While naysayers are dogging Apple’s new device as little more than an iPod touch Jumbo, the iPad’s increased screen real estate is a huge selling point for consumers and developers alike. For the first time, developers have the chance to give their apps the features they need while avoiding the squint-factor. Case in point; Mobile Pond’s Photogene for iPad.
Photogene for iPad Pros:
- Intuitive interface and great use of iPad’s enhanced functionality
- 14 fun macros and ability to create your own
- Social network and traditional sharing capabilities
- Great price
Photogene for iPad Cons:
- None as of this review
We loved the iPhone version of Photogene and awarded it our highest rating back in February 2009. For the last eighteen months, Photogene for iPhone has seen numerous improvements through free updates. Now, Mobile Pond has taken all those features to Photogene for iPad. Avoiding the connotation of a scaled iPhone app, Photogene for iPad introduces a slew of iPad specific improvements that bring this rendition into a photographer’s paradise.
Beginning a new editing session is simple. Upon launch, Photogene for iPad presents an iPhone-size drop-down menu of your iPad’s photo collection (folders and all). Choosing a photo enlarges it to full-screen glory and enables the toolbars. Toolbars reside at the bottom of the work area. Selecting a tool opens an additional panel with that tool’s options to the right. The familiar cropping (with preset or custom sizes), rotating, and straighten tools are all available for quick selection. All eight of the original filters (Sharpen, Pencil, Blur, B&W, Posterize, Sepia, Nightvision, and Heatmap) have all made it over to the iPad. The Color Adjust tool handles temperatures, exposures, levels, saturation, and other visual effects. Framing and captioning your photos are easily accomplished with the respective tools and multiple undo’s and redo’s are intact from the iPhone version.
While the classic features in Photogene for iPad are exceptional, we got the greatest kick out of the new iPad specific tools. Mobile Pond incorporated Macros which can instantly transform any photo into a work of art through predefined variables. Currently there are fourteen macros included in Photogene for iPad. Some of our favorites are 1940’s Vintage, 1970’s Vintage, Web, Vivid, and Grayscale. The coolest aspect of Macros, though, is that users can create their own with any combination of tool tweaks. We loved playing around with our own macros as it is the closest thing we’ve seen to Picassa’s I’m Feeling Lucky feature on the iPad. What a blast!
When finished editing and revamping photos, users can save copies in various resolutions, email to friends, copy to clipboard, or share their work on Twitter or Facebook. We just love playing with Photogene on the iPad, already recommending it to a number of our personal friends. We also want to recommend it to you, our dear readers, by giving it our 5-Dimple seal of approval. Currently Photogene for iPad is available for $3.99 in the iTunes App Store.
