Instagram – photo sharing with a twist [App of the Week]

Introduced to the iTunes App Store over a year ago it has taken some time for this simple photo sharing app to rise to the top of the of the free iPhone apps chart. However, since being bought by Facebook for a staggering $1bn that is exactly what Instagram managed to do earlier this week.

Instagram has also made it into the top 10 list of free Android apps since being released for this platform only a couple of weeks ago – reports suggest that over five million downloads occured in it’s first week of being available on Google Play.

For more app recommendations, see our app review page.

Instagram – what is it?

Is it a photo editing tool, is it a social networking tool or is it simply somewhere to collate your favourite mobile snaps? For me, it’s actually all three of these things.

After opening an image in Instagram you are immediately presented with a choice of 17 different filters. Each one gives your image a unquie look and feel, brightness can also be adjusted using the one touch button. You can also add linear or radial blur to give your pictures extra depth of field.

Once your first image is saved you can share it either by email or a host of social network sites, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Tumblr.

Instagram – the pros

- A very simple way to transform mediocre images into something you can be proud of and share with family and friends.

- Fast loading speeds mean you don’t have to twiddle your thumbs while waiting for images to be added to your collection.

- The app is free and there is no in-app purchasing or advertising. Hooray!

Instagram – the cons

- The default setting allows any Instagram user to view your works of art, for privacy be sure to turn on the ‘Photos are private’ setting.

- Instagram is only available as an app for mobile devices so, smartphone or tablet users only – it would be great to see a PC and Mac version.

Lewis’s first impressions

Having signed up to Instagram about 10 months ago I actually didn’t use it for the first nine months. After rediscovering the app hiding on my iPhone several weeks back I have started to become somewhat addicted to it. Uploading images is so quick and you soon become aware of which your favourite filters are and which ones work best for each style of photo.

The sharing facility is great and you also have an option to find any Facebook or Twitter friends who may have Instagram. Once you have selected those you wish to follow all their images will be displayed in your main timeline alongside your own images which you can then ‘like’ or comment on.

My only reservation at the moment is how long these 17 filters will keep me going for – already I can see similarities between a number of my pictures and those from other users, with dark vignettes and quirky boarders quickly taking over…

Download it now

For iPhone and iPad – Instagram

For Android – Instagram

Or have you already tried Instagram? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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