Tech that...
A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST NEWS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
INSTAGRAM’S REDESIGN
SOME say Facebook is doing all it can to make Instagram as useful an app as possible. Others say it is ruining a great experience by adding bloat and unnecessary features.
Whichever side of the fence you’re on, if you are a regular user, you will soon notice one of the biggest changes to Instagram for years.
Facebook has redesigned Instagram’s home page. Now, when you’re used to using an app in a certain way, with the buttons you use regularly in a certain place, when they move it can be somewhat irritating. This latest change will certainly take some getting used to.
There are now two new buttons on the row at the bottom of the screen – Reels and Shop. These have replaced the buttons that allow you to see your activity – the ‘heart’ button – and the button that allows you to add a post – the ‘+’ button.
I expect these changes will either please or annoy you depending on how you use Instagram.
Either way, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Facebook has abandoned the idea that, subtly adding features to the app in the background while changing the core interface as little as possible, is the way to go…
PIXEL’S PHOTO APP UPGRADE
IF THERE’S one phone app Google excels at its camera software.
The latest version of its Camera app, that shipped with the Pixel 5 phone, is a real winner, and now there’s some good news for all Pixel phone users. The latest update to the app means it will work on more Pixel phones, even ones as old as the Pixel 2 and 2XL.
Of course, not all the features are available on all the phones, as some are hardware dependent. At the very least you’ll get an updated interface to bring a more uniform look across the different phones.
Newer phones, like the Pixel 4, will also get the 5’s impressive ‘Cinematic Pan’ video shooting mode, for smooth panning.
The update is available for free from the Play Store.