There are a ton of color “splash” apps available — you know, the apps that allow you to convert your photos to grayscale and selectively splash areas with color. Color Splash by Pocket Pixels is the first color splash app and still the best, in my opinion.
A new splash-type app was just released, Color Splash Pro by Everimaging Ltd. The name is deceptively similar to the excellent original Color Splash. Don’t be fooled. It is not an update, upgrade, or pro version to the original Color Splash app that is usually found at the top of the App Store sales rankings. It’s not sold by the same developer. While it’s not as bad as many of the other splash apps available, I found several issues with Color Splash Pro in addition to the name. It’s not a “pro” app and definitely not superior to the original Color Splash.
Maximum zoom from Color Splash Pro (left) and Color Splash (right)
In addition to the similar name, Everimaging’s Color Splash Pro lacks many of the details that the superior Color Splash has. Color Splash Pro doesn’t support full-resolution on an iPhone 4 and saves at only 2200 x 1643 pixels — that’s about 3.6 megapixels. It strips out nearly all of the photo’s EXIF data.
Also, a key feature that Color Splash Pro doesn’t have is full-resolution previews. A splash app requires painting onscreen to acheive good results. You need to zoom in to see areas clearly. While the app allows you to pan and move, Color Splash Pro only zooms in on the low res, screen-resolution image which is chunky, pixelated and makes it difficult to create precision painting.
Color Splash Pro has a usable image editor that the original Color Splash lacks. It can adjust contrast, saturation, sharpness/blur, color temperature and tint. The tools are handy in that the app’s masking feature can also be used to selectively apply color moves from the toolbox. This is especially handy with the Detail tool which controls the sharpness/blur. However, the app’s shortcomings — especially the low-res preview — don’t make up for the addition of this feature.
I realize that there are a limited number of App Name combinations available. But I don’t like apps with deceptive naming, especially when the app is an inferior product to the app it’s trying to copy.
Color Splash Pro by Everimaging Ltd isn’t a bad app. It’s definitely not the “Pro” version of the classic Top Ten app with the similar name. If you buy this app, know it’s differences beforehand.
Color Splash Pro is currently $0.99 in the App Store. Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
And here’s the App Store link to the original Color Splash by Pocket Pixels Inc.
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