A Review of the Autorama Symbian Application

Autorama, developed by Scalado and RAVITEO, is an application that lets users stitch together panoramic photographs using their Symbian mobile devices.

Main Review

Creating panoramic photographs involve taking a minimum of two photos, putting them side by side, and 'stitching' them together using software, producing a wide image representing a landscape, far better than using a 4:3 photo.

Currently, there are two Symbian applications that provide excellent results in this category of device apps. However, one of them - Panoman, is no longer available through legal means. The other application - Photorama (available with this name for S60 third edition devices), has been updated to Autorama (available for S60 fifth edition devices).

The Autorama application uses the maximum resolution of the device's camera. The application does this by using a limited number of photos or images (maximum of three images). The result is excellent detail and high resolution.

There are two settings users can play around with in this application - the method used for focusing, and the resolution. The focusing method varies, with the following options ranging from Macro to Infinite; the Auto option is set as the default option. Users who intend to take photos of objects in varying distances might want to use a specific focus. As for the resolution, it is recommended that users stay with the maximum resolution of the camera, unless of course, disk space is an issue.

Starting from the left, take the first photograph; simply press the shutter button. The device will then start vibrating, indicating that the user has to start slowly rotating or turning the camera to the right. The device will stop vibrating once the user has rotated far enough to the right; the next image is then captured. This continues until all three shots are taken.

Apart from the vibration, a visual guide is also provided, showing users where and when to stop moving the camera. This lets the application get a better chance of stitching the photographs together.

Once all three shots have been taken, Autorama automatically stitches the photographs together, taking only a few seconds to combine all three images. The application then displays a miniature of the image. This image, however, is not automatically saved on the device or memory card. The entire process is done using only RAM. Users should note that at this point, the options for saving (save, and save as) and sending (send as) are shown in gray but are active. Users have to save the image, as needed, by using the aforementioned options.

Viewing the application's options displays several zoom options, including the zoom ratio of 1:1. The zoom feature works fast and smooth. The generated panoramic image may also be printed using the Bluetooth enabled Print function.

As shown in the sample images taken using Autorama, locating the 'joins' is rather difficult, especially in photographs that feature landscapes.

ProsIt produces output after a few seconds.
Mostly unnoticeable 'joins'

ConsLimited to only 3 images.
Converting images to panoramic output is done on RAM.
Save options are grayed out, making users think the option is inactive.

Conclusion
The application does the job well. It can join images in a fast and smooth manner. The limitation on the number of images is a bit of a downer. The application gets a rating of 4 out of 5.