That tired cliche, "better late than never" can be applied several times over to the long overdue Flickr app for iPhone that just made it's triumphant debut in the iTunes App Store. It's been mind boggling to imagine what could have taken the company so long to finally release an official app for iPhone. Until I squandered some quality time taking Flickr for a proper test drive. I was not disappointed by the solid feature set in this kick ass app, finding the user experience to be a full throttle photo viewing thrill ride. Did I mention that it's free?
The user interface is extremely simple to navigate, offering several different ways to view your images. The robust search functions, ability to view sets and search by tags are all well thought out additions. Uploading new photos is fast and intuitive with the option to add your image to a set, tag a current location and select privacy levels. Select a shot from your library or snap a fresh one right inside the app.
Tagging an new image upload is another area where this app shines, providing a list of your common tags for selection. It's as easy as tap tap. Another sweet feature is the ability to view recent comments on your photos and quickly view uploads from your contacts, insuring that the social aspect of Flickr is not lost on iPhone. Although I could do without the zooming images on the main gallery screen, the photos displayed are a collage of images pulled from my contact list. Making the annoying photo parade a bit more tolerable.
Tapping the image in your search opens up the ability to flick through a user's entire photostream. This is the only time when landscape mode becomes activated, loading images over black for a manual slide show. I found that once the images are cached after the first viewing, return visits to that stream become fluid when flicking left or right. The app currently offers no ability to zoom in on images, which is a simple feature that needs to be added with the first update.
Overall Flickr has produced a slick, full featured app for iPhone fanatics who want instant connectivity to their epic online photo library. The Flickr community has a significant triumph to celebrate here in version 1.0 that delivers a stellar user experience without being plagued by tedious bugs or crashes. Flickr did it right the first time out, which made the official app totally worth waiting for.
Not very pretty....
Posted by: london | January 28, 2010 at 01:41 AM
I am so disappointed by the solid feature of iPhone.
Posted by: limousine | September 09, 2009 at 02:27 AM