Say Cheese Camera Lets You Snap Photos Via Voice Commands! [Android]
We won’t lie to you. We’re fond of collecting camera replacement apps. After testing countless such applications on the Android Market, we thought developers had run out of ideas. Well, we were wrong. Say hello to Say Cheese Camera for Android – a free yet comprehensive camera replacement app that, along with a plethora of other handy features, comes packed with the option to snap photos via voice recognition. Other noteworthy features include the option to toggle talk-back (voice confirmation), a Stealth mode for capturing photos, a built-in gallery, batch uploading to Facebook and rainSlides – a Facebook app that lets you convert a group of photos into a slideshow. We delve into these and a few other components of the app after the break.
The app’s interface isn’t exactly one of its strengths. It’s user-friendly but not all that easy on the eyes. A slight improvement in its looks would be a welcome change.
The app provides you with four different ways to take photos.
- Normal: Tap the capture button (at the top-right corner of the main interface) and the app should display a preview of the captured image, allowing you to save, discard or share it.
- Quick Snap: Holding the same button down automatically saves the captured image to your device and skips the preview screen.
- Voice Recognition: Toggle Voice Recognition on by tapping the button at the bottom of the column on the left and say “cheese”, “smile” or “ready” to capture photos. The app also has a few other voice commands that allow zooming in / out and switching between the rear and front-facing camera. All commands are mentioned under Voice Control within the app’s settings screen. During our test-run, we had success with only the first three.
- Stealth Mode: Tap the third button from top on the left of the app’s settings screen to switch to Stealth Mode. The mode, as its name suggests, is meant to capture photos discreetly. In said mode, the talk-back (Voice Response) feature is temporarily disabled and all that the app displays on the screen is a barely visible toggle in the bottom-left corner. Tap it to exit Stealth Mode. To capture a photo, hold down anywhere on the screen and wait for you device to vibrate once (as the camera finishes focusing) and then a second time (when it captures and saves the photo).
Note: Capturing a photo in Stealth Mode causes your ringer volume to turn back on if muted. Apparently, the app mutes audio temporarily when you capture a photo and turns it back on regardless of its previous state.
Say Cheese Camera’s settings screen displays toggles for all major settings on the right and left side of the screen, with the settings menu in the middle. From within this menu, you can toggle auto-focus (Doc Scan), Auto-Save, timed capture (Timer), Stealth Mode, customize the talk-back (Voice Response & Voice Pitch), choose Effects and set your hardware shutter button to launch the app (Hardware Launch).
Another interesting feature in the Camera Settings menu is the Torch option under Flash. Selecting said option causes the camera’s LED to remain on constantly while within the capture interface. This can prove to be particularly useful while taking pictures in darker environments.
As mentioned earlier, the app has a built-in gallery for viewing pictures and sharing them over the web. Tap to select multiple photos (for uploading or deletion) and hold down on any photo to view it. The gallery also allows you to link the app with your Facebook account and upload multiple photos to your account and rainSlides with a single tap.
Among the few additional and somewhat unique perks that the app sports is the option to turn the app into an augmented reality compass (tap on the accelerometer indicator in the main interface to do so) and sending captured photos to Google Goggles and other third-party apps from within the preview screen.
Comprehensive, “kitchen sink” replacement camera for stock. I like the bulk uploading and voice controller the best.
Comprehensive, “kitchen sink” replacement camera for stock. I like the bulk uploading and voice controller the best.
Good article! We will be releasing a new Say Cheese (next release) with Live Frames for applying frames and effects to your photos in real time.