On August 8, 2008, we reviewed a collection of eight different Flickr applications for the iPhone and iPod touch in a roundup entitled iPhone Gems: Every Flickr Application, Reviewed. This review contains a review of one application from that roundup; additional comparative details can be found in the original full story.
Yahoo!‘s Flickr service is the top photo-sharing site online; its large userbase, friendly, clean interface, and open API have allowed it to grow to storing over 2 billion photos, and developers have created iPhone and iPod touch apps that work directly with the service. Note up front that all of the apps share two common limitations: iPhone OS 2.0 currently limits uploads of previously stored-in-iPhone or -iPod photographs to a maximum resolution of 640×480, with in-application camera functionality available as a workaround.
Additionally, in order to show a preview but maintain a full-resolution image, the preview image shown after taking a photo with an in-application camera is normally cropped in one manner or another. Again, all of the apps are affected by these limits; it’s only a question of whether the developers find smart ways around them.
MoPhoTo is a basic photo browser and slideshow viewer for Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, and MySpace. Once pointed at a Flickr username, it downloads the names of that user’s sets, letting you view each individually, but not all of one user’s photos at once.
Photos are presented thumbnail-style on a black background, and the individual photo screen offers a play/pause button for starting and stopping the slideshow, along with a download button to save the photo to your iPhone’s Camera Roll, and basic forward and backward navigation buttons.
Unfortunately, that’s it: there are no other browsing options, no uploading features, and no nearby features—the app simply shows photos, grouped into sets, from specific usernames. Unlike Fotomatic, MoPhoTo does not download the albums for offline viewing. MoPhoTo is free, and doesn’t claim to do more than it does, but its abilities are few in number, and with more complete applications such as Klick available for free, it falls short of even our limited recommendation.
Our Rating
Company and Price
Company: Flektor
Website: www.Flektor.com
Title: MoPhoTo
Price: Free
Compatible: iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone 3G
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