Price: $.99 Score: 7/10 By Anna Papachristos
Taking pictures with your iPhone 3GS can be both fun and convenient. With your device always at hand, you can capture any of life’s sudden and wonderful moments with a single tap. However, with the limited features of the Camera app that comes standard on the iPhone 3GS, creativity is also limited. Users may only take photos in standard color, not allowing them to branch out into other color schemes or other photo manipulations. But with CamKewl by Pannag R Sanketi, users can spice up their photo library with an array of options.
Though the name may seem a bit silly and juvenile, don’t let it fool you. CamKewl combines many of the features you wish the generic camera had, packaging them together in one convenient app for the surprisingly low price of $.99. With CamKewl, users can zoom, vary the color scheme and activate the self-timer all within the app’s simple and fairly intuitive interface.
With the integrated multi-touch technology, users can navigate throughout CamKewl with various gestures. To utilize the 5x zoom, use two fingers to pinch/stretch the screen or slide up/down for a gradual adjustment. Also, a single tap will cause the picture to zoom in or out immediately. A two-finger vertical swipe will reveal the menu, which allows users to access their photo library, the various camera options, and the extensive Help menu. While each of these categories can be found using other methods as well, users will want to remember this motion in order to access the Video Camera option.
Users will also find the Shake gesture both handy and amusing as this movement allows you to easily bounce around CamKewl with minimal effort. This characteristic allows you to return to camera mode from basically every part of the app.
CamKewl offers many simple new functions to your iPhone 3GS camera, which can be found in the dock at the bottom of the screen, such as the capability to take Black-and-White and Sepia photos, as well as use a self-timer. Another thoughtful function is the Date/Time capability, which stamps your photos with the date, time and location your photo was taken. However, if CamKewl fails to pinpoint your exact location, it will not allow you to even utilize the date and time part of the feature.
Blitz, another feature found in the dock, allows you to take three color pictures in a row so you get precisely the right shot you were hoping to obtain. However, despite the fact that the shutter noise goes off three times, every attempt resulted in only one photo being taken, making this appealing feature still only an idea. Two other lovely, yet unreliable, features are the One-1 and One-Z features. One-1 takes two photographs in a row – one in color and one in black-and-white. This way, if you are unsure, you will have a copy of the picture in both formats. One-Z takes one photograph of your subject zoomed out, then another of the subject zoomed to 2x. Unfortunately, these features seem temperamental, making them enticing attributes that cannot, however, be depended upon.
The most interesting aspect is CamKewl’s accenting mode. Simply go to your photo library by shaking the device and choose a photo you’d like to use. Then, tap the ‘Accenting’ button in the bottom right corner. With this, users can use their color photos and, just by swiping their finger, turn any part of the photo black-and-white. Discover simple, quick and easy photo manipulation right there in the palm of your hand. Use the ‘Save’ button in the upper right corner to save the changes you’ve made to your creation. And, while you are accenting pictures, or merely looking through your accumulated photos, use the arrow button in the bottom right to email your photo or post it to Facebook.
For a YouTube video demonstration of what CamKewl can do, click here.
CamKewl requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone 3GS or higher. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.
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