Posted Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by James Forestier in Android General

[App Review] Perfectly Clear

Perfectly Clear, newly released for Android, makes a lot of claims about improving the quality of the photos that you take with your Android device. The important question is, of course, does it actually live up to its lofty claims? For this purpose I took some test pictures with my phone (thanks to the dread lord Cthulhu for posing). Click on any image to enlarge.

Google Play Info

RATING: (22) 3.8
UPDATED: August 1, 2012
CURRENT VERSION: 1.01
REQUIRES ANDROID: 2.3.3 and up
SIZE: 18 MB
PRICE: $1.99 USD ($.99 Introductory Sale)Review Device Samsung Galaxy Nexus rooted

Without flash

and with flash

There are obvious problems with both photos. The first has a lot of noise due to a high ISO and the second is harshly lit due to the flash. I fed both of these images through the Perfectly clear app.

First the non flash image.

This is the image where Perfectly Clear failed. Mostly what it did is brighten the exposure a bit but it performed no noise reduction on the image and since we are working with JPEG images, there is generational loss with each iteration. To illustrate here is a 100% enlargement crop of the original.

The image contains both luminescence and chromatic noise. Now the version that came out of Perfectly Clear.

The high noise in the original caused a marked loss of high contrast edges in the next generation. Yes the exposure has been corrected but this certainly not an image that I would be excited to share.

Perfectly Clear did fair better, though, in an image that did not contain a lot of noise. Here is the output of Perfectly Clear on the image with flash.

The contrast of the image has been noticeably increased. This does help the subject stand out better against harsh lighting that has been placed on it. Nothing has been done to reduce the overblown highlights but, to be fair, something like that is probably beyond an image correction algorithm.

I tested it on random images in my collection and in general was less than thrilled with the results. It will not salvage a poor picture and the results on a properly taken picture can be erratic.

From a technical perspective, there is nothing wrong with this photograph but I ran it through Perfectly Clear anyway.

It decided to brighten the exposure about a third step and the eyes, which used to be sharp, are milky now and, of course, the usual decrease in quality due to generation loss.

Now we come to the last part, the price. Perfectly Clear certainly has it’s uses for a narrow subset of pictures. Right now, the app is sale priced at 99 cents, down a dollar from it’s regular price. Seems like a bargain anyway? Not really. Once yet get into the app you’ll discover that a number of features require an additional purchase to enable.

It will not salvage a poor picture and the results on a properly taken picture can be erratic.

At 99 cents each, that dollar app you thought would be a decent purchase is going to run you another dollar to completely unlock. I find this incredibly deceptive since in the app description it states, “Perfectly Clear lets you use our 10 patented correction to further customize your image the with the use of easy, intuitive sliders”. Only six of those are available without additional purchase.

In conclusion, this app is only worth getting if you are really insecure about the photographs that you take with a cellphone and while it does require you to load them onto your computer, Picasa does as at least as well for free.

Rating:

Play Store Link

Press Release :

Perfectly Clear is now available for Android!

Intelligent Image Correction has arrived for all Android Devices

CALGARY, Alberta, Canada (August 1, 2012) – Perfectly Clear has arrived for the world’s most popular operating system, Android. The Perfectly Clear app is Intelligent Image Correction that transforms less than stellar images into stunning memories to keep and share. Perfectly Clear automatically applies 10 patented corrections in a few seconds allowing consumers to share perfect photos from their Android device with confidence.

Consumers will use smart phones to capture more than 200 billion photos this year*. Many of these photos will be uploaded directly from these mobile devices to share memories and experiences. But as convenient and popular as this process has become, smart phones lack the sophistication of image capture found in dedicated cameras and often create photos that have disappointing image quality. Perfectly Clear for Android is the app consumers can use so they no longer have to sacrifice image quality for convenience.

We’ve taken our award winning iPhone app, and made it even better with the following new features and performance enhancements for Android:

• Perfectly Smooth** renders flawless skin for a beautiful look

• Eye Enhance/Enlarge** brings out the sparkle and details in the eyes

• Teeth Whitening** brings more emotion to your photos through a beautiful smile

• Time Saving Presets allow you to tailor the automatic correction for every image independently

• Multi-Photo Workflow allows for multiple images to be loaded and batch corrected at the same time, increasing your efficiency

• New User Interface for a more efficient workflow

• Faster! We’ve re-engineered our app engine to take advantage of the multiple cores available on Android devices. The result is Perfectly Clear running 1.6 times faster on Android versus iPad(3) and 1.75 times faster than iPhone4***

In addition to the core corrections of exposure, vibrancy, sharpening, contrast/depth, tint correction and skin tone, users now have the ability to purchase the Beautify Preset that includes Perfectly Smooth, eye enhancement, eye enlargement and teeth whitening for only $.99.

Perfectly Clear for Android is $1.99 – but available for only $0.99 during the month of August 2012. Get it at: www.athentech.com/android.html.

“We heard our customers asking for an Android App and we are delivering an awesome product that will exceed their expectations,” said Brad Malcolm, President of Athentech Imaging. “The Perfectly Clear technology is proven and patented technology already installed in more than 6 million iPhones Worldwide. In addition, it is being used by our licensees to correct and print more than 20 million photos every day. We are excited for this launch and especially excited to hear the feedback from our Android customers.”

The Android library, and the app itself, are also now available for licensing.

Further information can be found on our media site here: http://www.athentech.com/media.html

including reviewer’s guide, brief PowerPoint, before and after images and screenshots for your use.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerfectlyClear

About Athentech® Imaging Inc.

Athentech® Imaging Inc. is an entrepreneurial, privately held company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The company is involved in three industries and markets: digital imaging, signal processing (for medical applications), and earth sciences. For more information, please visit http://www.athentech.com.

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Athentech and Perfectly Clear are registered trademarks of Athentech Imaging Inc. Any other corporate names and trademarks in this document are the property of their respective companies.

*2012 Photofinishing News, Inc.

**The Beautify Preset is an in-app purchase for only $0.99. This preset contains Perfectly Smooth, Eye Enhance, Eye Enlarge and Teeth Whitening from our partner DOC (Digital Optics Corporation). (http://www.doc.com/Pages/digitaloptics.aspx).

***Android speed tests were performed on an ASUS Transformer Prime T300 running Tegra3 quad cores. Speed will vary depending on the Android device.

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James Forestier

Sr Editor at Android Does

James is a former military man living in PA. He has been an Android fan since the OG Droid days. He likes to tinker with his phone and always has something funny to say. You can find some of his great work on the site which range from news articles to in depth app and game reviews.