The number of apps in the Windows Store is surging, and finally there are some impressive photo editing tools showing up. Metro interface can be especially helpfully in some quick and easy image editing due to cleaner controls when compared to traditional Windows apps.
PhotoFunia?? Sounds familiar?
Well you probably might have, because PhotoFunia has apps for every possible mobile platform (including the now defunct Palm OS). PhotoFunia is now available on the Windows 8 Store and hell, it clearly takes advantage of the metro *cough* Modern UI to provide a clean, mean way to apply some really snazzy effects to your favorite photos.
Features of PhotoFunia for Windows 8
- Literally packed with hundreds of effects
- Insanely light Weight at 721 Kb download size
- Completely online, cloud based image processing
- Slick Design, easy to use
- Best of all, it is free
The App
PhotoFunia impresses you right off the bat with its sleek design which clearly benefits from the clean metro design unlike the mobile apps. Thumbnails for effects instead of weird names makes choosing an appropriate one a straightforward affair.
The collection of effects, filters and frame is downright huge. The range will surely impress anyone. Though agreeably (very) few effects do look lame. However the coolest part though, is that new effects are added very frequently which is a big bonus considering the app is free.
Applying effects is a simple affair, though more customization would have been welcome. Some effects though, do support limited customizations. If you are fond of a particular effect (which you will be likely) you can mark it as a favorite or even pin it to your start screen.
Some basic image adjustments like Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Rotate etc would have been very welcome though. Something which almost every image editing app boasts of these days. The processing speed of the app is extremely impressive, considering that all of it is done on the cloud. There is a catch though, not all effects support high resolution output, which is might not be a major issue for users as mostly the images would be used to share on social media.
Once you are done with playing with your image, there is barely anything you can do in PhotoFunia apart from saving it. Oh you can share it, but only to limited apps. Support for more apps in Share would be more than welcome.
Performance
I tested the app on a ExoPC Tablet totting Windows 8 which runs on a pretty weak dual core Atom Processor, as well as my main Windows 8 HP laptop with Core i3 Processor, and the app was considerably slow on the former, though it was snappy on the Core i3 powered laptop. Still, PhotoFunia could benefit from some optimization in performance.
The Negatives?
The app just feels a little unpolished and there is definitely scope for some improvements. As mentioned before could benefit from some speedups in navigation. It had slightly lesser effects (around 30 less) compared to the Android counterpart which is well, weird. More customizations while applying effects and some basic image adjustments are features which I highly anticipate in future updates.
Summing It Up
At 721 Kb, PhotoFunia is a ridiculously small download despite the fact that the effects are applied from the cloud. You just don’t need to give a second thought about installing it. Future updates will hopefully take care of the little issues mentioned above. A real no-brainer deal.
Download: PhotoFunia for Windows 8 [721 Kb]
