Photo-sharing apps and smartphones go together like the proverbial horse and carriage. So in China it’s no surprise that dozens of start-ups have gone the route of forming a light community based on a neat photo app.
Before dismissing them as Instagram clones, remember the limitations of Instagram: it’s for iPhone only; has no browsable photos on the desktop, meaning its website is functionally useless; and it supports only four American social networks. Plus, Instagram moves so slowly that it might take years before it deigns to support other mobile platforms or social media. So, rather than just twiddling their thumbs, a whole host of Chinese start-ups have made photo-sharing apps and light communities that are arguably better and richer than Instagram. As we like to say on PO: screw the idea – it’s the execution that really matters.
So, here are five of the best Chinese-made photo-apps, almost all of which support at least two mobile OSes and numerous local social networking sites, as well as some global ones too…
Vida
For: iPhone, (Android under development)
Connects to: Sina Weibo, Douban
Vida is the newest and perhaps the most gorgeous of the group, setting a new standard for design and attention to detail among Chinese-made – or, indeed, worldwide – photo-sharing apps. Not much is known about the start-up behind it other than that it’s run out of Shanghai. A unique aspect to Vida is that the app itself can be themed, so that its glaring pink colour-scheme is easily changed.
In terms of actual features, it pushes ahead of most other photo apps with built-in group sharing of images that you and your friends have snapped, in the manner of the much-hyped (but failed) Color app. Plus Vida’s calendar-like timeline gives you a fresher and more contextualized way to browse people’s photos. Right now, it comes with ten filters, which is a fairly good start for a v1.0 app, and the Android version is en route.
PhotoSola
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