Like many photography apps, behind the picture taking on your device is an online social network, where you can share your pictures, browse your friends pictures, and see pictures from other members of the network. Hipstamatic are placing more focus on appealing to "the more discerning" photographer, as opposed to the shoot and share nature of other networks.
Pair that up with devices like the Lumia 1020 and you have a potent advertising mix. Thankfully the app is up to the task, taking advantage of Nokia's new Camera APIs where possible.
While the developers acknowledge that they still have work to do in the directory listing (which is an honest and refreshing approach), this update (to version 1.0.9.107) has continued to improve the performance and stability, but notes that more updates are on the way.
One bug caught is for those who have been following the app from early builds which can cause images from your library to be hidden - which is a bit awkward for an image sharing app.
The main features of the app, from the directory listing, are
- Have greater control of their shot by making a variety of manual adjustments
- Reframe their shot by using the lossless 3x zoom feature
- Set manual exposure and tap to focus
- Orient their shots using the auto-leveling feature
- Control white balance, ISO and shutter speed
- Capture full resolution images at 41 MP and apply Hipstamatic’s film and lens effects
As always, I'm really glad to see developers take on board an 'iterate and release often' approach to their mobile apps. It shows that they care about the app, it gives users confidence that they are not going to be left behind, and (sneakily) it boosts the download count and keeps the app in the 'New and Rising' lists.
Oggl and Oggl PRO are available from the Windows Phone Store. The PRO version is only available for the Nokia Lumia 1020. The standard version is available for Nokia Lumia devices with 1GB RAM (Lumia 820, 920, 925, 928). It is currently not available for devices with 512MB RAM (Lumia 520, 620, 720).