Instagram for Android – Snaptastic

Instagram made a huge difference in quick photo editing and photo sharing field. It’s yet another example of how the simplest solutions win hearts of millions of people. Android users feel a bit left out and are long striving to have Instagram for Android. With that demand it would seem reasonable for the makers of Instagram to rush into other popular platforms, like Android. It’s been months now and there’s no sign of it. There’s speculations that publishing apps exclusively on iOS gets you better deals with Apple  plus your app gets featured on iPhone/iPad tv spots.

After watching some Instagram movies on YouTube, I decided to get an app like that on Android platform. After going through countless apps that promise same effect and are labeled “Instagram for Android” (they’re not even close), I’ve finally found Snaptastic. what looks like a really solid application. Finally, someone took their time and put some thought in development rather than mindlessly rushed in to create a clone and cash in quickly.  Let’s see what free version has to offer.

Snaptastic features (free version):

• Easy to apply presets with sample images as previews to give you better idea what to expect from specific filter.
• Custom photo adjustments using simple sliders with fast response times. This includes:
• Brightness,
• Contrast,
• Temperature,
• Tint,
• Fill light,
• Clarity,
• Saturation,
• Vignetting,
• Exposure,
• White level,
• Black level,
• Photo modifications that include the following:
• Rotate
• Crop
• Border selection (6 different borders)
• Possibility to set up and save custom presets for future use.
• High quality images up to 1280px (unless you have a dual core smartphone, I’d suggest going for smaller sizes which are more than enough for sharing on your social networks)

What I also like is the possibility to revert all changes made back to original, so that whenever you feel like you want to, you can start your editing from scratch.

Another thing worth noting is possibility to save each picture as many times as you like. After every change you make, just click on save and Snaptastic asks you if you want to overwrite the existing file or save new version. No choosing new file name, no additional prompts. Every step has been reduced to minimum in order to make application not only easier to use, but also faster and generally more user friendly.

Also, it might be worth mentioning that Snaptastic uses your phone’s built-in camera software which results in application’s smaller size, faster loading times and better performance.

What you will NOT be able to do with Snaptastic:

• add balloons,
• add kisses,
• add smileys,
• add glitter,
• add “funny” stickers,
• paste your face into Mona Lisa…

You get my point…

User Interface

The UI is very clean and intuitive. I didn’t find any of the application features hard to find. Options page lets you set up Snaptastic to automatically adjust levels, crop images to 1:1 aspect ratio, or simply set application to auto quit once you’ve shared your picture. You can also adjust image size and quality.

Force close! Oh noes!

As for reliability, I have had, so far, 2 crashes in 2 weeks, but that was clearly because I’ve set too big image size for my Nexus S to handle. This isn’t something surprising as developers are warning that this might happen (both in app description and in options when selecting image size). Nevertheless, I haven’t lost any of the original pictures taken after the app crashed so there’s not much to complain about as editing is fast and easy.

Overall

This is the best “Instagram for Android” app I’ve tried so far. I have tested PicSay (not exactly what I was looking for), Lightbox (sluggish and not very intuitive), Vignette (incredibly slow and not user friendly), and many more (possibly most of those available on Android Market). None of them were as fast and intuitive as Snaptastic. It’s not flawless, because it crashes due to excessive output file sizes selected in options menu (just test it and select file size that your phone can handle). This could be overcome by setting restrictions defined by phone model the app is running on, and I hope developers will find a solution to this.

If you’re looking for an app to apply simple, yet very effective effects in a quick manner and share them on your social networks then Snaptastic is the app to go.

If you, like me, were waiting for Instagram for Android, then grab free version from Android Market and let me know what you think about it.

UPDATE: Instagram team have officially announced they’re working on Android version of their platform. As much as I do not appreciate the idea of having to log in in order to add simple effects on photos, it’s still quite exciting news. More info on Androidcommunity.com

UPDATE 2: Instagram just released their official app for Android. Download it from here. The initial release was quite buggy but they’ve already released an update so hopefully more is fixed. Also, was hoping for a wider choice of photo effects, yet the app is stable and does what it’s supposed to.