I wish we could pay for speedy reviews.

I have heard this idea before and it makes a lot of sense to me.  I wish we could buy speedy reviews like we can buy tech support requests.  So for $50 we could get a review within 1 business day that includes 1 fast re-review if the app failed for some reason.

It seems like a win-win-win.  Apple covers the reviewer costs and probably makes a little profit at $50 a pop.  We get apps approved fast so our latest and greatest is out there and users get bug fixes and new features faster.

Camera Genius 1.8 submitted to Apple.

Well Camera Genius 1.8 has been submitted to Apple.  This update doesn’t include any new features.  However it does fix a crashing problem that some 3g iphone users were experiencing.

It turned out this bug involved several issues and was therefore very hard to track down and fix.  It required rewriting the most complicated parts of the code.  The good news is I believe the crashing problem should be fixed for all users.  The code is also faster and more robust.  You can now take three pictures in burst mode on the 3g and 1st gen iPhones.  You should also notice its speedier.

We have already been working on Camera Genius 2.0 and we have some big changes in store.  It is too early to go into detail on what we have planned.   I think the wait will be worth it.

Camera Genius 1.7 has been submitted for review to Apple.

Well 1.7 is now under review with apple.  Let’s hope for a smooth review and approval process.

The new version has a couple of new features as well as a few minor bug fixes.

Probably the biggest new feature is you can now use the volume buttons as a camera button.  So you now can use a physical button on the iPhone to take pictures. This feature was removed from this version at the request of Apple as it did not comply with the user interface guidelines we need to follow.  We have been working on improving the thumbnail rendering speed and were able to speed up the thumbnail routine a little when we resubmitted correcting the volume button problem.  So I guess that is a plus at least.

Also when you have the location timestamp selected you can now tap on the text and change it to whatever you want.  Great for adding captions to photos or when you want to identify a landmark rather than just the area.

You can also see videos in the review interface.

We do have some bad news.  One feature we really wanted to implement in this version was the ability to capture video.  Unfortunately we don’t have the necessary methods in the developer SDK to add this yet.  We submitted a request to apple for them to add the routine that will allow us to capture videos.  Hopefully at some point we can add it if the methods are added to the SDK.

Now we are off to work on version 1.8.

Camera Genius 1.6 Approved!

Well we are excited to announce camera genius 1.6 has just been approved by apple!

Here are the new features:

Burst Mode Shooting.  Take 3 shots in rapid succession. (2 shots for 3G and 1st gen iPhones.)

Timestamp and Location can be added to photos. (Available via settings. Saving will be a little slower when this is active since it has to write this information on the photo when saving it.)

Confirmed Saving now lets you decide what photos to keep and delete when you take them.  (Available via settings)

Share photos via email or through the clipboard.

Repeat timer allows you to capture multiple photos at intervals of 10, 15 and 30 second intervals.

Faster saving. Take your next photo faster than before.

This update is free if you already own camera genius.  We hope everyone enjoys it and are already hard at work on the 1.7 update.

Camera Genius 1.6 submitted to Apple.

Well we have submitted Camera Genius 1.6 to Apple for approval.  Hopefully the review process will go smoothly.  Current wait times are 2 weeks being reported by Apple, if we don’t hit any snags.

So I wanted to show a few of the new features.  Probably the biggest new feature is burst mode.  This allows you to take three shots in quick succession (2 shots with 3.0 iPhone OS) and decide which ones you want to keep.  We also added a new save confirmation mode which can be enabled in the settings menu. This allows you to confirm you want to keep or delete each shot as you take it. This will be very helpful for some since we don’t have any way yet to delete photos in the review photos area.  For these new features we also spent a lot of time working on our save routines.  So things should be more responsive and a bit quicker on the saves.

We also added a timestamp feature which can add the date and time onto each photo you take.  Also you can now share photos via email or copy them to the clipboard for use in other apps that support this.

There are a couple of more features we added but I don’t want to give everything away in the preview.  Now we can start working on Version 1.7.  We still have a lot more we want to add.

3.1 iPhone OS surprises (Faster Saving!)

Well as most of you know, iPhone OS 3.1 is out.  This is very good news as there are some great new fixes and features we can take advantage of.

One unexpected surprise it that saving is now much faster.  You will notice when taking a photo with camera genius it is ready for the next shot almost instantly.  It’s now even faster than the iPhone’s default camera for being ready for the next shot. (You can keep snapping additional photos while the saving icon is active.) Also I have been testing with the 3Gs and it seems if you only have one photo being saved when you exit the app it will continue saving in the background (with the 3G and 1st gen iPhone you must wait for the saving icon to go away before exiting, otherwise the picture may not save.)  If you take a bunch of photos in quick succession you will need to wait for the save icon in the upper left to go away before exiting.  But at least now you can take shots much quicker than before.

Apple has really been working on improving the API and it’s getting better. They do seem to be listening to developers requests.  Faster saving is the thing I personally wanted most as it makes Camera Genius so much more usable for those candid shots.

We have so many great features planned, we are currently hard at work on 1.6 of Camera Genius.

Camera Genius 1.5 Approved!

I am very pleased that Camera Genius 1.5 has been approved by Apple.  I must say that apple has really been on the ball lately doing a great job.  I also noticed some other apps (facebook) has had several updates recently very close together.

Let’s hope this becomes a trend!  It’s great for developers and users alike because it means we can get fixes and features out quicker to you our customers.

Anyway be sure to get the new version of camera genius.  It has a lot of bug fixes and a few new features.

• Tap to Focus for iPhone 3Gs camera.

• Added Chinese Translation

• Added Japanese Translation

• Small speed improvements when taking anti-shake photos.

• Music playback is enabled unless sound capture is turned on.

• Pictures taken in landscape mode are no longer distorted in review.

• Ability to pan and zoom around in photos in review. (Pinch and zoom and double tap to zoom in and out.)

• Photos in landscape mode are shown entirely initially.

• Menu now highlights what features are enabled at a given time.

• Center camera button icon now has button border.

• Added camera genius help to camera manual.

• New Guides User Interface to make selecting guides much easier.

Anyway we have already started work on 1.6.  It will mostly be new features I hope.  Thanks for everyone’s support.  We plan to keep working hard to make camera genius the best app in the itunes app store.

Website Redesign Completed.

Well just a quick post to let everyone know the website design has been updated. We also have a 90 second screencast which explains the features of camera genius. Check it out.