Issue 7 - Shopping Apps

Bright ideas for your iPhone News Apps Features How-To

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iPhone SWIPE

NEWS • REVIEWS • TIPS

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HELLO! Welcome to this sample of Swipe: the iPhone magazine. We’ve put together a taster of what each edition offers, with all the hottest iOS news, reviews of the latest apps and accessories, plus expert advice from the people that bring you Tips & Tricks – iPhone Secrets. We hope you enjoy this small slice of what Swipe has to offer, and don’t forget to check out the full free trial on the App Store. Happy reading!

THE SWIPE TEAM

Apps

PANO FACE-OFF LOOK AROUND YOU

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aking a panorama lets you create a wide-angle image – a shot of a large group of friends, for example, or a photo of a sweeping vista. This technique lets you capture all the details of famous sights such as Times Square or San Francisco Bay without having to take several pictures.

We’ve compared four of the best options in order to tell you which one to get. >

PANORAMA Heartbeats Apple

DEVICES iPhone 4S & 5 PRICE In-Built VERSION iOS 6 Only

W

Camera app to have a built-in Panorama function, but only if you’re using a 4S or 5. If you do have one of these models, it’s easy to access: open the Camera app, tap Options then Panorama. >

Keep the white arrow level with the line for the best results

This presents a horizontal box across the screen with a white arrow. Tap the camera button and start panning across the scene you want to capture. The white arrow helps you shoot steadily (try and keep it on the line across the middle) and informs you if you’re going This image will be huge, so make sure you’ve got enough available memory.

Stitched together

Once you’ve got everything in the image, tap Done and the Camera app stitches it together for you. It’s very quick, even on the 4S, and happens almost instantly.

You can then access the image from the Photos app directly. >

A finished panorama taken on an iPhone 4S

As stated earlier, the Panorama feature isn’t available on iPhones released before the 4S. ſ Included with iOS 6 ſ Very quick and easy to use ſ iPhone 4S and 5 only ſ Images can take up lots of memory

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PANO Heartbeats

Debacle Software VERSION 4.5 PRICE Ĺż b Ĺż Ć… SIZE 2.9 MB

P

ano is another option to take great wide angle shots, with the added feature of being able to take vertical panoramas as well as horizontal.

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An example of a panorama from Pano taken on an iPhone 5

Pano requires you to take a picture, then pan and line up with the edge of the previous picture. The left hand side has a slightly transparent line, which you use to line up the shot. As you have to manually press a button to take a picture, you can create images where one person appears in multiple different poses within the scene. Try and have someone running across the screen. >

Once you’ve taken all the images you want, tap Done and Pano will merge them. It doesn’t take long before the result appears.

The problem with Pano is that if you don’t keep a steady hand, the image can often become blurred where the shots merge.

However the app does offer tips to improve your output and can help with getting a better picture. ſ 8PSLT PO BMM J1IPOFT ſ $BO DSFBUF IPSJ[POUBM BOE vertical shots ſ 3FMJFT PO B TUFBEZ IBOE ſ *NBHFT DBO PGUFO CF CMVSSZ

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Heartbeats PHOTOSYNTH Microsoft Corporation VERSION 1.1.5 PRICE FREE SIZE 4.6 MB

P

hotosynth allows you to take a slightly different form of panorama,

Simply point your phone and start taking pictures. You then aim the phone and line up the capture box. When it can >

take a new shot, you’ll hear a beep letting you know to keep still. Then just keep panning around until you’ve captured the whole scene.

Moving pictures

Once you tap Done, Photosynth creates an interactive panorama that you can the screen. You can then export a still version of the image to Facebook, Twitter, email, or to your Camera Roll.

As Photosynth lets you take pictures of a wide area, the exported image can have jagged edges. The app does feature an option to auto-crop and make the image look cleaner, however, this can cut off some of the panorama. >

Just point the box to ďŹ ll in the gaps and the app will take a picture

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The interactive version of the panorama can only be shared through Photosynth. net, which requires a Windows Live ID. If you create an account you can share the interactive version with others. Å¿ EFHSFF QBOPSBNB Å¿ "VUPNBUJDBMMZ UBLFT QJDUVSFT Å¿ $BO FOE VQ XJUI KBHHFE FEHFT Å¿ *OUFSBDUJWF QBOPSBNBT POMZ shared via Microsoft website

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AUTOSTITCH Heartbeats PANORAMA Cloudburst Research VERSION 5.2.1 PRICE Ĺż b Ĺż Ć… SIZE 4.9 MB

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utoStitch Panorama has an image capture system that’s similar to Photosynth. You point the camera at an area and take an image. Then pan to the next point and watch for the frame to turn green. This advises you of the best shot you’ll get. As you keep panning, >

A cropped image from AutoStitch Panorama

the previous shots are static, so you can see what you’ve already got. You can delete these if you’re not happy and add a new shot. When you’re done, hit Stitch and the app sticks the images together.

Again this can create images with broken edges. AutoStitch does feature an automatic crop option similar to Photosynth, but this can also remove part of the image. The app does allow you to change the export settings for a higher resolution to get a better image. >

AutoStitch Panorama also DSFBUFT JNBHFT XJUI KBHHFE FEHFT

AutoStitch Panorama has one other impressive feature: you can create a panorama from pictures that you’ve taken previously. Therefore if you took several pictures of an area before you had this app, you can still create a panorama.

Choose Select Photos from the main screen and pick the images. The app then magically stitches them together. Ĺż $BO DSFBUF QBOPSBNBT GSPN PME separate images Ĺż $SPQ QIPUPT JO UIF BQQ RVJDLMZ Ĺż $BQUVSFT EFHSFF TIPUT Ĺż $SFBUFT KBHHFE TIPUT Ĺż *NBHFT DBO CF CMVSSZ

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Conclusion

If you have the iPhone 4S or 5, then you should use the built-in Panorama feature. It’s so much quicker than the other options and creates better images.

However, if you don’t have one of those iPhones, then get AutoStitch Panorama.

It has the most features and can create great panoramas even from old photos. you have an iPhone 4S or 5 too.

Panorama creates beautiful images