Rookie Review
Price: FREE ($1.99 in-app purchase to unlock full content)
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 5
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Simple to use and offering some good results, Rookie is a photo editing app that's ideal for the average iOS photo snapper. It lacks a slight amount of 'wow' factor, staying pretty solid if not revolutionary, but that doesn't stop it from being worth checking out.
Laid out in an easy to understand manner, Rookie takes users each step of the way. It's possible to take a photo from within the app or import existing shots before getting down to the fun stuff. The camera side of things isn't that basic either, offering anti-shake, a self-timer, zoom, as well as focus and exposure controls.
Alongside that, Rookie offers plenty of filters, with most proving to be quite useful and appropriate. Often sticking to quite subtle changes, it's possible to further adjust such things through a series of sliders. In the Free version the filters available are slightly restricted, with $1.99 buying an extra six packs worth, but there's the convenience of being able to preview the filters beforehand, so one knows what they're going to get.Elsewhere, other settings such as brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, temperature, and fade options are all there to give users some flexibility. Lack of a sharpening tool is a shame, as well as other tone settings, but Rookie has most of the basics covered. It's possible to add a more personal touch too, via a series of stickers that can really add a spark to imagery.
Rookie is a fine companion for the average photographer. While it might lack the more complex features that other apps provide, it covers all the bases for most purposes pretty well. Taking hardly any time to see results is the icing on the cake here for this handy tool.