Application Name: Magnify
Description: Uses your camera view and digital zoom to magnify objects; option to record view with photo.
Publisher’s website: Appd Lab
Cost: Free (ad-supported)
Version/date reviewed: v.2.2 / 3-12-11
Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.2
Android Market (mobile app only)
Android Market (browser)
I’ve tested several Android apps that take the camera input and magnify it, like Magnifying Glass, iMagnify and IDEAL Magnifier, but I’ve uninstalled all of them in favor of the app reviewed her, Magnify; it’s clearly the best of the bunch.
My screen capture app doesn’t include the camera view; if it did, you’d see the camera input in the white area above. The four buttons, from left to right:
- Camera icon: Takes a photo of what you can currently see in the camera view.
- Eye icon: Re-focuses the image. The app documentation says that you need to have the camera lens at least four inches away from the object to focus. However, on my Droid X, with good lighting, I can sometimes focus even closer than that. If you move the phone towards/away from the object after focusing, you’ll need to re-focus.
- Flash icon: If your camera has one, it turns on the LED flash to illuminate the object.
- N icon: Converts the image to a negative; may improve detail visibility in some cases.
On my Droid X, photos taken with the app are stored in the “Magnify” subfolder of the DCIM folder on the SD card, which is the default folder for camera pictures on my unit; may be different for your phone. The “white blob” at the bottom of the photo is glare from the LED flash illumination. One minor drawback is that the pixel size of the photo is limited; the original of the photo shown above is only 816 x 624. It would be nice to have an option to export photos at your camera’s full resolution. But this is a digital zoom, so you likely wouldn’t see any more detail.
Other issues: The ads look a bit incongruous at the bottom. But they’re well enough out of the way of the main interface to not be a major distraction, and they help keep the app free.
Final thoughts: Highly recommended; nice to be able to blow up views of small objects. Especially small type, useful for someone like me with aging eyes and reading glasses.