Quick Review: iPhoto for iOS

Something is missing

At the beginning I was excited. But then, I realized it's just another photo editing & publishing app from Apple. Nothing more. Despite the cool effects feature, something is missing: the direct integration with iPhoto desktop library.

Let me share our story before we talk about iPhoto for iOS.
Here's the daily basis scenario using photos with our iPhone.

1. Take photos.
2. Retouch, effects etc then upload to Instagram etc.
3. After 1000 photos, import all to iPhoto for Mac as the main master database of our photo library. Then delete all the 1000 photos in the iPhone so we'll get new fresh room for another new photos.
4. Organize the photos in the iPhoto. Keyword, date, album, location, face, etc. And sometimes upload them to Flickr or else.

This is how we organize the ocean of our photos. Archived. Organized. 

But sometimes, we want to take the pictures from the archive - the iPhoto Library database - to our mobile device, iPhone or iPad. There are options we always take:

1. Create a specific album in iPhoto for Mac.
2. Open iTunes, sync that album to iPhone/iPad.
3. Open that album on iPhone/iPad & select photo.

or..

1. Launch PhotoSync app on desktop.
2. Drag the photo from iPhoto Library to the PhotoSync app
3. Launch PhotoSync app on iPhone/iPad.
4. Receive the photo.

Then last night, Apple announced that they have iPhoto for iOS. I was like.. THIS IS IT! FINALLY! The real iPhoto integration between Mac & iPhone! Seamlessly, wirelessly, iTunes-less integration! iPhoto desktop has iPhoto mobile agent!

I was wrong.

As I wrote before, apparently it's just another photo editing & publishing app from Apple.

The distance between iPhoto for Mac to iPhoto for iOS

Another mobile photo retouching app

I have Camera+, SnapSeed, PhotoForge2, 100Cameras, Plastic Bullet for tweaking the photos. They are all awesome. Do we need another photo editing app? It depends.

For me, the effects feature is fantastic, though a bit slow & sluggish on iPhone 4.





Edits in hi-res. Retrieve back the original photos. Save directly in Camera Roll Library or Albums.
But definitely, it's not a replacement for my SnapSeed & Camera+.


Journals


We had .mac photo library in the early 2000s. Then MobileMe Gallery. Now, iCloud Journals. Another  online gallery from Apple but lack of many online features such as reshare or URL link for each photos just like MobileMe or .mac had.



Select photos from library & put them in Journals album. Put the photos with widgets: map, notes, weather, header as additional elements. What you edit here, sync directly to iCloud. Delete one journal in iPhone, deleted also on the iCloud. Keep in mind, by default, free iCloud only has 5GB space.

This is how it looks in the iCloud. Neat eh?





You can check my Journals here.

If you're an ex MobileMe user, this Journals is too basic compare to MobileMe Gallery. Remember how it looks & the features?





You can reshare, reupload, edit & sync directly from iPhoto for Mac. Maybe Apple have hidden plans for adding similar features on Journals in the future? We'll see.


Is it a must have app?


Again (and again) it's just another photo editing app. I was expect more, like the integration with iPhoto desktop. Journals feature, is what makes this app different with other photo editing apps. If you have an iCloud account, Journals is one good feature to add. Though it's not mature yet.

iLife '08 : iPhoto

Ngga sabar nunggu iLife '08 dijual di Apple store Kuwait, akhirnya terpaksa download secara underground versi petani-nya. Kebelet jajal 2 iApps yang jadi unggulan yaitu iPhoto & iWeb! 

Untuk iPhoto-nya, gue ingin icip-icip feature keyword-nya yang katanya lebih mudah dan advance. Versi iPhoto sebelumnya, untuk organize keyword agak ribet dan merepotkan buat gue. 2 plug-in third party jadi andalan, seperti Keyword Assistant (http://homepage.mac.com/kenferry/software.html) atau Keyword Manager (http://www.bullstorm.se/KeywordManager.php) dengan interface-nya yang user-friendly.

Saat pertama kali buka, iPhoto memerintahkan kita untuk upgrade iPhoto Library. Setelah proses upgrade selesai dan masuk ke dalam iPhoto, gue agak bingung dengan setup keyword-nya. Yang biasanya nongkrong di preferences, kok sekarang tidak ada. Begitu pula saat Get Info (command-I) dari sebuah foto, biasanya di sebelah kiri sidebar muncul panel keyword, di iPhoto '08 juga absen. 

(click to enlarge)

Ternyata, setup keyword dipindahkan dari preferences ke menu bar "Window". Setelah window keyword terbuka, di dalamnya terdapat 2 panel (Quick Group & Keywords) dan tombol "Edit Keywords" untuk menambah mengurangi keyword yang kita butuhkan. Cool! 

Dan feature pencarian foto dengan keyword tersedia di bawah tool-bar, lengkap dengan pencarian tanggal, rating, title dan description. Woohoooo!!

Walau begitu, terdapat beberapa kesalahan keyword dari foto-foto yang diupgrade dari versi sebelumnya. Sehingga gue harus re-entry keyword untuk beberapa foto yang keywordnya salah.

Akhirnya semua harapan gue tentang well-organized keyword tercapai sudah! Ada shortcut assignment & quick keyword editing dalam satu panel. Soooo much easier!

Selain enhancement feature keyword, ada beberapa feature baru dari iPhoto '08 ini, seperti Event, yang memudahkan kita untuk organize koleksi foto kita berdasarkan event tertentu seperti kawinan, sunatan, 17 Agustus-an etc. Selain itu juga ada feature Compare, Crop dan Highlight Shadow, seperti layaknya editing foto di Aperture.

Penyempurnaan keyword di iPhoto versi ini sudah cukup bagi gue. Jika tiba saatnya iLife '08 tersedia di Kuwait, it's a must-buy item next month! Dengan US$ 79, produk Apple ini layak dimiliki original copy-nya :D