AiO Photo FX full res image, Oilpaint filter. This is all there is.
AiO Photo FX
Version 1.0
Price: Free, with a $2.99 in-app purchase to remove the banner ads
Bottom Line: Poor effects. Super low resolution. This is a shameless repackaging of another very poor app.
If the new app AiO Photo FX looks familiar to you, it is. It’s a minor redress of XCodeChina’s previous horrible app, Advanced Photo Effects which normally sells for $2.99. Other than the name, a few minor changes to the interface, and a $2.99 in-app option to remove ads, these terrible apps are identical. Neither app is worth free.
Both apps feature the same basic, poor, tired effects — oil paint, emboss, sepia, charcoal, negative. There’s nothing here that isn’t done much better in an number of other photo apps. Most of the filters are slow to process. Several of the effects render poorly and show pixelization.
Both apps saves at a super low unusable 240×320 pixels resolution — too low to even look good on Facebook. That’s not even screen resolution for an old iPhone 3G. In fact, a screen capture on any iDevice would have more resolution than the output of these two apps. The lack of performance in this app amazes me given the small number of pixels it has to process.
Rather than a standard “Save Image”, both apps have a cumbersome, two-step process of saving images to your camera roll.
The full version of both apps is $2.99. Although it’s currently price reduced to free at the moment, Advanced Photo Effects makes you pay the three bucks up front and it includes a banner ad. AiO Photo FX is a free download but has an in-app purchase to remove the banner ads. Neither app is worth it.
What are the differences between the two? Functionally, none. The filter sets are the same. The icons are identical. Even the app names on the iPhone home screen is the same.
Because of some recent deep discounts, Advanced Photo Effects is currently the #12 app in the Top Photography Free Software category. Downloads equal higher ranking in the App Store. That translates into app sales. Expect AiO Photo FX to follow. This shameless repackaging of an app that was getting mostly 1 and 2 star user reviews appears to me to be a pretty sketchy move. Both apps are taking space and bandwidth from much more deserving apps — apps with more useful, creative filters that save at useful resolutions.
Either for free or for $2.99, there are far better apps for applying photo effects to your images. You’ve been warned. Avoid both apps. A complete waste. Not worth free.
Both apps are compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Both Require iOS 4.0 or later.
=M=
~~~~
