BigMagnify: Minimalist Magnification

The first app I searched for when I got my iPhone was a magnifying app. It's physical counterparts are between $100 and $2000. I was shocked to find loads of them in the app store; some were free, some were paid, and some came in both varieties. I decided to try as many free ones as I could before spending any money.

Since there are so many magnifying apps, I decided to come up with some major criteria for the "perfect" app and evaluate each one accordingly. I've found all of these features in some form throughout the apps I tried. My criteria include:

• Cost
• Ads
• Full Screen Mode
• LED Light / Flash
• Max Magnification
• Tap to Focus
• Freeze / Still
• Enhance Image
• Zoom Controls
• Flip Image Vertically
• Flip Image Horizontally
• Rotate Image
• Switch Camera
• Portrait / Lanscape
• Launch Speed
• Splash Screen
• Save Settings On Exit

I found some good ad-supported free versions but soon got irritated with the distracting ads blocking my full screen view. So I picked a few of the best ones and bought the paid version. One of my favorites isBigMagnify (and BigMagnify Free from Dave Cheng. It's simple and straightforward; a solid contender. Perfect? No. Do I regret paying for it? Not at all.

It has a bar with tabs for 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x along the bottom and small icons to switch cameras, turn on the LED and pause the image arranged vertically in the lower right. On the lower left is an icon that will swap the location of the icons from the right to the left. The icons don't obstruct the view but are far enough apart for most fingers to hit them without a problem. Voiceover compatibility is OK--the switch camera button reads as "flash", Simple but effective. I'd like to see a faster load time and no splash screen. I also just found a bug. Magnification, camera and icon position are saved on app switch and a complete exit. Flash on/off, however, is not. But more than that, if you launch the app with the front facing camera (which does not have an LED), the flash icon will not return when you switch back to the rear camera. D'oh.

A good app that is, at the moment, # 4 in my top 5 magnifier apps thus far. I will keep testing and report on those worthy of your attention.



-- Stephanie Bargenquast