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You are here: Home / 2015 / Archives for February 2015

Archives for February 2015

Perfectly Clear App for Android Review

02/22/2015 By Hakan Can

Perfectly Clear 4.0 Catchlight Feature

Perfectly Clear 4.0–A photo app worth using

It seems like every day of the week, a new app is introduced to the public. And if it’s not new, then it’s an updated one.  Most apps just live for a moment.  Their effect or output lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. Such is the life of a tweet or a Facebook post.  Then there are those like Athentech’s Perfectly Clear app 4.0 for Android (and iPhone/iPad) whose output can last a lifetime or beyond.  What makes the Perfectly Clear app different from the pack is its ability to take a photograph and modify it to the users liking.  And it does so in such a way that you’ve probably never seen before, that is effortlessly and on the fly.  Don’t believe me? Then feel free to visit the Athentech website and witness the app for yourself.  Better yet, go to the Amazon App Store, Google Play, or iTunes and download the app.  You’ll soon see why this app, whose output lasts a lifetime or beyond, is well worth the $2.99 price.

How to use the app

Now this is simple: take a photo or use one already in your mobile device.  I focused on a photo taken with a staff member of Gold Lounge within the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas during CES2015.  The setting within the lounge was dark with all manners of dimmed lighting around us.  Now, rather than getting ahead of myself and describing the results of this edited photo, let me first talk about the inner workings of PC 4.0. We’ll get back to my story shortly.

For your purposes, let’s say your starting point is with an image. On this screen image, by my count you’ve got five icons to choose from. In the upper left, there’s a menu icon.  Within this menu, you can access your “Camera, Folders, Settings, Help, or Quick Start.”  The camera setting is where you take your photos.  Here, your mobile device’s camera becomes more like a DSLR.  It can be set to “Normal, Portrait, HDR, Panorama, Burst, or Timer” in either the front or rear camera.  It can also be adjusted for exposure, flash, focus, and the rule of thirds, among others.  All you DSLR users will find this most handy.  Within the settings feature, there are all sorts of camera, correction and sharing settings.  There’s also a link to offer feedback on the app.  The quick start feature shows you how to capture, correct, and share your output.  The help feature takes you to the Athentech website, which by the way is only accessible via mobile.  I was not able to access this URL from a desktop.  This help feature is lengthy and full of descriptive language and graphics.  These settings, help, and quick start features are worth investigating and becoming familiar with.

In the lower left, this icon displays image details, a cropping feature, rotation features, and the ability to delete the image.  In the upper right there’s icon that takes you to a page where you can share your image or share to app.  The lists of apps one can share to is based on what’s in one’s mobile device.

Perfectly Clear App 4.0 Auto Fix

PC 4.0 Auto Fix

The icons at the lower right are where the fun, the most action is at.  Here you’ll see a magic “Fix” brush and a pencil.  Tap the brush and you see “Perfectly Clear at work…”  This is where the on-the-fly photo editing occurs.  By moving your finger left and right across the sliding editor, you’ll see the “original” and “better” imagery simultaneously.  If you like the “better” image, save it.  If you don’t like it, tap the pencil.  This yields more correction features like “Fix Dark”, “Fix Tint, “Beautify”, and “Adjust.”  Tap “Adjust” and you’ll find 17 additional corrective features, for a total of 20.  These features are “Exposure, Depth, Vibrancy, Sharpen, Tint, Noise, Skin Tone, Perfectly Smooth, Blemish Removal, Shine Removal, Face Slimming, Teeth Whitening, Red Eye Removal, Eye Enhance, Eye Enlarge, Dark Circle Removal, and Catchlight”  Most of these 17 corrective features have sliding scales for adjustment.  My personal favorites are blemish, shine, and dark circle removal.  After a long day at CES, I think everyone needs some shine and dark circle removal.  For you teens and younger adults, do you want to be reminded of the acne you once had?  (A rhetorical question.)  My least favorites are face slimming and eye enlarge.  The physical shape of my eyes and face are what they are, and I don’t want them adjusted.  And as much as I enjoy Japanese Anime, I don’t want to become part of it.  So you choose what corrective feature you wish to implement, and go from there.  It’s that easy.

