Instagram (for Android)

As Michael Muchmore pointed out in his review of the iPhone version of Instagram for iPhone, debating whether or not to get it is largely academic. It's hugely popular, and for a good reason: the clean attractive interface and collection of filters provides a great way to show off your smartphone photos. The recent inclusion of video was a swipe at Vine, but a lack of key features might leave some Android users feeling robbed.

Getting Onboard
Signing up for Instagram is fairly straightforward, and even easier if you volunteer to connect your account to Facebook. The influence of Facebook, Instagram's owners, is pretty clear when you're prompted multiple times to connect your account. I didn't connect my Facebook account, and actually had some trouble logging in. The layout of the page makes it hard to tell what information is required (all of it, except your phone number and Facebook).

A recent update added a photo map to the profile page, which is a fun way to drill through your various images. Instead of a map full of photos, Instagram organizes pictures by stacks. Tapping a stack spreads more stacks or individual images across a smaller portion of the map. It's really smart design and presents a lot of information.

Though you'll probably spend most of your time in your home feed, looking at the photos and videos your friends have uploaded, the Following tab of the News feed is particularly powerful. Here you can see what photos the people you're following have liked. This might feel a little invasive, but it's great for discovering new content.

Shooting With Instagram
Instagram is smart because it doesn't try to get you to replace your camera app. You can take photos from within Instagram, but it's just as easy to upload images you've already taken?either with your smartphone or with another camera. The Instagram camera gives you some tools, like a grid, flash control, and front/rear camera toggle. You can also tap the image to focus it, but zoom is not available.

Once you have your image?and I must say, photos look great on the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy S 4 I used in testing?you can apply Instagram's famous filters. These do everything from turning up the blues, to bringing out the reds, to discarding color entirely. The 20 filters may overwhelm you at first, but you'll quickly get a feel for their best uses. Take note of the filter Rise, which can help bring out color in low-light shots.

Beyond the filters, you can also add blur effects. These come in two flavors, single point and horizontal, and can be placed anywhere on the screen. Pinching and zooming make them larger or smaller, and can be manipulated to create different effects on your images.

You can also brighten the image by tapping the sunburst icon. I use this option frequently, so I was confused to see that it was missing on the Galaxy S4. Perhaps the photos taken with this phone are already perfect?who knows.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/kf3UGsNzeqI/0,2817,2402663,00.asp

mariana trench transcendental meditation trayvon martin obama care miss universe canada don draper gallagher