SplashPhoto Mobile Albums – Review
By App Type: Uncategorized
Our rating: 
By: SplashData
Version #: 5.0
Date Released: 2009-03-28
Developer: SplashPhoto Mobile Albums
Price: 4.99
User Rating:
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Even with its relatively poor (but soon to be updated) camera, I find myself using the iPhone to take pictures all the time. As we’ve seen in recent weeks there are some excellent apps available that allow you to do amazing things with pictures on the go. You can crop, alter, a generally tweak images to your heart’s content. You can create stunning panoramas and merge two people into one all on your iPhone. Best of all, many of these apps are not just powerful but also down right simple to use. At the same time, moving images from the iPhone to your computer or the cloud was, until recently, a chore. Sure you can cradle your phone and have iPhoto import it for you but that assumes having access to your computer. You can also email images, although that is a real pain! Eye-Fi released an app that allows you to transfer images OTA but there are some real limitations to it, not the least of which is the inability to upload screen shots and the need to have an Eye-Fi card fist.
Then there is SplashPhoto. SplashPhoto lets you
- Synchronize with the FREE SplashPhoto Desktop on Mac and Windows
- Add photos, organize, and add titles & notes on the desktop
- Move photos between different albums on the handheld
- Share photos to/from both Flickr and Picasa, both on desktop & iPhone
- Geotag photos so that they can be viewed on a map on Flickr & Picasa
- Set a password and assign privacy to prevent unwanted access to photos
SplashPhoto is a two-part solution that includes an iPhone app and desktop software that is available for both Mac and PC.
The iPhone app can synchronize with both Picasa and flickr. Since I use Picasa I set up synchronization with it and enabled both uploading and downloading. I loved how it quickly showed me the various web-albums I have available and gave me the option to download pictures individually or in batches.
The "Add Photo" button gives you the option to take a new photo, add a photo from your Photo Library or add images from Picasa or flickr. That means that, unlike the Eye-Fi app, you can add screen captures to your library and then easily upload to Picasa or flickr.
Tapping the "i" button in the upper right corner of any image brings up informaiton on the picture such as its name, the kind of image, the size and, assuming you have a GPS enabled iPhone 3G, the location where it was taken. It also gives you the option to make the image Private and to add it to a different album than the one in which it currently resides. You can also view a slideshow of images from any album.
One of the places where SplashPhoto has the greatest potential to be a killer app is in its ability to sync with your computer OTA. Unfortunately this can only be done over a LOCAL NETWORK. In other works, while you do not need to cradle the iPhone and sync with iTunes or iPhoto the "old fashioned way", you still need to be in the same location as your computer. It does, however, allow you to upload images to a light app rather than iPhoto and there is definitely something to be said about not having to cradle the phone, even if you do need to be near your computer.
In addition to synching with your device the desktop software serves as a basic photo editor, as well. You can Add or change the image name, move it to a different albumn, add notes, rotate it and identify the location where it was taken. In addition, you can change contrast, brightness and can zoom or crop the image. The desktop software also gives you the option to make the image private. In my use of it over the last week or so I fund it to be simple to use and effective for what it does. As a user of iPhoto, however, I’m not sure how quickly I would choose to use SplashPhoto’s desktop application in its place.
Which leads me to my biggest pet peeve about this particular setup- I am increasingly drawn away from any app that requires separate software running on my computer in order for the iPhone and computer to "speak". It is all good and well until you go to use the app only to discover that, for some reason, the software isn’t running. There are often enough apps in any give category that either syn directly or sync with a webservice that is independent of your computer’s current status. Yes, SplashPhoto syncs with Picasa and flickr, and on that front it works superbly, but the main use I would have for it involved syncing with my iMac and that is a nusance.
For someone who used SplashPhoto on their WindowsMobile device or Treo SplashPhoto will likely be a welcome and familiar face. The ability to move from one platform to another but use the same software is often a huge bonus. Moreover, SplashPhoto is good software that not only does what it promises but it does it well.
That noted, however, I’m not sure it is the right software FOR ME. The iPhone and desktop app create albums that they share but that are separate from the iPhone’s library or my iPhoto library. For some that may be a plus but for me it is not. Moreover, I can and do use the Eye-Fi software to upload images to Picasa and, if I am going to edit my images, I use iPhoto or a dedicated image editing application. And while, unlike the Eye-Fi app, SplashPhoto can handle screen caps as well, I have become used to simply emailing them to myself or waiting until the next time I sync my iPhone to move them off my handheld.
Quick Take
Value: Good if it serves your needs
Would I Buy Again: I would not but not because of the software but rather the way I work
Learning Curve: Low to Medium. The use needs to set up the sync between iPhone and the desktop. Not difficult just a number of steps.
Who Is It For: Especially for someone who used SplashPhoto previously on another platform
What I Like: Does what it says
What I Don’t: Requires separate desktop software for sync
Final Statement: SplashPhoto is very good software, and at $4.99 it is well priced. If it fits your particular way of managing photos it is worth a serious look.
O U R T A K E . . .
