Camera+ has been around for a number of years on iOS, and is seen by many as the de facto alternative to the standard Camera app. It's not as though there aren't hundreds of other such utilities throughout the App Store, but Camera+ has always kept its interface simple and to-the-point, but with more features than the stock offering. It's like the Camera app that Apple should have included natively, and in-keeping with this mindset, Camera+ has just been updated for iOS 7.
VSCO Cam has long since been regarded among the best photo editing apps for those on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and today, it makes its long-awaited debut over at the Google Play Store. As you'd expect, most of the iOS app's powerful features are present on the Android iteration, and provided your device is running 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or newer, you can now enjoy one of the most powerful photo utilities on the mobile market.
Google is constantly working to improve and update its Android ecosystem, and with photography now quite a big deal in mobile space, it looks as though shot-taking ability is about to be stepped up a gear or two. According to Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano, the Android team is working on a new photo API that will allow wannabe photographers to shoot RAW uncompressed images. On top of that, Scigliano, who was speaking with CNET, also added that the revamped API will offer native burst mode, helping to push smartphone point-and-shoot towards the territory of pro photography.
One of the accusations often leveled at the majority of Android smartphones is that they often don't make the best cameras. Granted there are the exceptions to the rule, but right now many would say that Nokia is leading the way when it comes to taking the best photos with a smartphone, perhaps followed by Apple.
Smartphone manufacturers do pretty much all that they can to give users a great experience when using their hardware. That experience usually extends to all aspects of the system and invariably involves making the experience as true to real-life as possible. System actions like receiving incoming phone calls contain a ringer, sending an email is usually followed by some kind of sent tone and using a camera generally has a default shutter style noise attached to it. That's all well and good, but what happens if you want to preserve the system sounds but deactivate that sometimes annoying and disruptive shutter tone? Well, if you're an Android user then Camera Mute could potentially be right up your street.
The great thing about Google's Android, is that it's inherently hackable, and even those bits of exclusive software specific to one device invariably wind up dissected and ported through to other smartphones and tablets on the market. The Galaxy Note 3 may well be Samsung's latest premium handset, but the Galaxy S4 remains the flagship, and with so many more consumers in ownership of this summer's blockbuster, it's good to see work being done to bring the Note 3's exclusives over to the main event. The latest feature to make its way to the S4 is the camera app, and thanks to the work of the guys at XDA-Developers, installing it on your own handset is fairly painless. Details, as ever, can be found after the break.
The smartphone industry is, slowly but surely, edging users away from the makers of standalone camera brands, with some of the biggest names in photography space forced to develop new strategies in order to adapt to the changing face of technology. You only have to look at Nokia's impressive 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 to realize just how much we value that lens on the rear side of our handsets nowadays, and in an attempt to cash in on the obsession with high-quality smartphone snappers, Sony looks to be prepping a lens attachment for both Android and Apple handsets.
Whenever a new device or version of Android is released, more often than not, its exclusive new features are swiftly ripped from within its shell and distributed to the rest of the Android faithful. While the Moto X, the first collaborative product of Google and Motorola since the Big G acquired Motorola Mobility last year, has yet to be officially revealed, there have already been several leaks of the device as well as its software during the course of the last month or so. In the latest, the APK for the device's Camera app has been released into the wild, and you can grab it right now!
Just when you thought it was safe to enter into the Photography section of the iOS App Store without fear of stumbling across yet another filter based camera app, the guys over at Realmac Software have something that will surely divide opinion. The majority of iOS users will more than likely be familiar with the company's existing Clear for iPhone app that took the App Store by storm and later made an appearance on OS X, but it's their latest Analog Camera creation that is grabbing the attention at the moment, and we love the whole idea, too!
The camera of the iPhone has seen many improvements over the past few generations, and with the device regularly taking the coveted position as the most-used snapper on image enthusiast site Flickr, it's no wonder many have previously dubbed it the world's favorite camera. Things have certainly come a long way since the very first iPhone in terms of functionality, image quality and detail, and to offer some perspective on just how much the shooter of the iconic smartphone has advanced in six years and through six generations, Lisa Bettany has pieced together a very interesting comparison.
