Ivideon Surveillance is a simple home security system you can access on your Android device. Coming with motion detector sensors and the ability to stream surveillance video direct to your mobile device, the app is also free and remarkably easy to set up and configure.
Key features:

• Easy access to remote cams on your Android device!
• Simple to set up!
• Motion detection and the ability to scour history!
• Nice user interface!

Easy to use and setup

Ivideon Surveillance is a clever and simple-to-set-up video surveillance system which you can monitor from your Android device. In just a few minutes you can have the system configured, I was really impressed in how straight forward it is. In a nutshell, this is how I turned a laptop into a home security camera I could view on my phone:

1. Download the app
2. Sign up to the website and log in on the app
3. Download the client (Mac or Windows available) and install
4. Select webcam option on the app, now viewing live video through the laptop’s webcam!

As long as the laptop is turned on, you can fire up the webcam from the mobile app, making it really easy to use. Video is incredibly smooth and only delayed by a second or two. The video fills about half of the screen, with an additional button to watch full-screen in landscape mode.

The motion detection feature was one of the elements I was most impressed with. Below the viewer is a time gauge which, if you pinch and zoom it, shows your entire history of using the app. Motion detectors in the service identify when there is movement and these periods are highlighted in light blue. Because you can then select which archived time to view, you can skip right to when there was action. All this happens very quickly and it’s simple and intuitive to do. I set the laptop to view my living room and then went to adjust some of the sofa covers. The app picked this up and highlighted it, so it was easy to view later.

Monitor from anywhere

While you can view the video stream through your Android, you can also do so via any computer with Internet access. Simply log into the service and select your video server. Blissfully simple. I did note that the service wasn’t always keen on you being logged into the computer and Android at the same time, but this wasn’t a major issue.

There are numerous applications for services like this, but it’s a great idea for home security. Set up a few webcams here and there in your house and link it through your computer (one that you can leave on and connected all the time.) You can then access these via your Android device seamlessly. You can also download an app called mspy which allows you to monitor your children’s social media and phone activity.

I was frankly staggered by how easy it was to set up, which you don’t normally experience with other services like this. Genuinely intuitive and user-friendly, you need no knowledge of video surveillance or security systems before you try the app out. The interface is simple but very well designed.

One thing I noted was that, while you could trigger the webcam from your Android, you couldn’t them shut it down. I’m unsure if that’s a good or bad thing security-wise, but I thought there should have been the option.

I guess this is the kind of app you’ll utilize when out of the house. The app is mostly stable and works well. I did find that the app itself stops working from time to time, but it’s easy to start up again and view your history if you’ve missed anything important.

Conclusion

If you’ve never tried this kind of home security app before, but can really see the benefits, this is definitely the app to check out. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to set up and the features are incredibly user-friendly and intuitive. The app is completely free and not riddled with advertising. Definitely give it a try!

Snapseed is one of the most popular and powerful photo editing apps. The app is quite fashionable at the moment for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was hugely popular on iOS and, if the initial popularity of Instagram and Temple Run are anything to go by, Android users like to snap up apps that have also been popular on Apple’s ecosystem. Secondly, Snapseed was recently purchased by Google and this app was soon released. However, one area where the Google Play Store is heaving with options is photo editing, so how good is Snapseed?

Snapseed is most definitely a photo editor with a difference. Firstly, each effect, frame and setting appears to be adjustable. Instead of just adding a filter, you also get a sliding scale where you can alter the strength of the effect. It doesn’t end there either as you can carefully adjust brightness, saturation, texture strength and center size (an additional vignetting effect). This means that with each effect you have a myriad of variants to choose from and all are highly customisable.

The Snapseed app is available on both App Store and Google Play Store.

You also get a host of additional tools. These include; Automatic (color and contrast correction for quick enhancements), Selective Adjust (select specific areas of your picture to adjust), Tune Image (brightness, ambiance, contrast, saturation and white balance) Straighten, Crop, Details (adjust the sharpness and structure), Center Focus, Tilt-Shift and Frames. With each of these editing tools you can easily tap a button to see what your original picture looks like which allows you to compare between the two.

Despite the fact you can make detailed adjustments to each effect, there are only four filters contained in the app; Black & White, Vintage, Drama and Grunge. While you still have massive scope here, I still would have liked to have seen more. The same can be applied to the limited frames (only in white) and relatively basic editing toolkit- red eye removal, for example, is missing.

I did find Snapseed to feel incredibly native to your device and I especially liked the big share to Google+ tab. This makes it as simple to share your creations as it is in apps like Instagram and Streamzoo. Using Android’s built-in sharing functionality you can just as easily share to other social networks and apps and it feels very intuitive to do so.

With Instagram’s recent sale to Facebook, plus it’s changing policies, users are seemingly leaving the service in mighty droves. Something like Snapseed then is perhaps something that might be turned to as an alternative. While the app itself isn’t a hosting platform- so it’s perhaps inaccurate to call Snapseed a ‘replacement’, if you are on Google+ and happy to share your pictures there it is as good as. That said I did feel the simple filter selection on Instagram a tad more intuitive- although at the same time it is far behind Snapseed in terms of functionality and actual results.

I like to think Snapseed will continue to be developed- a few more filters and frames here and there would go a long long way. The method in which you edit pictures is rich and innovative, but might take a little getting used to initially, especially if you’re used to just picking a filter with something like Instagram. Snapseed is a far better product, just perhaps not quite as immediate.

If you take your photo sharing seriously using your Android device, Snapseed is a must-have app. It’s fun to use and offers plenty of customisability. I certainly think it could do more but it’s still an incredibly functional tool.

The app is easy to use but, perhaps not as straightforward as other editing apps you might have used. That said it does offer much more in terms of functionality compared to similar apps and this is the sacrifice I think you make with Snapseed.

I’ve been using Snapseed consistently since its release a couple of weeks ago and have been very impressed with it. Certainly for that period it has been my go-to photo editing app and, for me anyway, almost comparable to PicShop Pro. I think if you’re someone who has used Instagram extensively and have become disillusioned with the service of late, this is great replacement with lots of enhanced features.

Obviously the frequency of which you will use the app will depend heavily on how often you like to edit and tweak your pictures, but there’s certainly enough innovation and functionality for it to become something you use on a regular basis.

Being popular on iOS and backed by Google you are right to expect a great user experience with Snapseed. Thankfully then it really delivers and is brilliant to use. I initially found the notion of pressing and holding the screen for the sub menu to come up a little unintuitive (a little like making settings adjustments with the camera in Android 4.2) but I quickly got used to it.

Snapseed is a great photo editing app that provides lots of options when it comes to editing and fine-tuning your pictures. I don’t think it’s quite the best editing app out there, but it most certainly has the potential to be with a few enhancements. It’s free so definitely be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.