iGoiPhone – Page 8 – …Reviews, Tips and How To

iPhone camera app that only does prints – called ‘disposable’

Recently there was an app from the folks that do Hipstamatic where you literally buy film (number of images you can take) which you share amongst your friends to have everyone adding to a group of photos. Interesting idea getting mixed reviews.

Now, Sincerely has added their version to the ‘disposable’ mix, called Dotti. An app that is loaded with ‘film’ to take 12 images. Dotti stresses that it has all the sounds and feeling of the old disposable camera. Including, what you shoot is what you get. The free app lets you take 12 pictures, then offers to print/mail those to you for $4.99 (in the US). You don’t have to have the images printed, but until you do you can’t reset the 12 image counter. As well, there is no exporting of the images to touch up in another app.

It’s an interesting idea to get printing business. The only issue I have with Dotti’s concept is that I use Sincerely printing in other apps already like Postagram. Sincerely is a plug-in of sorts that app creators can put include in their app so that people can have prints created of what they have on their iPhone. The other options I use for photo editing allow me to touch up the images and doesn’t lock me to 12 till they are printed, I choose what I print when I want to print.

Still, some folks might get a kick out of the ‘old disposable camera’ feel of the app… I’m just too picky with my images to go back to the days of printing everything I shoot. I have a 35mm camera for that.

Using the iPhone camera to check your heart rate

There is an app I play with on the iPad from Philips that tells you what your heart rate is bases on color changes in your face. Nice technology… it will be better when iPads are mounted on the wall, for now holding my iPad still after a run isn’t always easy.

For the iPhone (works on the iPad2 also if in a very well lit area), an app released Azumio called Instant Heart Rate, reports on your heart rate via the camera looking at your finger. The ‘flash’ LED on the iPhone helps the recording be more successful by lighting the internals of the finger. Just launch Instant Heart Rate, place your finger over the camera and 10 seconds later your have your heart rate.

I found that when I rested my hand on something solid, the software was able to get a clean read faster. Once Instant Heart Rate sees your heart pulse through your finger, the text tells you that it is starting it’s 8 second countdown. Until that successful connection, you get a message that the app is attempting to find your finger. When done, your rate is shown against a colored line graphic to show you have your rate compares against a expected normal rate.

If you would like, you can have Instant Heart Rate save your recordings for later reference. The app makes every attempt it can to have you set up an account with the creator’s service to have your history saved on their servers. I’m not sure why I’m resistant but for now I’m not opening up my health recording to a company I don’t know much about but has a cool iPhone app. Your free to use the service or not, it doesn’t change the effectiveness of the app.

If you use a running app and tell your friends on Facebook or Twitter about your runs. Instant Heart Rate lets you post up your heart rate for others to see too. Would you post normal or the times that your rate is very high? I can see this technology being very handy for anyone who sometimes wonder if their heart is pounding and want to see if it really is being excessive.

iPhone cases for Music and vinyl record fans

Griffin Tech joined up with Third Man to take 7″ vinyl records and make them into iPhone cases. Made from “a real 7″ vinyl record, pressed by United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tenn., then die cut to protect the back of your iPhone. A molded frame snaps around your iPhone, holding the interchangeable record insert in place and protecting the controls, edges and screen.”

I have a nice collection of old vinyl originals, but the larger size… and as much as I love my iPhone and this case, I’m not cutting up my own records. I’ll leave that to the Griffin Tech and Third Man folks.

There is another pack of more solid color vinyl records available too. In case you like the vinyl idea but not original black record look. ‘Insert 3 Pack‘ from the same Griffin Technology group.

A Facebook for iPhone update worth mentioning

The Facebook for iPhone app has been updated a few times in the near past. A major one recently to redo the UI to be more like how many other, read: Twitter, apps work on the iPhone. Being able to show on the left the areas you will want to have access to within your account and be able to swipe to hide the view.

The update today had a couple items updated and a major issue fixed, yea!

As you see from the release notes for the Facebook app, if your friends have turned on Timeline, you can see it now. Not a lot of the people I work with through Facebook have jumped into the Timeline profile view, but a few have and it looks nice on the iPhone. The view isn’t available on the iPad yet.

Also in the update is more info in that left side areas access view. Your friends and subscriptions are divided up better so it is easier to find what your looking for without drilling down a few layers. Not mentions in the Facebook ‘updated’ notes is that Notifications open in a pop up box after the updated is installed. This means that when you see what someone said that caused the notification, going back takes you to the previous screen rather than to the notifications list screen, then where you were prior to viewing the notification. So, everything is looking like better views and less steps to get where you want to be.

The BIG fix for me was the photograph handling! When someone comments on one of your photos, or you want to view a photo someone else posted… it works! Before, you would see a random previous image and there was a level of uncertainty that if you left a comment would it be assigned to the right photo. All of my tests today show that the fix in the free universal Facebook app for photos is working!

OMG – More Hipstamatic iPhone Camera Updates!

My niece is going to be so proud of me for that headline.

Earlier, the Hipstamatic developers released their Hipstamatic Disposable Camera, a app that you purchase film and share the photo taking experience with other users of the free app. This weekend is an update to their regular camera app, two bundles (Packs) with many lenses, flashes and film options.

The new Hipstamatic Camera packs are no light weight single lens/film bundles, instead they are a pretty good list of enhancements of your photo shooting fun. All available through in-app purchase –

RetroPak Two:

Big Up Film
James M Lens
Jolly Rainbo 2X Flash
Libatique 73 Lens
Lucas AB2 Lens
Matty ALN Lens
Rick BW-11 Film
Susie Lens
Watts Lens