Adding Artistic Value to Your Smartphone Snapshots with Paper Camera

One area we’ve been lacking in coverage has been with mobile, and that’s something we’re in the process of fixing. We’re currently working on a review of a tablet and a phone, but past hardware, we also want to take a look at software, or apps, that we find interesting. Kicking that sort of coverage off is an app I discovered last week called Paper Camera, available for both Apple’s i devices (3GS+; iPad 2+) and Android (2.1+).

Paper Camera is an app that aims to add some artistic value to your photos. This isn’t done with post-processing, but rather is applied in real-time. There are a variety of filter modes to choose from, including Sketch Up, Bleaching, Neon Cola, Old Printer, Pastel Perfect among others.

Once the app is loaded, the two arrows at the top can be tapped to change the filter, while fine-tuning is possible with the dials underneath them. As you might expect, the faster your phone is, the better, because real-time processing is truly power-hungry. On an aging Android 2.2 phone, the performance was sluggish, while on a slightly-newer 2.3 tablet, the performance was much-improved.

Here are a couple of sample photos I took the other night:

It might be due to nostalgic value, but the Old Printer filter is one of my favorites (the dot matrix-looking shot above). Neon Cola is also one I’ve come to like, while out of them all, Sketch Up tends to look the best across most photos.

Paper Camera is available for Apple devices for $0.99 and $1.84 for Android devices (no clue why there is such a gap in pricing). Unfortunately, there is no trial of the app, so if you are planning to commit to a purchase I recommend you have a newer phone if you want to experience the best performance.