Lumiappaday #30: Blind Shot demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

This application allows you to take discreet photos. Maybe you want to take a sneaky snap of a friend when they’ve fallen asleep in lectures, or may be some spy work to grab in event photos of the preview of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises (Even though those posters are already there and I just wanted to snap the miniature mince pies that tasted amazing) – what ever that situation is, there has come a time when you might have wanted to take a  photo discreetly. It’s a hack I’ve seen in some phones, but here it’s a simple to use install-from-market place app.

Obviously be warned, if there are occasions where it is strictly prohibited by law not to take photos or against your work place, then don’t. For other occasions with friends and just wanting to capture a funny facial expression then this is great. Please respect the privacy of others and keep this for personal use. Keep it amongst friends, eh? 🙂

#30) Blind Shot

Price: Free

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/9499f5e2-9920-4057-990a-93761294b3ab

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LnETqkVmgM

Developer Blurb:

Blind Shot is a camera application that allows you to take pictures without being noticed.

You can use it anywhere to take those embarrassing pictures of your friends, without them realizing what you’re up to.

Just open the app, point and shoot.

You have an option to save your photos to your camera roll or to store them privately on your phone. If you choose to store them privately you even have an option to password protect them pictures so only you have access to them.

Rating: 8

Design: 7

• Design is pretty plain but it is meant to be. You can an inconspicuous screen that does not look like the typical view finder.
• On the bottom are controls, left most is the tiny view finder which can be tapped away, in the middle is an indicator light that tells you when the camera is ready to take a photo (Green for yes, red for saving) and an ok shutter button.
• The main screen is the instruction page that tells you how to use it. It would be better perhaps  if the how to use page was left on something even more discrete.
• Perhaps just have the screen completely blank, and tap to take a photo. Then allow the vibrate function to indicate when it’s taken the picture and when it’s ready to take another.

Usability: 8

• The point of the app is to take discrete photos and it does do that very well.
• When you’re taking a picture of something, on screen is always a blank display that does not at all look like the camera view finder, so not raising suspicions that you’re taking photos.
• The settings are pretty clear and useful, though having no flash is more discreet, there are occasions where it could still be useful. Having Xenon would be the most help as that can take much quicker snaps that do not then blur.
• There is an option to remove autofocus. When you do so, it snaps the photo straight away (kinda EDoF like). It might be more useful if you’re trying to take that quick snap.
• The vibrate option is useful, indicating when the photo has been taken and when you can take another picture.
• The app video demoes on close up subjects. Most likely you’ll be using this 99.9999% of the time not for subjects that close.
• Could be better if, as mentioned, the whole screen was black/off and you just tap any part of the screen to take a photo (and not just that small ok button)

Performance: 7

• This is quick to start up, quick to work but it does have some stability issues when going into settings. Cab ‘multitask’ i.e. no resume wait.
• The app still works but changing the resolution makes the settings bar somehow disappear. It may also lead to not being able to make the little view finder appear/disappear.
• Clicking Saved photos doesn’t seem to do anything, but you can just view it directly from the camera gallery.

Price: 10

This is free, with ads.

Conclusion: 

For what it does, it does quite well, though it could face some improvements in terms of stability and possibly making the screen even more discrete as to turn the entire thing off.

P.S.

Hey, my schedule has been pretty tight this week so limited myself to lighter apps. Next week we’ll look at some games and a really nice photo editing app.

Category: Applications, Lumiappaday, Nokia, Video, Windows Phone