one to another is a shadow of the previous picture (aka onion skin), so there will be no unwanted differences once you put the frames together.

Once finished, you get a chance to review all the frames, cut ones you don’t want and set the speed of your movie (how many frames you want to play per second) and that’s it! A stop motion movie in minutes. The list of your finished movies can be accessed any time from within the app.

There are lots of options to chose from for sharing for creations; send to Twitter using YFrog or TwitVid, mail it or upload it to Flickr or YouTube. Interestingly, if you want it in your camera roll, you have to export it from the app first. It would be much better if the movie was automatically added to the camera roll, like many other picture and movie apps do. There is a settings menu, but nothing there is too complicated and instead just invites you to try different effects on your pictures.

The photo quality of the movie is also only as good as the iPhone camera. Don’t expect to have a very high quality movie unless you are in natural sunlight. Though the app does try to focus each frame as you take it, giving each frame a much crisper look. Due to the quality restrictions of the camera, StopMotion Recorder might be a little too irritating for those without patience or a steady hand.

One very strange detail is the lack of auto-rotation when taking the photos. If you hold the iphone on its side to make the most of the screen, then you might end up with an upside down or sideways movie that needs editing once uploaded to a computer, defeating the object slightly.

Anyone looking for a bit of fun should give StopMotion Recorder a go, as it’s bound to bring hours of entertainment to an individual or a group. The creativity is pretty much boundless, only tampered slightly by the lack of rotation and camera quality. For just $0.99, this is an absolute steal.

[ StopMotion Recorder Review is a post from 148Apps ]

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IncrediBooth is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Once upon a time I dated a girl who was obsessed with retro photo booths. When I say obsessed I mean we would literally spend hours upon hours scouring a city trying to find one. Don’t get me wrong, we had a lot of fun doing it and the photos were always hilarious, but our quests often lead us to some very…questionable establishments. That and being pulled away from watching the Bears vs. Packers game to go take pictures was not exactly a brownie point winner. Oh, how I wish I had something like IncrediBooth back then to help keep my sanity.

IncrediBooth does an amazing job of bringing those retro style photo booths straight to your phone. Using the iPhone 4’s front facing camera you can quickly take a strip of photos using one of the three lenses (B&W, SuperContrast, and Kaimal infrared) offered. The SuperContrast lens gives a yellow/green tint while the Kaimal infrared leaves a red one. The lenses are chosen by twisting a knob to a “1, 2, or 3.” While the app itself doesn’t provide a description of which lens is which, it’s easy enough to figure out after about 5 minutes of tinkering around. Quick tip, if you’re having trouble turning the knob, use your thumb and pointer finger to twist, just as you would on a physical knob. From there you can “step outside the booth” to collect your photos to share via Facebook, e-mail, or save directly to your camera roll. Each strip is four photos long and you can chose to share each photo individually or the strip as a whole. The only real complaint I have about the app is the lack of support for the rear camera. There are plenty of instances I can think of where using the rapid fire shot towards others would be more than amusing, plus the flash would really help in low light situations.

In the end IncrediBooth is a very well made app but ultimately falls into the category of novelty. The $.99 price tag makes it a novelty that’s worth a look especially if you’re looking for a reason to use your front facing camera. However, without the rear camera support it will undoubtedly become an app lost in your iPhone’s great abyss of folders with other greats like Sound Grenade and The Moron Test.

[ IncrediBooth is a post from 148Apps ]

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Scanmobile Turns iPhone Camera into Portable Scanner is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Price: $4.99     Score: 9/10     By A. Papachristos

Before the creation of the all-in-one printer, easy access to a copier, scanner or fax machine was slim.  When desperate, one would have to run to the nearest office supply store and pay them to do the task for you.  However, having access to such contraptions in your home still does not help when, like most, you are on the move and simply can’t afford to slow down.

But, with Scanmobile by LocBay Ltd, iPhone users will never have to slow down again.  Scanmobile turns your phone’s camera into a quick, convenient and affordable scanner so you can copy and share text and documents everywhere you go.  Plus, the portable scanner now in the palm of your hand employs smart optical transformation technology that turns any picture into a clear, readable document as if you just used an actual scanner or copier.

