Thumba Photo Editor Review

In the absence of a fully featured Hipstamatic equivalent for Windows Phone 7 to process photos as you take them, the best option is to use a post-processing app to carefully tweak them after the fact. More Like Swankolab, without the funky darkroom interface.

Thumba is just such a tool and integrates with the Pictures hub so you can dive straight into your collection and start editing.

The tweaks (50 in total) are separated out under four different headings. Image takes care of the basics like cropping and rotation, Adjustments allows for colour and exposure changes, Filters lets you turn your shots into masterpieces with HDR, cross-processing and Lomography-style options, while Effects gives you the amateurish but fun options like adding neon, pencil sketch and lens flare effects.

Once you've selected a photo and chosen your weapon, the relevant slider options are presented so you can start tweaking away. You can add multiple effects to a photo and save or undo along the way, with a handy before and after comparison available at a swipe.

One gripe we have with this process is the awkward placement of the sliders at the top of the screen. They can be tricky to get hold of at times, and we had to to keep moving our hand to check the changes to the picture which marred the user experience somewhat.

It would have been nice to see some more precise editing tools – for instance being able to edit sections of a photo rather than just the whole thing at once. However, Thumba packs a powerful enough arsenal of tools to keep most people happy and create a vast array of results.