When I was asked to review flauntR recently I was skeptical because it seems like there are a ton of these kinds of things out now and none of them have impressed me in what they deliver as much as my personal favorite online photo editor, Picnik. I have been a huge Picnik fan for quite a while and it’s even one of my top five web applications so here’s the most objective review I can provide…just thought I should say all of this up front.

FlauntR (yes, they are very web 2.0ish by dropping a vowel) is a free, web based photo editing application. It offers six tools that they refer to as:

• stylR - Puts your image in a virtual picture frame of various designs from which to choose.
• editR - Basic photo editing tool for resizing, cropping, effects, etc.
• textR - Shapes, graphics, and text additions for the photo.
• picasR - Image effect tool to modify the image in a color scheme and style like well known paintings
• profilR - Sizes your image based on the dimensions of many social media site specifications.
• mobilR - Sizes your image for your particular cell phone/mobile device specifications.

Conclusion: After playing around with flauntR I’m not convinced that it’s better than Picnik. The site seems much slower slower than Picnik and the overall design and function isn’t nearly as clear and intuitive either. Needless to say I won’t be leaving Picnik for flauntR.

FlauntR does do a few things well though. Its profilR and mobilR tools are pretty cool and could be quite handy when you want to create a quick profile image of yourself on just about any social media or social networking site. They seem to have many of them covered (though they’re missing Twitter) and I can really see the benefit of this rather than looking up the specs for a particular profile picture you’re ready to change. Likewise, mobilR would be a good tool as long as your particular phone is in their database. They currently have a large selection of LG, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Motorola, Samsung, and Nokia phones.

The picasR tool is fun to play with and might be helpful if you find the right painting style for a picture you want to modify. The stylR tool isn’t for everyone. I’m not a fan of it personally but I think the folks who send ecards and include animated GIFs in their emails will enjoy it.

Bottom line: flauntR isn’t the best out there but has some features worth noting. It’s still in alpha so the speed and usability issues may improve over time. If so, flauntR could be supR. If not, it might be a stinkR.

Tags: flauntR, free photo editors, online photo editor, Picnik, webapplications

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 12:35 pm and is filed under tech review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.