For anyone who has ever tried to take a picture of text on paper, or perhaps even a board, you know that the camera’s quality distorts the photo, making it grainy, uneven and sometimes hard to read.  Such shabby quality is certainly not something you can pass along to a colleague or anyone of importance for it does not look professional in the slightest.  However, Scanmobile eradicates this problem by cleaning up the digital noise.  Scanmobile will remove any shade or unwanted light that may be detracting from the photo, as well as automatically adjust the document so it looks as if it were indeed laid flat on a scanner.  This, combined with the automatic sharpening of the lines’ texture, brings about the final product: a PDF document that can be sent via email right within Scanmobile itself.

When you startup Scanmobile, you will first need an image.  Users may use the file icon in the bottom left corner to access a pre-existing image, or use the camera icon in the bottom right corner to take a new picture right within the application.  Once you have approved the photo, Scanmobile will load the image and the auto-detection will set preliminary cropping parameters, though these can always be adjusted by hand by the user if they so choose.

To label your new document with a name, use the third icon in from the left in the bottom navigation bar.  Next to that, users will find an icon that lets them return the cropping parameters back to the original suggestion in case they attempt to adjust things on their own and are displeased.

Next to that, users will find another icon, this time allowing for the rotation of the photo before processing.  When rotating, I suggest proceeding slowly because, after multiple attempts at rotating numerous different documents, I found that rotating often led to Scanmobile freezing and then crashing, leaving me to start over.  While this may seem significant, I would hardly consider this flaw to be detrimental to the app’s overall convenience.  Though I’m sure this is bound to be fixed in future updates, as long as you proceed with caution at the moment, you should find you have no problem.  Simply have patience.

After your image has processed, you will see that the results are just what is promised.  Your image will now look like a scanned or copied document, as if you used the real thing.  Even handwritten notes come out looking clearer than the original image, and may even be more vibrant than the actual notepaper itself.  Everything truly looks like a photocopy.  Once you are satisfied, simply save your image you your photo library for future reference, or send it right along as the resulting PDF file via email.

While iPod Touch users can get some use out of Scanmobile by using pre-existing photos of text already saved to their photo library, the application becomes void of all the convenience it has to offer, basically making the investment a waste of money for users of said device.  However, anyone with an iPhone who ever has or ever will need a photocopier or scanner-like apparatus in the palm of their hand at any given moment shouldn’t hesitate to spend the $4.99, for the convenience will pay for itself after one use.

Scanmobile requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

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Camera+ Makes $250k In First Month – Writer Considering Career Change is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

tap tap tap (Convert, Voices) has done quite well in the App Store despite not being a game developer. Continuing this trend, the company has announced today in a lengthy blog post that their newest app, Camera+, has made $250k in its first month. Surprisingly enough, the app did so with no advertising (the company doesn’t advertise for its apps anymore due to costs) and quickly declining sales in the US market.

So how did they do it? Here’s the abridged version.

Since tap tap tap does no advertising anymore, John Casasanta, head of the company and writer of the blog post, says that the key is to start with a HUGE launch. Huge as in contest for $10,000+ worth of camera equipment… but the key is how to get the word out. Fortunately for tap tap tap, John Casasanta is also the head of MacHeist, so the company got a large head start, but now tap tap tap has its own opt-in list with 70,000 subscribers. Says Casasanta, “Granted, not every developer has access to such resources, but there’s no reason that anyone can’t build-up resources of this sort over time… it’s taken us years so patience and persistence is key.”

I guess in any business, you’re only as successful as the people you know, or in this case, the amount of people you know.

The rest of the success lies in the app itself. Since the US App Store is completely dominated by games, it’s imperative to have a flawless, detail oriented app with some fun touches and well done social network integration. The post talks, in detail, about making things feel right, with not too many options, but enough to work correctly. Also, developers need to be completely open to feedback, and update when the app needs to be updated, but only when the updates are necessary.

As a non-game, it’s very important to keep hope even after sales wane in the US. The app market overseas is very different from our game and entertainment app dominated store, with countries like Finland having 14 of the top 25 being non game and entertainment apps. Check out the sales chart on the right to see how foreign app store are supporting Camera+.

