InstantCam for iPhone – many reasons to avoid
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[Updated 8/29/10]
InstantCam is a new instant camera-style app that’s actually licensed by the Polaroid® holding company. I thought this would be a cool app — a fake Polaroid® app that’s licensed by Polaroid®. But there are many reasons to stay away from this app at the moment.
Image crop doesn’t work — not even close. While Move and Scale supposedly allows you to crop an image from the camera or your library, it actually (and I suspect erroneously) selects a small portion of your image. Image output is only 302×307 pixels. Huh? Completely unusable. Even the first camera phones back in the day had better VGA resolution.
In a nice nod to the original analog prints, in order for the photo to “develop”, you need to either shake or blow on the image. However, it’s a requirement, not an option. I found it pretty annoying that I had to shake or blow on my iPhone to finish processing. I’d like to see this made optional in a future release.
One other detail that I found irritating. The original Time Zero prints were a square frame print with the distinctive border. The prints from InstantCam are slightly wide — not faithful to the instant prints they supposedly recreate. Given that this app is officially licensed, I think this is a pretty serious oversight.
There is so much wrong with this app that it leads me to believe that they accidentally submitted an early alpha build to the App Store and hopefully the real version will be released soon.
When they get these issues fixed, this might be a cool fauxlaroid app. I’ll revisit the app then. Until then, this app is pretty much unusable and not worth the dollar. Don’t be fooled by the licensing into thinking that this is a quality app.
=M=
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Marty is a self-employed graphic designer in the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex. He is an avid Rangers baseball, Chicago Cubs, Packers and Highbury Arsenal fan. In addition to capturing random moments with whatever camera is close by (usually his iPhone), his other interests include coffee, film, music, and traveling in seats 5E and 5F with his fiancé.
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Thanks for the warning.
302 x 307 ??? They should be embarrassed.
302×307 could be the new record for worst resolution in store!
Why cant they make a screen shot at least?
Unbeleavable?
I hear the higher resolution version will be coming out soon judging from the support. The develop speed is faster than other i have seen judging by the filters that are being applied at the same time. I am looking forward to the next update. APart from that I think the features are really cool
I guess that is why they stick to the native 302 x 307 resolution to create a mini HD picture.LOL for what? for Facebook profile pictures or forum avatars? LOL