Instagram 6.0 puts on its big-boy pants, introduces all new photo editing tools [UPDATE]
I’ve been a big proponent of Instagram ever since the service first launched. A social network centered around using photos to share your daily life, it was a great way to get a peek into your friends and families lives visually. There’s no question when Instagram first launched, its main draw was that it was easy for the casual smartphone user to make their photos look great using simple filters, or other light edits. But that’s where the photo editing stopped.
New photo editing tools!
Today, Instagram is announcing their all new version 6.0, and it’s as big of an update as they come. Typically, photo perfectionist would go into the photo editing app of their choice (Snapseed, VSCO Came, etc.) and make edits, save those edits, then upload that photo to Instagram. No anymore. With Instagram 6.0’s new photo editing tools, users can now make basic edits to their photographs, adjusting the warmth, brightness, contrast, or saturation of their images before they apply filters. What’s more is the photo filters can now be adjusted on their own, giving users the ability to adjust the intensity for a more subdued filter.
There’s still more work to be done
These new options are much welcomed for sure. But there’s still more work to be done. Despite 1080p smartphones becoming the norm nowadays (and quad HD fast approaching), Instagram still only displays photos in a lower resolution. While this may sound perfect for iOS devices, the world has since moved on from sub-720p. I mean, this is a photo app after all. It’s 2014. Would it kill Instagram to up the resolution even a little bit for full HD devices?
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Also, you may have noticed that no matter how amazing your 15 gigapixel Android camera is, photos you’ve uploaded end up looking like they’ve been snapped with a potato. Turns out the Android version of the app compresses images to a hideous, pixel-ie mess, a problem we should note is not present in the iOS version. The result? Your friends and family gloating over how much better the photos they’ve taken with their iPhone 4 look compared to your Galaxy S5.
Update: Confirmed. Quality of upload photos is still as worse as ever, even after the new 6.0 update. Wonderful.
We’re not sure entirely sure why the favoritism, but even with countless updates, Instagram has failed to do a damn thing about this issue for years now. Until they do something about this — and it’s possible Instagram 6.0 could have fixed this issue — no amount of photo editing or filters will help your Android photos look like anything more than 16-bit.
We’re anxiously awaiting Instagram 6.0 to hit the Google Play Store. You can update as soon as it goes live via the link below.
Download/update on Google Play: Instagram 6.0