In case you missed it, back in September Google acquired Nik Software, the company behind the fairly popular Snapseed photo editing iOS application. This seems to be Google’s answer to the Facebook-owned Instagram. Today Nik Software launched the Android version of its app. If you are a fan of on-the-fly picture editing on your Android device, this app will satisfy most of your needs.
Learning the interface is the most challenging part of adapting to this very functional photo editing tool. It’s easy to choose a photo to edit, but once you have there are a few options for how to proceed. Of course the standard hipster filters are easy to access, black and white, something called “drama” , and a few other filters that would have impressed everyone on Facebook if Instagram hadn’t happened. But you also have the ability to improve your picture by adjusting the brightness, contrast, color correction, and cropping. All in all Snapseed seems to have all the features of Instagram but with a slightly more intuitive interface.
Using some of the more advanced features can be a little tricky. For the most part you need to press and hold and then move your finger vertically in order to choose an effect to add; and then move your finger horizontally to choose how much or how little of that effect you want to use. It seems rather clumsy at first, but once you get a hang of the navigation scheme, it is actually very intuitive.
Sharing your newly dressed up photos couldn’t be easier. If you tap on the menu button on the top, right hand corner of the screen you will have a menu that includes the ‘share’ option. You have all the standards that you would expect: Facebook, Twitter, Bluetooth, Gmail etc. But it is obvious that this is a Google-owned app. There is a predominantly featured Google+ share option at the top of the screen. Google is clearly encouraging you to share your picture on Google+, which is my favorite way to share photos already, so I like having the Google+ button conveniently featured.
With the holidays coming up, I’m sure many of us will be looking for a new way to improve our family photos before we share them, and Snapseed is there to help you do it. Do you see any big advantages/disadvantages when you compare Snapseed to Instagram? Let us know in the comments below.