Android Magazine UK - Issue No. 49

Camu

Add fi lters to your

photos and videos

Photo-editing app

Camu has fi nally

made its way onto

Android and we

couldn’t wait to get our hands on

it. There is a paid version but for

the majority of users, the free

version will provide suffi cient

trickery to add to your photos and

videos. There are 10 fi lters for you

to choose from and each offers

plenty of variety, so whether you

want to make your photos warmer,

colder, retro or black-and-white,

there is scope to do that. We also

really like the fact that Camu offers

you the ability to fi lm scenes with

all these fi lters as well, allowing

you to channel your inner

Hitchcock with black-and-white

footage or just lighten up a scene.

Camu offers much more beyond

the standard Instagram filters

though. You can write on your

photos in four different fonts, blur

sections of the shot and zoom in

to create stunning close-ups. All of

these actions are really easy to

perform and means that you can

get extra creative with your shots

in post production. The advanced

settings in the top-left hand

corner offer further ways to

enhance your photographic

creativity. The sideways teardrop

sharpens up a section of the

screen, making those classy pull

focus shots effortless. There’s

also an intriguing mode that

enables you to take a photo that is

half theheightofanormalshot,

then capture a second that gets

placed directly below it. We’re

struggling to fi nd a practical

application for this beyond a

landscape snap that just misses

out a boring middle section, but it

works an absolute treat and is

something we’ve never seen

before. It also lets y

pictures in 4:3 and 1:1

couldsaveyoualotofcr

time. You get a lot of app fo

with Camu and it’s extremely

to get started and use.

There are ten fi lter options,

with more available if you pay for it

Camu offers a r

perfect for landsc

Instagram style sho

»^ like this? try this!

Photo Editor pro

Photo editor that has loads of tools

stretched along the bottom for easy access

Android devices often make it a bit of a mission to fi nd your sound

settings, so this handy app condenses them all into one place. The

Smart Volume Controller lets you set your ringtone, notifi cation, media

and alarm volumes with a simple slider. This is both quicker and easier to

visualise than in your device’s settings. It

also groups together the options for

setting your phone to loud, vibrate or

silent in the form of icons, which speeds

up the process once again. This is a well

put-together app that does exactly what it

says on the tin which is nice. It’s not

exactly going to change your life but it will

make the process of altering all your

phone settings that much easier,

especially if you are having to do it a lot

when switching between work, home and

social occasions. It’s also free to

download which adds to the appeal.

» Price Free

» Designed for Phone and tablet

» Requires Android^ 2.1

Smart Volume Controller

Manage all your audio settings in one place

VOLUME CONTROL + » A little more complicated in terms of

design but Volume Control + does look awesome.

»best free

alternative

RAM Booster

Ultimate Pal

Set your phone’s memory

free once and for all

AJK Labs has produced a

RAM booster that looks

good but doesn’t do a lot.

Its selling point is that it can boost

your available RAM by shutting down

apps that eat up memory. It also has

four modes, each with levels of

ruthlessness when deciding what to

abort. However, we noticed barely

any difference and

the percentage

available

increased only by

10 per cent at

most. Although it

looks good, you

could just close

apps yourself.

» Price Free + IAPs

» Designed for Phone and tablet

» Requires Android^ 2.2

Flashchat

Easily keep in contact all

around campus

» Price Free

» Designed for Tablet & Phone

» Requires Android^ 2.3.3

Flashchat is a free

messaging app that

enables users to chat with

others on the same Wi-Fi network. It

is trying to fi t into quite a small niche

market by providing a service that

connects people who are in the

same 1km area but choose not to

email, text, Whatsapp or, y’know,

talk. One suggestion is students on

their campus Wi-Fi, but that is a bit of

a stretch. It does

work well, even if it

is very basic. One

benefi t in the era

of privacy invasion:

all messages

vanish when you

disconnect from

the network.

Completely user friendly and

full of handy functions to

enjoy getting creative with

»specification

» verdict

Designed for: Tablet & Phone

Requires Android: 4.0

Price Free + IAPs

EDITOR’S

CHOICE