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Category: Photography
Developer: Ghostbird Software
Requirements: iPhone 2.2 Software
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 0.8MB
Version Reviewed: 1.2
Price: $4.99

PhotoForge was created to be an image editor for the iPhone, and it does that extremely well. With a simple interface that consists of a tool bar on top and a tool customization bar on bottom, it is very easy to navigate. PhotoForge consists of different types of brushes, colors, and erasers. If I were to have to sum it up in one sentence, I would probably call it the Photoshop of the iPhone. Seriously, it has tools and functionality I haven’t seen on a mobile platform before.

When you first open it, you can open an image to draw on or just start with a blank slate. Then, you simply choose from a variety of tools to be on your way with your design.  When drawing, the toolbars on top and bottom slide off of the main page to give the user the most room for drawing.  Although this is a nice thought, it can be a little irritating to have to wait for them to slide back once in a while.  However, once you get over that you realize that there would really be no better way to create the interface.

Each tool on the bottom bar allows the users to customize their creation. For instance, one allows different brush strokes, as seen in the image below, while another lets you pick from any possible color.  The other tools include filters for blur, sharpness, and brightness and contrast as you would expect from any decent photo editor.  However, this is the only one I have seen on the iPhone that uses these filters in a way that actually works to perfection.  It does what it should, and that’s awesome.

Now that you know how to customize tools, let’s discuss some of them.  There is a basic brush with customizable strokes, as discussed, as well as an eraser.  However, there is also a clone stamp tool, which I found to be pretty awesome for a mobile application.  Furthermore, there is an eye dropper tool, as well as a paint bucket tool to paint large areas.  One of the coolest tools I’ve noticed is the smudge tool that allows you to use your finger to create a smudge effect on existing colors.

Although it is great to have all of these features, I found it to be a little too powerful for the iPhone, if that is possible.  If I wanted to create a work of art, I would most likely power up my desktop computer and do it where I have more screen space and every tool I would ever need.  I can’t see a lot of people spending a lot of time in this application creating super beautiful designs on their iPhone. That said, if someone wanted to do this, PhotoForge would be the way to go.