Are the tools iOS 8’s Photo App really that smart?

The iOS 8 Photo app has been updated with smart composition and edit tool as well as tighter integration with iCloud. The composition and edit tools are not new or ground breaking. Though the implementation of the tool is a pretty awesome but if you’re thinking that you’re going to be wowed by the upgrades. Sorry to burst your bubble, you’re not going to be.

Now as I was writing the script for this video, I realized that I got a little “ragey” when I thought about Apple naming these new tools “Smart”. I’ll elaborate in a bit in the video so check it out!

[toggle title=”Watch the preview on YouTube”][/toggle]

The differences in the Camera App seem minor when compared to iOS 8’s Photo App. Right off the bat, I noticed that the top bar is completely gone so I guess you’re going to lose track of time when your editing your photos.

The buttons have all been shifted around and the whole layout seems a bit off. The top left corner seems a little lonely without the Cancel option in iOS 8. Before we get to the Smart Composition and Smart Edit tools, I’ll note that the filters haven’t been changed. They’re exactly the same THOUGH in iOS 8, developers will be able to add other filters in through PHotoKit.

Your Smart Composition tools can be found by pressing the crop icon and there’s three options. You can rotate your picture by 90 degrees(which was found in iOS 7), you can rotate it +/- 45 degrees using the slide compass. The little icon on the right allows you to select a very specific cropping size.

I am a little impressed with the Smart Edit tools as Apple, being pretty awesome at designing things, has essentially given us two addition levels of photo editing. The first level as the auto-enhance, the second being able to adjust, in a general sense, the light and the colour the application of the slider with mini-thumbails is a great way to view how the settings will effect the image. I’m pretty impressed with that.

If that wasn’t enough for you, you can get into the itty gritty for the light settings by expanding light and color and using the sliders for each specific setting.For me personally, I’m probably going to be using the adjustments in the light options (specifically the highlights and shadows).

So, what do you guys think? Is there one feature in a 3rd party photo app that you’d like to have seen in the iOS 8’s Photo app?

Now in my opinion, this update to iOS 8s photo app isn’t ground-breaking, it’s not going to blow away any sort of competition, it just makes a decent app better. If you want to know what I think which parts of iOS 8 is game-changing, check out the overview video I’ve done here: http://youtu.be/HalPFqMpAH4