The post ends with a warning. “You can spend a year on an app and hardly make a dime on it. It’s not just the nature of the App Store… it’s the nature of practically any business.” Only make an app if it’s something that you love, and be sure to slave over every last detail.

So good luck to all the devs that are out to make your own $250k. If every app turns out to look as well made as any of the tap tap tap apps, the world would be a much better place.
[Source: taptaptap]

[ Camera+ Makes $250k In First Month – Writer Considering Career Change is a post from 148Apps ]

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CamKewl Makes iPhone Photos More Fun is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Price: $.99   Score: 7/10   By Anna Papachristos

Taking pictures with your iPhone 3GS can be both fun and convenient.  With your device always at hand, you can capture any of life’s sudden and wonderful moments with a single tap.  However, with the limited features of the Camera app that comes standard on the iPhone 3GS, creativity is also limited.  Users may only take photos in standard color, not allowing them to branch out into other color schemes or other photo manipulations.  But with CamKewl by Pannag R Sanketi, users can spice up their photo library with an array of options.

Though the name may seem a bit silly and juvenile, don’t let it fool you.  CamKewl combines many of the features you wish the generic camera had, packaging them together in one convenient app for the surprisingly low price of $.99.  With CamKewl, users can zoom, vary the color scheme and activate the self-timer all within the app’s simple and fairly intuitive interface.

With the integrated multi-touch technology, users can navigate throughout CamKewl with various gestures.  To utilize the 5x zoom, use two fingers to pinch/stretch the screen or slide up/down for a gradual adjustment. Also, a single tap will cause the picture to zoom in or out immediately.  A two-finger vertical swipe will reveal the menu, which allows users to access their photo library, the various camera options, and the extensive Help menu.  While each of these categories can be found using other methods as well, users will want to remember this motion in order to access the Video Camera option.

Users will also find the Shake gesture both handy and amusing as this movement allows you to easily bounce around CamKewl with minimal effort.  This characteristic allows you to return to camera mode from basically every part of the app.

CamKewl offers many simple new functions to your iPhone 3GS camera, which can be found in the dock at the bottom of the screen, such as the capability to take Black-and-White and Sepia photos, as well as use a self-timer.  Another thoughtful function is the Date/Time capability, which stamps your photos with the date, time and location your photo was taken.  However, if CamKewl fails to pinpoint your exact location, it will not allow you to even utilize the date and time part of the feature.

Blitz, another feature found in the dock, allows you to take three color pictures in a row so you get precisely the right shot you were hoping to obtain.  However, despite the fact that the shutter noise goes off three times, every attempt resulted in only one photo being taken, making this appealing feature still only an idea.  Two other lovely, yet unreliable, features are the One-1 and One-Z features.  One-1 takes two photographs in a row – one in color and one in black-and-white.  This way, if you are unsure, you will have a copy of the picture in both formats.  One-Z takes one photograph of your subject zoomed out, then another of the subject zoomed to 2x.  Unfortunately, these features seem temperamental, making them enticing attributes that cannot, however, be depended upon.

The most interesting aspect is CamKewl’s accenting mode.  Simply go to your photo library by shaking the device and choose a photo you’d like to use.  Then, tap the ‘Accenting’ button in the bottom right corner.  With this, users can use their color photos and, just by swiping their finger, turn any part of the photo black-and-white.  Discover simple, quick and easy photo manipulation right there in the palm of your hand.  Use the ‘Save’ button in the upper right corner to save the changes you’ve made to your creation.  And, while you are accenting pictures, or merely looking through your accumulated photos, use the arrow button in the bottom right  to email your photo or post it to Facebook.

For a YouTube video demonstration of what CamKewl can do, click here.

CamKewl requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone 3GS or higher. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

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Choose the Right Camera with CHOICE Cameras Lite is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Price: Free   Score: 9/10   By Anna Papachristos

Choosing the right camera for you can be a difficult task.  With so many options, making the wrong decision can be as easy as closing your eyes, pointing and choosing whichever camera your finger lands upon first.  However, CHOICE Cameras Lite by CHOICE tested 83 different digital cameras currently on the market, with prices ranging from $149 to $949, so they could pass on their results to you, the consumer, and educate you during your camera buying endeavors.