Now getting back to my story.  Just by using half of the corrective features provided by PC 4.0, I was able to transform the photo to my liking.  A little added exposure here, a little shine removal there and voilà, a photo to remember.

Android 5.0 Lollipop

Perfectly Clear App Android GUI

PC 4.0 Android GUI

If you’re using Lollipop, then terrific, you have additional features.  Per the folks at Athentech, you now have “full-resolution high speed burst, full-resolution panorama (Nexus 6 & 9), HDR shots of fast-moving subjects, full white balance control, and more.”  So don’t hesitate, upgrade to Lollipop and enjoy PC 4.0 even more.

Competition

The Perfectly Clear app does have some competition in the photo beautification space. I came across three such competitors in Google Play alone. The closest to Perfectly Clear 4.0 is one called PicBeauty from Active Beans.  While this app has over twice the downloads of PC 4.0, I believe this is solely attributed to it being a free product, nothing more.  In this instance, free doesn’t equate to good.  I downloaded PicBeauty to my LG mobile for comparison purposes.  I found it to be inferior to PC 4.0 in so many way that it’s too lengthy to list.  The biggest disadvantage is no on-the-fly image modifications, followed by a weak user interface and a short list of features. Plus it crashed on me.  The avatar is unappealing and needs replacement, and then there are the advertisements. Oh…how I dislike ads.

The two remaining apps are YouCam Perfect – Selfie Cam by Cyberlink and Perfect365: One-Tap Makeover by ArcSoft.  These apps have been downloaded well in the 7 & 8-figures, respectively, thus they’re well established products.  In addition to being free (initially), they too lack the on-the-fly image modification.  I say initially because these two apps have in-app products for sale starting at $0.99 per item.  But this is where the comparisons end.  They are actually decent apps but differ from PC 4.0 in many ways.  These two apps remind me more of Photoshop or Pixlr than PC 4.0.  They’re not only photo editing apps, they’re virtual makeup editing apps.  They are more complex than PC 4.0 thus requiring more time doing what you need to do.  Plus, the high majority of us men don’t need a makeup editor.

Conclusion

This photo editor is not only terrific, but it’s also effortless and fun to use.  For those you question the cost, my suggestion is don’t.  You won’t regret this purchase.

Check out their video “Perfection just went mobile.”

All photos and video are the courtesy and property of Athentech.

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On February 10, Perfectly Clear 4.0 was updated to version 4.06 for stability improvements.  It is now in version 4.07.

Filed Under: Apps Tagged With: Android, App, Athentech, iPad, iPhone, Perfectly Clear 04/30/2015

Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock Game Review

02/17/2015 By Hakan Can

Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock

Available today, February 17th from Phoenix Online Publishing and Red Herring Labs comes Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock.

Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock is a single player graphical adventure game similar to Myst, released back in 1993.  Nowadays, there aren’t too many games released in this genre. In Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock, there’s no animation to speak of, just static graphics that change when you manipulate or use objects from your inventory.  All the screens are static, meaning there’s no 3D engine at work, and no character to move around your screen, such as the age-old Kings Quest series released back in 1984-1998.  But it shares similar qualities of manipulating objects you find to achieve your goals thus moving further in the game.

Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock is a fairly straightforward adventure and puzzle solving game where you find, join, and use objects to repair your crashed spaceship. Some puzzles are straight forward while a couple others had me perplexed for a while. The game does have a built-in hint system for when you get stuck.

This games user interface (UI) gives you visual indicators on which objects you can click on or interact with once you move the cursor over them.  This way you’re not constantly searching around for these objects, as in other games. The inventory UI works well and it’s fairly straight-forward on how to combine items you find, as you can’t succeed without doing this.

Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock is a short game, which you can complete in several hours, depending if you get stuck or not. The games sound effects are nice and atmospheric, but the voice-acting is stale and robotic. The price point of this game makes sense for the length of time you’ll spend playing it. I found the graphics to be average. I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse, but since they are pre-rendered, they definitely could have used more detail and polish.

Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock is decent enough for those who like the genre and enjoy similar games, but may not appeal to today’s gamers looking for fast 1st person action, or fully animated 3D environments.

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All photos are the courtesy and property of POStudios.

Watch the trailer here: http://youtu.be/Hm9NPnkKClo

Per the Phoenix Online Publishing press release: “Crash-landed on a desolate, alien planet, what should have been a routine work-for-hire job for Powell has become a deadly mission to save the merchant vessel Morningstar and her crew. With one man dead and the captain gravely injured, Powell is on his own to repair the ship and find a way to escape the strange gravity well of the empty planet they’ve landed on. If the situation weren’t dire enough, the only signs of life on the planet are the remains of a much larger and better equipped ship and her crew, all dead, and not by natural means. What—or who—brought down these ships and is killing their crews? Why? And can Powell find a way off-planet before he shares the same fate?”

Key Features Include the following:

  • Experience an immersive sci-fi adventure, packed with gorgeous HD graphics, brand-new puzzles and scenes, and an all-new, streamlined interface.
  • Newly re-mastered cinematics display the haunting landscapes in beautiful high definition.
  • Uncover the mystery of Deadrock through new and optimized puzzles and an extended storyline.
  • The alien planet of Deadrock comes alive with full voice acting and engrossing sound effects.
  • Includes an atmospheric remastered soundtrack with over 30 minutes of original music.

“Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock will be available for PC and Mac for $9.99 via Steam, the Humble Store, the Phoenix Online Store and other major online retailers.”

Filed Under: Game Reviews Tagged With: Gaming, Morningstar, Phoenix Online 02/25/2015

Birdman from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

02/03/2015 By Hakan Can

Birdman

Available today on Digital HD and February 17 on Blu-ray and DVD comes Birdman.

Per the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment press release: “Directed, written and produced by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman tells the story of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), (Batman, Robocop, Need For Speed) – famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself. The film has enamored critics and audiences alike with its technical achievements using a single shot concept and captivating performances from an all-star ensemble cast, which include Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover, Due Date, Dinner for Schmucks), Edward Norton (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Primal Fear, American History X), Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion, Shadow Dancer), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, Win Win), Emma Stone (The Help; Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Amazing Spiderman franchise) Naomi Watts (St. Vincent, The Impossible, King Kong) as well as breath-taking cinematography from Academy Award-winner Emmanuel Lubezki.”

BIRDMAN BLU-RAY
Street Date: February 17, 2015
Screen Format: 2.35:1
Audio: English DTSHD-MA 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Total Run Time: 119 min.
U.S. Rating: R
Closed Captioned: Yes

SPECIAL FEATURES (BLU-RAY)
● Birdman: All-Access
● A Conversation with Michael Keaton and Alejandro G. Iñárritu
● Gallery: Chivo’s On-Set Photos

Birdman on Blu-ray

Birdman on Blu-Ray from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Beantown DVD

Birdman on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

BIRDMAN DVD
Street Date: February 17, 2015
Screen Format: 2.35:1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Surround Dolby Digital 2.0,
French Surround Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Total Run Time: 119 min.
U.S. Rating: R
Closed Captioned: Yes

SPECIAL FEATURES (DVD)
● Birdman: All-Access
● Gallery: Chivo’s On-Set Photos

Photos and video are the courtesy and the property of FOX Searchlight and FOX Home Entertainment.

Filed Under: Blu-Ray Releases Tagged With: Birdman, Blu-Ray, Digital HD, DVD, Fox 02/25/2015

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