New iPhone Photo App: BeFunky FX
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 4:03PM | Glyn Evans 
Description from the AppStore: Your iPhone is about to get a lot more funky. BeFunky, the popular online digital effects website that’s been used to create millions of cool artwork, is now on your iPhone. Get creative on the go with the following digital effects that will turn your ordinary photos into extraordinary masterpieces – all with just one tap:
- Cartoonizer – Turn you and your friends into cartoons.
- Charcoal – Create an artistic charcoal sketch of your photos.
- Inkify – Turn your photos into ink drawings without getting your iPhone messy.
- Pop Art – Unleash your inner Warhol. Create an avant-garde art of your photos.
- Grunge – Give a grunge look and feel to your photos.
- Old photo – Go retro by giving your photos an old-school look and feel.
- Oil painting – Create a high-end oil painting without paying an expensive artist.
- Patriotic – Ask not your photos can do for you. Ask what you can do for your photos.
- Motion Color – Turn still photos into fast-action snapshots.
- Pinhole – Give your photos a primitive look and feel.
- Lomo Art – Get the cool blurriness, rich saturation and overall funkiness you want instantly.
With BeFunky for iPhone, you can manipulate photos from your existing library or take a new shot using the iPhone’s camera. The BeFunky iPhone App will take care of processing everything, just like our web-based software.
AppStore Link: BeFunky FX - Price £1.19/$1.99
Editors comments: BeFunky, more like be aware, as this app saves at a pathetic 337x450 pixels!! which is a real shame as it can produce some really nice results, as the 2 photos below show.
Above: The photo on the left is using one of the Grunge effects, whilst the photo on the right is from Pop ArtThe app itself is extremely easy to use, allowing you yo take or select a photo. The menu system is straight forward, just select one of the 11 categories, and then 1 of the effects with in that category and then save or share via Email, Flickr, Facebook or Twitter.
So what do I think of BeFunky FX?
Well the app is easy to use and has a nice range of effects, but is badly let down by its 337x450 file size, and is well over priced at £1.19/$1.99 (in fact I feel ripped off), and so for me only scores 1 star. If it hadn't been for this appalling file size, then this app would have a 3 star app, so if the developers of BeFunky FX are reading this, then come on guys get this size thing sorted.
Also Marty over at Life in LoFi has posted his thoughts on this app, and you can read what he thinks of it here.
Glyn Evans
UPDATE: No sooner had I hit publish, when I got confirmation from SCW (who many of you will know) that the size issue was being addressed by the developers, and that an update should be heading its way to the AppStore any day soon.
Reader Comments (16)
"I felt ripped off" is exactly how I felt with this app.
=M=
When they update to full res, then I will purchase it. These developers need to get off this low-res crap.
Hi,
This is Baris from BeFunky. The updated release is on the way. We need to wait a couple of days until we get it approved. It will output images at 1000x1000 pixels max.
We love constructive feedback. The readers of this blog, please let us know if you have any feedback.
I like the look of the results (can the colours be altered? or are they set?)
Will certainly purchase when size is fixed
@ Baris
Quote: It will output images at 1000x1000 pixels max.
NO WAY !!! That is still UNACCEPTABLE! 1000x1000 is NOT full resolution. I have a 3GS & 1536x2048 is FULL RES.
If you do not know how to implement full resolution saves into your apps code correctly... Let me know here & well via Twitter & I will send you the info.
BUT... I will not accept this 1000x1000 as even being an update. Either way I feel ripped off so I HIGHLY suggest you pull that update until you actually know how to implement full resolution saves or I will continue to bash this app publicly.
Thanks @thescw
Long live the full resolution revolution!!! LOL.
1000x1000 is unacceptable. I will not buy this phone until FULL resolution saving is implemented.
I am starting to feel like for the most part this lack of full resolution is laziness on the developers part. They would rather put their product out sooner rather then make sure that all of the issues are fixed with it or to make sure they offer full resolution and all the features they should. Since you can push out an update at anytime they tend treat the apps the same way a game developer treats a massive multilayer online game. just release it to the public with bugs and features missing and update it later once you start getting the revenue from what you have already released. Oh well.
Hi,
The reason for limiting the output resolution is not technical. We think that 1000 px is more than enough to use on your mobile device and share it on the supported social networks. Well, if you liked the application, want to use it for your serious photography hobby or professionally, you can use befunky.com on your computer instead. Please note that an annual subscription to BeFunky Premium is $49.99 and the iPhone app is $1.99 for a lifetime.
@Baris. I could not disagree more. All iPhoneographers want and expect to be able to get the best results they can from their iPhone, and this is achieved through the use of many apps, The comment you have just made leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as I now feel completely ripped off having wasted money on an app that I will be deleting from my iPhone. To admit that the output size thing is not a technical issue (we all know this anyway), but instead believe you can provide a substandard app (in terms or resolution) and then use it to promote an online service that costs $50 per year in my opinion is outrageous, and as such I am publicly requesting that you rethink this, and give us what we want and expect, and that is FULL-RES.
@Baris. I forgot to point out that whilst you can upload to Facebook using BeFunky FX, you can not use Facebook's iPhone app, as the files appear to save as .PNG files, which the Facebook app does not support for uploading.
Glyn, the iPhone app is not for promoting the web app. It's also a paid application, but a lot cheaper with limited features compared to the web app (such as the output resolution and the number of effects). Please be reasonable when blaming people and companies.
We are working hard on "image processing" and glad that you liked the effects.
About the .png issue, I'll check what we can do about something that the Facebook app does not support. It may not be a priority issue for us now but surely we'll review your feedback.
Thanks.
@Baris
You have just proven to all of us how stupid & utterly ridiculous you are with your statements!
Contact me immediately & refund me NOW!
I'm not waiting for your lack of knowledge & pissing around telling "US" what size resolution is acceptable on our devices that support a considerable higher full resolution.
UNTIL "BeFunky FX" FIXES THEIR RIDICULOUS VIEWS & SUPPORTS "True" FULL RESOLUTION I SUGGEST NO ONE EVER WASTES THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY ON THESE FOOLS!
SCW
Oops, sorry guys (readers). I was taking this thread seriously and I tried to answer some questions but that last comment, telling that we are stupid, etc... I'm leaving it up to you.
Okay, so name calling is not cool, but you have to know that when you insult someone's intelligence they're going to react by getting a little ticked off. And I'm going to agree with the guys when I say that as an iPhone owner, I expect any app that I purchase for use to be able to fully utilize the capabilities of my phone. By saying that you are only going to bring the resolution up to 1000x1000 because that is adequate for our purposes, you are effectively telling all of your paying customers that what they want does not matter to you. So, now I also feel gypped by your app since it does not meet my expectations. If I wanted to use your website then I would, but I choose to use my phone because I enjoy the experience. Your app will not continue to take up my phone space until this complaint is remedied. Thank you.
Tania, we always listen to our users. That's why I'm here, trying to discuss the size issue. Thank you for your feedback.