App Review: SNOW - Selfie, Motion sticker, Fun camera

My Sailor Moon Drops phone game guide/review was more successful than I initially anticipated.  Because of that and my recent career change into technology work, I think it will be fun to discover and review all kinds of cellphone apps.  Today I'll be reviewing an app called SNOW - Selfie, Motion sticker, Fun camera which you can download here for iPhone and here for Android.

I discovered this app through Instagram user lawrawr.

A video posted by LAURA RIBEIRO🇧🇷ラウラ (@lawrawr) on Dec 21, 2015 at 6:18pm PST

When first opening this app it was incredibly clear to me that SNOW is more or less an exact replica of Snapchat but exclusively the strange animated filters or "motion stickers" as they choose to call them.

Usability: 

Modeling an application off a popular one that already exists is actually a wise decision because it makes it easier to use if people are already familiar with it.  There's no reason to reinvent the wheel.  The friends list, 24 hour stories, and majority of the application remains the same as Snapchat so it's easy to jump right in and feel comfortable using it.

It's more or less super easy to use but I have some critiques.  When taking a selfie, it allows you to create it in "gif mode" which gave me the impression that when saving the file, it would be saved as a gif.  However I realized that it actually just takes a video in the style of a gif so the file isn't actually a gif image file.  Then if you take a photo of yourself in the app, it acts as if when you save it, your face will be still but the stickers will remain animated.  False.  It's saved as a static image.  Two strikes against this app for being dishonest.

My other major critique is that you can't adjust the application to detect your face once it initially does when you first open it.  In Snapchat, you can easily hold down on your face to refocus it but this app doesn't allow that option.  This makes it difficult to get your filters to look realistic if you move...and you will move.  And then you'll get frustrated like I did when it took me a while to match myself up with the app's motion stickers to achieve the perfect Pocky in my nose look.

The nice thing about this app is that when you choose to save it, you have the option to upload the file to a variety of social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Artwork: 

There are an almost infinite amount of motion stickers available for use and they're all free!  A lot of them are goofy and really creative.  Some of them are as simple as animals on your head but my favorite so far is this weird option to put Pocky sticks up your nose.  I wonder who pitched and approved that idea.  I think they deserve a round of applause because that's one animation we will never see on Snapchat.

Should I review this app that makes gifs of pocky up your nose?
pic.twitter.com/d6WUzcaeH8

— ♡ C@RLY ♡ (@carlycarbonate) December 22, 2015

There are a lot of options with hearts which are my personal favorite, but some of them, like the Pocky option above, are particularly strange.

 

There are a lot of color filters available to try.  Some of them are okay but others are just ridiculous and unnecessary.  The mosaic and sketch filters are two of the ones I think the app could do without because you can't even see what's going on in the frame.

Overall experience: 

It's mostly pretty simple to use with the exception of the two comments I made earlier.  The issue of facial recognition is a crucial one that makes using the app frustrating.  I really wish it would have an option to actually save as a gif.  I think I would use it more in that case.  This app is cute and pretty amusing but even if some features are improved, I have a hard time believing that it'll become a social media standard the way Snapchat has.