Comments on: Snapture Is In the App Store Now

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:31:11 +0000

Geotagging does not seem to work with Snapture.

By: Disgusted

Disgusted — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:07:51 +0000

“Patent-pending picture-in-picture ‘technology’”? You disgust me. The USPTO is messed-up enough, but people like this who abuse it are even worse. My TV set from 20 years ago had PIP. I don’t care if it’s on a cell phone, or a handheld device, or isn’t related to TV; that’s not the point. The “technology” is not technology at all; the technology is in the iPhone and its software, which is also not new. Originality is a myth. Just implementing a “feature” in software doesn’t make something worthy of a patent. I will never support such blatant abuse of the system, and such selfishness as to try to stop other people from putting similar functionality in their software. i’ll never support authors of software who try to perpetrate such selfish abuses. I only wish other people would also take similar stands against such behavior.

Long live free software, open-source software, and the spirit of sharing freely. Let us all hope the idea of owning ideas comes to an end soon.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:41:45 +0000

I definitely agree that Apple needs to allow for some sort of trailing of apps.

By: Mojo

Mojo — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:37:06 +0000

Also remember tapping the screen on the 3gs does more than autofocus, it sets exposure. If this app locks out that functionality it would severely downgrade the basic camera on newer iPhones.

Paid apps really need to offer at least 24 hour trials. I've been burned too many times only finding out after I've paid that an app doesn't do what I want or just sucks.

Can someone PLEASE release a camera app that gives us manual control of exposure, shutter speed, etc? So many apps but none that give us control of the most important things!

By: patrickj

patrickj — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:30:09 +0000

Oh – good question that is.

By: FrankCatalano

FrankCatalano — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:17:38 +0000

Thank you Patrick for looking into this, I am very curious to hear what else they have to say…. Like you I don't by that there is some auto focus already in this app. The app is great but the auto focus really does help out a lot. If they do fix that problem this app would be 5 stars!!!

By: Rxmxsh

Rxmxsh — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:10:19 +0000

I wonder if Apple doesn't allow it since the 3G doesn't have this feature?

By: patrickj

patrickj — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:08:12 +0000

I have been asking a lot about this. The devs have said a few things – one is that there is some 'auto auto focus' already in the app, which I don't feel very convinced about. They are also saying that they are looking at this very closely and will have more news on this very soon, maybe as soon as tomorrow.

By: teejayhanton

teejayhanton — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:00:39 +0000

Nope, no luck. Still doesn't work … although my version seems to be v2.2. I can't find it in Cydia anymore either, and can't find an IPA that isn't cracked for v3.0. Too bad too. Thanks for the suggestion though!

By: patrickj

patrickj — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:08:07 +0000

I don't ever pay close enough attention to that info to know how this set of info stacks up – but this is what I see for a Snapture shot uploaded to Flickr via the iPhone:
Camera: Apple iPhone
Aperture: f/2.8

File Size: 24 kB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 320
Image Height: 480
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
X-Resolution: 1
Y-Resolution: 1
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Color Space: sRGB

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:25:09 +0000

Does Snapture embed geotagging information in the photos it takes? I have lots of 3rd party camera apps, but none of them can do this.

By: Frank Catalano

Frank Catalano — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:15:03 +0000

I totally agree with ur post post Rxmxsh. I love the app but I am missing the auto focus feature. I am curious to hear the feedback Patrick gets from the developers. Otherwise it is great. I just love that stack feature.

By: Rxmxsh

Rxmxsh — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:09:20 +0000

I like the app a lot. The only thing I'd change is the auto-focus feature that Apple added on the 3GS. I like to be able to tap to focus and find that I use that feature quite a bit. I think I saw that you (Patrick) had asked the devs about that. I'm curious as to what they say.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:59:59 +0000

My *Jailbroken* version of Snapture doesn't work in 3.1 either.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:39:57 +0000

Hope it resolves it for you.

By: teejayhanton

teejayhanton — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:36:08 +0000

I'll have to do that … I get nothing but a black screen.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:30:05 +0000

My understanding is that if they were to do anything further with the app on Cydia, they risk losing their approved developer status. I can understand that not being worth the risk – and believe most developers do the same once they go the App Store route. Also, to be fair, I think all of us who have purchase jailbreak apps (including me) have known that there were greater risks associated with buying those.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:28:04 +0000

It works fine on 3.1 for me so far. Maybe try a reinstall?

By: teejayhanton

teejayhanton — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:20:10 +0000

I received a DM on twitter from them … but they asked not to share the details. Still not valuable to me though, as the "deal" only applies if I purchased Snapture in the last two months. Too bad I purchase two copies over a year ago (my iPhone and my wife's) … and what's worse, it doesn't work in 3.1! All I get is a black screen.

So NOT happy with Snapture right now.

By: Raymond

Raymond — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:27:48 +0000

Knew this would happen. We already paid EUR. 7.99 for it. Now another 1.99 ? LMAO ! Atleast they could upload the same functional app to Cydia !!!! Its as easy as that. Else, it will be in Appulous in 4….3…2…1…

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:20:45 +0000

Thanks very much for this, Patrick. They have been pretty good to their user base so far, so I have hope. We shall see what happens. I think at this point what will bother me most is if I wait to see what they do for us and miss out on the low promotional price point. I really don't feel the minor changes between this and the JB version are worth paying even 2 bucks for when I've already paid, though. Guess I'll see how much I end up missing the app before we get a response.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:01:50 +0000

Brian / All – an initial response from Snapture Labs on the question of where do owners of the jailbreak app stand:
—————————————————————————————————————————
We are nothing without our loyal customers, so we want to do what's right for them. There has been 8 updates and thousands of license transfers in the past year and half, all free of charge. Unfortunately AppStore is out of our control. Apple has only given us 50 coupons for the press, that won't suffice for our jailbreak customers even if we wanted to give it to them.

But rest assured that we're going to do what we can to help our loyal customer, we'll think of something. The team is working on figuring out how we can help our old customers. We will let you know soon.
—————————————————————————————————————————
That is the 'official message' from their CEO. He has also emailed me and put me in touch with one of their VPs who will follow up with me about jailbreak users.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:13:02 +0000

Absolutely. Will do that now. I have a feeling their options are very limited in this respect – but we'll see.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:09:50 +0000

Patrick, if you have an inside line to the devs it would be nice to hear their stance on how they're going to handle their old jailbreak customers. Some of us paid a pretty penny for this already and would like to know if that money is now thrown down the toilet since the build we paid for has been yanked from Cydia and they're now legit in the App Store. I e-mailed them, but haven't heard anything back and don't expect to. If they don't want to provide the people who had previously supported them with a promo code or something, it would be nice if they at least give us access to the older build that we paid for.

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:46:59 +0000

Glad to hear you're liking it. I'm not sure on the auto-focus – have asked the devs, as several people have mentioned this.