Together, with the aid of a professional lab in Europe that specializes in photographic testing, CHOICE Cameras Lite presents the results and provides users with the best and most accurate information possible.

They begin by walking users through a list of criteria to consider and look for when purchasing a new camera.  Users will want to consider image quality, ease of use, versatility, viewfinder and monitor, battery life, flash exposure and movie quality.

If you already know what you want in a camera, CHOICE suggests moving right to the ‘All Cameras’ tab, which lists every rated camera in the database.  CHOICE features the most famous brands, including Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung, Sanyo and Sony.  Each camera on this list is marked with its retail price and holds its own overall percentage ranking, as well as a ranking for each individual aspect mentioned in the “what to look for” section.  Underneath these rankings, CHOICE lists the item’s good and bad points, followed by an exceptionally convenient and useful jump to the camera’s specifications.  Users can mark any camera that stands out as a “favorite” by tapping the ‘+Favorite’ button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Users may also search for specific cameras using the Search bar at the top of the screen.  For the ideal expert suggestions, users may want to turn their attention to the ‘Best Buys’ tab.  Here, the rating experts made a list of those cameras that are good deals with great ratings.  The only improvement they could make, I believe, is if the developer somehow found a way to put all of the “best buys” or “favorites” in your hands for a test run, but magic isn’t one thing Apple hasn’t integrated into their gadgets… yet.

And, as the App Store description says, “CHOICE is the number one advocate of consumer rights in Australia.  As the public face of the Australian Consumers’ Association (ACA). CHOICE is a completely self-funded body.  Members receive independent and expert advice on the products and services the encounter every day, while the community at large benefits from our high-profile campaigns that champion consumer rights.”

With such an extensive ranking system handed down from the opinions of experts, and the convenience of having all of a camera’s specifications right there at your fingertips, CHOICE Cameras Lite is an ideal tool for helping you narrow down your selection and pick out your perfect camera.

CHOICE Cameras Lite requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

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Moe’s Notes Hits the iPad as Moe’s Notepad is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

We enjoyed Moe’s Notes for iPhone which offers some unique features for taking rich multimedia notes that include audio, video, images and GPS coordinates and it’s now available for iPad.

Moe’s Notepad makes the most of the iPad’s larger screen by using splitter bars to show different sections of the app that used to be spread across multiple screens. The updated UI allows users to customize the app’s display as they wish while retaining the same functionality.

Without a camera in the iPad (although the team behind Moe’s Notes believe one is coming) images are taken from the iPad’s Photo’s App with a number of editing options available within the app itself. Audio editing is also impressive with recording and trimming of audio as well as volume and speed settings available.

All media can be combined into an email and sent as attachments with more streamlined options coming in a future update that could include popular formats such as Evernote or GoogleDocs among others.

Users of Moe’s Notes for iPhone should certainly invest in this iPad reworking and those that need a decent note taking tool will be hard pressed to find a more feature-packed alternative.

Moe’s Notes is available now for $9.99

$9.99

Moe’s Notepad

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-06-02 :: Category: Productivity

[ Moe’s Notes Hits the iPad as Moe’s Notepad is a post from 148Apps ]

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Need A Photographic Memory? There’s An App For That… is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Having an iPhone on you is always handy when you want to snapshot something you need to remember, whether it’s a for sale sign, promotional poster or an advertisement. One of the drawbacks of this process is that once you’ve taken the photo you’ll need to fish it out of your Camera Roll where it’s taking up valuable space among your actual photos and there’s also a good chance that you’ll forget about it altogether.

QuickShot! aims to put an end to these issues by combining your iPhone’s Camera and Mail apps into one slick process. Once the app is setup you can simply launch it, take your photo and push a button to send yourself an email. The process is simple enough that it can take as little as three taps to complete.By default the image isn’t saved to your Camera Roll either so you won’t have to worry about clutter anymore. When sending the email, you can customize it as you wish and also scale the picture before you send. This strikes us as one of those apps you think you wont need until, of course, you actually do and is certainly worth a look. QuickShot! is available on the App Store for $0.99.

$0.99

QuickShot!

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-05-07 :: Category: Productivity

[ Need A Photographic Memory? There’s An App For That… is a post from 148Apps ]

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