Hipstamatic announces Oggl PRO, an exclusive app for Nokia Lumia 1020. What does this mean for iOS users?
The classic iPhoneography app Hipstamatic is coming to Windows Phone 8 and the new Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone, after years of iOS exclusivity. Hipstamatic Oggl PRO has been designed especially for the new flagship Nokia device. It’ll be available later this summer and should roll out to other Windows Phone 8 devices soon.
There is good news, non-news and some not-so-great news for users of the longtime iOS-only iPhone photo app. We’ve got an exclusive talk from Hipstamatic about the new app, as well as what’s in store for Android devices and for Hipstamatic’s millions of iOS users.
Nokia Lumia 1020
I gotta admit. On paper, the specs of the new Lumia smartphone are pretty kickass. The one most touted is its Nokia Pro Camera with a 41-megapixel back-side-illuminated (BSI) sensor (which actually accesses a maximum of 38 megapixels– that’s a huge 7136 x 5360 pixels). The sensor itself is larger than a standard mobile phone camera. It has six Zeiss lenses on a physical image stabilization system, a large Xenon flash, and an oversampled digital zoom that Nokia says creates very sharp images at zoom levels up to 3x. I’ve seen them. It’s pretty impressive.
The 1020 is a powerful, sophisicated camera. The built-in camera has manual focus, exposure value, ISO, and white balance (The iPhone, of course, has many of these features in both its native apps and third-party camera apps). It’s got a lot of other features that look cool and it’s getting good reviews from respected publications.
Nokia published an excellent whitepaper on the Lumia 1020. It’s a great read full of specs, details, charts and comparisions for smartphone camera geeks like myself. I wish Apple would publish these for each iPhone release.
“The Nokia Lumia 1020 is the first time a hardware manufacturer has built a smartphone to be camera-first, and having the opportunity to build our software alongside this talented hardware team is exciting,” said Lucas Buick, Hipstamatic’ CEO.
Not to worry. I’m not trading in my iPhone.
Several high-profile developers have created Windows Phone versions of their apps apps with the 1020 in mind. Hipstamatic is one of them.
Hipstamatic Oggl PRO for Windows Phone 8
Last week, Hipstamatic announced that Oggl PRO is coming soon to the Nokia Lumia 1020 this summer. This is more than just a simple port to another operating system. This version is a pretty big rework and has some significant differences from Oggl for iOS.
Oggl PRO will include all of the iOS Oggl capture and curation features, including five pre-set lenses and films, the ability to easily snap, edit, and share photos to social networks such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as access to the Oggl network. Additionally, with Oggl PRO, photographers will be able to:
• Have greater control of their shot by making manual adjustments
• Reframe their shot by using the lossless 3x zoom feature
• Set manual exposure and tap to focus
• Orient their shots using the auto-leveling feature
• Control white balance, ISO and shutter speed
• Capture full resolution images at 41 MP and apply Hipstamatic’s film and lens effects
Final square format Oggl images will actually be around 28.7 megapixels. Still huge.
Availability
Oggl PRO is currently exclusive to the Nokia Lumia 1020 and will be available later this summer. The original Oggl app is available on iPhone and will soon come to WP8 devices with at least 1 Gigabyte of RAM.
Like its iOS sibling, Oggl PRO will be a free download. Oggl PRO will offer two subscription options: quarterly for $2.99 and yearly for $9.99 — the same as the iOS subscriptions.
When the device hits shelves, Nokia Lumia 1020 owners who want to try Oggl PRO can get 60 days of complimentary access to Hipstamatic’s entire catalog of lenses and films if they sign up by August 9th.
Oggl Pro WP8 vs Hipstamatic Oggl for iPhone
In the days before Instagram, Hipstamatic was synonymous to iPhoneography in many people’s eyes. To me, Hipstamatic is still one of the best, most unique photo apps in the App Store. This is a great, high-profile opportunity to bring the app’s trademark set of filters to a new market.
However, immediately my concern was what happens to classic Hipstamatic and the rest of the iOS catalog.
Hipstamatic has been iOS-only for such a long time. The expansion to Windows Phone 8 was unexpected for me, especially since they have not released a version for Android OS with its much larger user base. Well, and because it’s Windows Phone. Even Instagram said ‘maybe later’.
“Hipstamatic has been dedicated to pushing the boundaries of hardware to create awesome camera products that excite and inspire our community,” says Molli Sullivan, Hipstamatic’s Director of Communications. “The move to WP8 comes down to hardware: the Nokia Lumia 1020 is the first time a hardware manufacturer has built a smartphone to be camera-first, and we were able to build Oggl PRO side-by-side with Nokia’s hardware team. The Nokia Lumia 1020‘s 41 megapixel camera and incredible sensor is pretty exciting for photo nerds like us, and we think our community — some of the most talented, creative smartphone photographers in the world — will be excited, too.”
Molli says that the company is considering an Android version, but in the immediate future, they are focused on the current offerings.
I asked about Oggl paks and if they will be on the same schedule as their iOS counterparts.
“We’re certainly aiming for that,” says Molli, “and we’re working very closely with Nokia’s imaging team to make that happen. However, this is new territory for us, so we’re most focused on making sure the experience is right before synching up with iOS timing.”
Although Oggl’s iOS users currently have separate focus and expsure lock, we apparently won’t get many, if any, of Oggl PRO’s other advanced shooting features, such as manual ISO and shutter speed override. A form of both have been available in advanced iOS camera apps for some time.
“Oggl PRO was designed specifically to take advantage of the device’s technology. The Nokia Lumia 1020 allows for the ability to manually control a variety of functions, as well as the 41 megapixel camera and advanced sensor, which is how we were able to build those functions into Oggl PRO.
“As always, we’ll absolutely continue to push the boundaries of other devices and platforms as well.”
Molli also said that the 60-day free trial subscription is specifically for Oggl PRO, which is a standalone product specific to the Lumia 1020, so there are no plans for an iOS match at the moment.
The last question I asked was about the company’s plans for Hipstamatic. As I’ve said before, despite all of the advantages that Oggl offers, including access to the entire vault and the ability to change up filter and lens combinations, I think Hipstamatic is a much more fun camera to shoot with. It’ pretty much pioneered the retro-camera skin interface and to date, I feel that no other app has come as close to capturing the toy camera feel on iOS.
Molli concluded, “Under the hood of Hipstamatic Oggl’s Capture experience is Hipstamatic Classic. The imaging processing technology that we’ve built over the last 3 years is what powers all of our products. Hipstamatic Classic is an awesome analog shooting experience, and Oggl is more modern. We love them both equally and each has its advantages for photographers (emphasis added. =M=). Our plan is to treat both apps as top priority, and as flagship products.”
=M=
~~~~
