Janak Parekh

robert_biggs

Menneisyys

Explicit SE support is certainly good news; however, the previous version (1.70) already worked in forced VGA mode quite good. My mini review of the program:

Not really meant for photo viewing (it's the task of another app of the same firm, Aidem Photo Explorer, which will be discussed shortly) � e.g., no dedicated slideshow mode etc., but great as an image editor for small(er) images.

Pros:
- has no problems opening large images (downscales them)
- is able to create new images; max. size around 3-4 Mpixel.
- dithering, unlike most programs
- send via E-mail and IrDA
- tons of filters (Blur / Sharpen / Average / Despeckle / Diffuse / Emboss / Find Edge / Mosaic / Trace Countour / Cool Color / Warm Color)
- good adjustments (Brightness / Contrast / Hue / Saturation / Gamma)
- basic, common generic functions (flip / rotate, even with any degree, not just multipliers of 90), Rescale, Invert, Gray, Color Level.
- tons of editing capabilities (e.g., Gradient Tool; Water / Oil / Wax/ Carbon / Mick / Color Pen, Chalk etc.)
Cons:
- only saves large images downscaled with the factor of 3.5

Incidentally, the firm has also just come out with their other, digicam/slideshow-user-oriented app as well, Aidem Photo Explorer 2.0 ( http://www.aidem.com.tw/English/en_photoexplorer.htm ), which is also worth checking out. A quick review:

14 Mpixel thumbnail reading speed: 4:18 (average). Loaded the 6.6 Mbyte, 14 Mpixel image in 3-4 secs (very good, if not the best!).

Pros:
- excellent shrinking quality, unlike with most other apps
- excellent speed
- annotations are stored in the original image directory in the standardized format, unlike with most other apps
- 18 transition effects
- slideshow is able to synchronize with sound files, to wait for their end, unlike with most other apps
- integration with Aidem Pocket Painter to do the non-viewing (that is, editing) stuff. Editing done in Aidem Pocket Painter, however, don't see at once in Photo Explorer � the image must be saved from Pocket Painter and reloaded into Pocket Explorer.
Cons:
- problems in GIF slideshow with some (e.g., the Zoom) transition effects: only displays them in the left upper quarter screen; the other screen areas are filled with static
- no quick delete. (Not a serious problem � you'll hardly display GIF slideshows. JPG slideshows aren't affected by this bug.)
- even a bit of zooming results in pixelizated images (a tradeoff of very fast JPG decoding / loading)
- while rendering the thumbnails, it's totally unable to open any images � in this respect, it's even worse than XnView. Fortunately, it only renders a page of thumbnails: after rendering them, it again responds.
- no EXIF support

Verdict: not bad, especially if you use it together with Aidem Pocket Painter. Then, it becomes a very good, albeit a bit expensive tool.

Highl1

Menneisyys

Only Spb Imageer is able to upload directly to the Web, and only Pocket Phojo (which may be a "bit" expensive) contain a built-in FTP client. However, you can always use an external FTP client to optimize bandwidth usage. Furthermore, almost all image viewer programs contain emailing capabilities. Of course, it shoudl be stressed that seding e-mails with binary contents are always about 30% more bandwidth-consuming than via FTP/HTTP, so you may want to prefer HTTP/FTP upload.

Check out http://menneisyys.freeweb.hu/PICVIEWERS/ for more info on this (and any other, regarding image viewers) subject.