Life in LoFi: iPhoneography | iPhone Photo News, Showcases, App Reviews

My iPhone 4's memory usage before and after a quit-all and reboot.

I’m not sure why this happens. I just know that I’ve been seeing more of it recently. I’ll download the new update of an app that worked great before. And then when I try to open it… CRASH!

I’m sure it has something to do with memory or how another poorly coded app has made the stack unstable (I don’t know the exact technical specifics). The bottom line is, my app crashes.

If this sounds familiar, here are a few steps you can take to try and bring a crashy app to a usable state before you fire off that 1-star App Store review. >>>

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I have to admit, when Hipstamatic first arrived in the App Store, I regularly checked a particular camera store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to see if one of those mythical cameras would ever turn up in their graveyard. It’s Mike Crivello’s in Shorewood, by the way. If anybody would have had a Hipstamatic, they would. Of course, we know that was a fruitless endeavor.

My preview HipstaCase 100 arrived in the mail yesterday and it’s the closest we’ll get to shooting with a physical Hipstamatic. I’ve got ordering info and a discount code for free shipping after the jump. >>>

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100 Cameras in One is mainly a texture app. It’s square format only. It doesn’t apply vintage or retro effects per se, but among its filters are a lot of color shifts and a lot of overlays which apply subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) textures to your photos. You’ll find some of them work better than others. Click here for my recent review of version 2.0.

The version 3.0 update was just released. If you liked the previous versions of 100 Cameras, you’ll like the new update. It’s an improvement and has some new cool features. Otherwise, the new stuff isn’t really compelling enough if you are on the fence about this one.

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Your iPhone is a computer. To help keep it running smooth, rebooting should be a regular part of your iPhone’s maintenance. When I did Mac desktop support, rebooting the computer fixed about half the problems. Seriously.

The iPhone 4 — both the original GSM model and the new Verizon CDMA model — really needs more than just an occasion reboot. On any iPhone running iOS4, also quitting all open apps will help free up even more memory on the device and help RAM-intensive apps run more stable. I recommend this for any iDevice — iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad — running iOS 4.0 or newer.

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Photo app Percolator by Tinrocket is on sale again for only $0.99 — that’s half off the regular price of $1.99! Although the user interface has a very retro look, it’s a very Modernist app that makes your iPhone photos look like a mosaic comprised of circles.

I previously reviewed Percolator here on the blog, giving it four stars. It’s easy to use and a fun, modernist app that produces unique colorful effects. In fact, the background image in Life In LoFi’s most recent header (seen above) was created with Percolator.

Percolator works on any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 3.1.3 or newer.

Percolator is on sale is for a limited time.

=M=

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Cameramatic 1.1.2 update was just released. This camera app gets better with each update and I’m really enjoying shooting with it. The new update adds several new filters, some new features, and bug fixes.

Cameramatic has definitely improved beyond its version 1.0 bugs. It’s quickly become one of the best toy camera, digital lo-fi apps for iPhone.

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2010 was a breakthrough year for iPhoneography. It’s been an exciting year and a lot has happened.

To put it all into perspective, exactly one year ago, the iPhone 3GS was the top of the line and most of us were still shooting with the old lo-fi iPhone 2G or 3G cameras. CameraBag and ColorSplash were still many iPhonegraphers’ go-to apps. Before Iris and PhotoWizard-Editor, there were only two combatants in the photo editor app wars — Photogene and PhotoForge. Remember that Photogene was winning? Hipstamatic had just been released and was just being discovered by the iPhoneography community. And display of iPhone photography was mostly limited to Flickr and Facebook.

A lot has happened over the year. The community has grown. We are drawn together from the online world and many of use have since met in the real world. There are a lot more people taking pictures with their iPhones now and a lot more creating art. Here’s my rundown of the biggest iPhoneography news stories of 2010. If I missed any, tell us yours in the comments below.

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New iPhone and iPod Touch photo app AccuSmart Camera is FREE right now in the App Store. I suspect this is a ratings grab and this introductory free promotion won’t last long, so grab now, read later.

It’s actually a pretty good, sophisticated camera, although just from testing it, I don’t think it’s worth all the five-star reviews it’s currently accruing (see ratings grab above…). Four stars tops. The interface is gooey. Yes, gooey — that’s the best way to describe it. The UI (or GUI…) is actually pretty cool and well laid out. All the controls you need are right there on one side of the screen.

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FX Photo Studio
Version 3.1
Price: $2.99

Bottom Line: An impressive collection of filters — something for everyone — with an great UI that helps you keep track of them.

MacPhun continues to step up its game with recent updates of several of their key, cornerstone apps. The recent 3.0 and upcoming 3.1 update of FX Photo Studio continue to improve this extensive collection of photo effects. Even with the large number of effects included and the number of photo effects apps available, there are still some good effects here that you can find in no other app. For that reason alone, this app is worth a look.

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Comparison of iPhone and IPT 4G image sizes

The iPhone 4 is almost 6 months old now. 3.2 or 5 MP iPhone cameras have quickly become the norm rather than the exceptions. The new high-res retina displays have a resolution of 640×960 pixels. Can you believe that there are still developers creating apps with super low resolution, even the dreaded 320×480 px?

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