APP REVIEW
PicSay Gives Your Photos a Little Attitude

PicSay, a photo editing and sharing app by Shinycore Software, is available free from the Android Market.

PicSay is one of the winners of the Android Developer Challenge, a contest Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) set up to get a batch of decent apps into the Market in time for its launch. Cash prizes went to the devs who built the coolest apps for the platform.

PicSay is just an entertaining little app -- it's not likely you'll be using it for anything productive. It does make decent use of the resources available to everyone: photos and the phone's touchscreen.

Mindless Fun

PicSay really isn't much different from those little stickers you can buy at the drugstore that put silly voice balloons next to your friends in printed photos. PicSay adds to that the ability to pen your own sayings in the balloons as well as to add props and effects.

They're all pretty cartoony, but this app is all about silly fun, not work. Some commenters on the Android Market listing for the app have asked for more props -- and it seems likely Shinycore will deliver them as time goes on. Right now, for example, a Santa hat appears as a prop, but why not bunny ears for Easter, or a set of Cupid wings for Valentine's Day?

When you start the app, a button on the splash page will prompt you to get a picture, and touching the button takes you to thumbnails of all the photos on your phone. Pushing the "menu" button offers the option to view your photos as a slide show, flip their orientation, or change the photo-display or slide-show settings.

For photo editing, there are several features available: Balloon, Title, Props, Effects and Share. A "More" button offers the option of deleting all objects in the photo, setting the photo as a contact or background, or saving the picture to your SD card.

Have Your Say

The Balloon option lets you type in text and choose the balloon type -- there's a thought balloon that looks like a cloud, a scream balloon and several other choices. You can choose among several fonts, and you can change the size and location, as well as where the pointer goes.

Title offers several different type styles and colors, and Props gives you a selection of about 20 items. With Effects, you can adjust the coloration of the photo, blur or bend objects, and adjust brightness and contrast, among other options.

For a free application, PicSay offers a fairly robust set of options, and the user interface is simple enough, even for little ones or the occasional technophobe. You won't be using it to win any photography contests, but it's fun to play around with your pictures and offers a creative, engaging outlet.