DMD Panorama arrives on Windows Phone, but problematic

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Ah yes, I can't resist a new panorama utility - and DMD Panorama (apparently big in the iOS world) is at least polished, providing an easy capture interface, almost instant results and the browsing of panoramas taken by others - though it's not at all clear how this relates to what you just created. In addition, the panoramas are actually fairly low resolution and ultimately disappointing.

From the Store description:

DMD Panorama lets you capture and share panoramas in just seconds. It’s easy to use and its fun interface will change the way you take photos!

  • Fully automated capture system
  • Blazing fast stitching, see the result in no time
  • Immersive 3D viewer, pinch or double tap to zoom, autoplay...
  • On-device local gallery
  • Web gallery to enjoy public panoramas

Here's a brief walkthrough, with comments:

Screenshot, DMD PanoramaScreenshot, DMD Panorama

Panorama control is helped by a little digital compass tie-in - which, in theory, should result in accurate shot stitching without needing lengthy pixel analysis. Well, in theory, anyway. (right) The main capture UI involves rotating til Yin and Yang come together each time!

Screenshot, DMD Panorama

After capture, your panorama is animated backwards and forwards, for checking and enjoyment... Hmm... a bit of a stitching error in the middle!

Screenshot, DMD PanoramaScreenshot, DMD Panorama

Browsing the DMD online galleries of panoramas taken by others - some mundane, some quite arty....

Screenshot, DMD Panorama

For each, you can tap through and then watch animating or swipe around manually. This particular shot caught my eye. Not that I'm (ahem) jealous of the location. Oh no....

In terms of the stitching issue, I tried several times and couldn't get any better results, so there's clearly work to be done in this app still. In addition, it's not clear how your panoramas might end up in the public gallery - there's no upload facility, so perhaps they all go up for consideration? Worrying from a privacy point of view. Or perhaps none go up and you can't 'join in'?

At the end of the day though, a vertical resolution of only 800 pixels is very disappointing in 2015. Is this what the Instagram generation have brought us down to?

You can install this from the Store here. Plenty of work needed by the developer, not least to increase the vertical resolution by at least a factor of two.

Source / Credit: WMPU