Wide Angle Review

Wide Angle is a news photography application that takes images from "big picture" posts - a collection of stunning snapshots, usually at least ten, from a single news story. Short captions are then applied, with the images being the centre of attention.

Presently, there are only two sources to view - The Big Picture and CBC Photo Galleries. There are a significant amount of galleries to view from within these two sources, but this is nonetheless a heavy limitation on the application. We hope that future updates will add more sources.

Navigation is simple, with a single vertical column along the left that lists the titles of all of the galleries. A circle beside them highlights which ones you've looked at fully (grey), partially (half grey half blue) and which ones you haven't seen yet (blue). Viewing the images themselves reveals the Apple-style fast scroll feature, first seen on the iPad and now introduced on the iPhone with iOS4. This is very nice integration - it gives Wide Angle a much more official, respectable feel to it and makes it easier to navigate your way around particular galleries. The images are of reasonably high quality, making good use of the iPad's generous display.

The captions have some opacity to them, and are limited in size which focuses the attention on the pictures. Captions can turned off with a single tap and remain that way for that particular gallery. Everything bar the picture (and caption, if you have them on) fades away after a few seconds, allowing the picture to take up the entire screen with no distractions. You can scroll the pictures manually with flicks of the finger if you wish.

Its drawback is its lack of sources. It operates by pulling pictures from specific RSS feeds, but there is no way to add your own. In addition, there is no search for a specific gallery. You can share a gallery link over e-mail, but Facebook and Twitter users are left empty-handed. What Wide Angle provides it does with precision: high quality, mesmerising images. It just needs to offer more.

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