Phone Specification

With mobile cameras getting better almost by the minute, it’s easy to see why the Instagram format has now been favored over the "load 100 photos at a time" sequence which occurred when people used their standalone digital cameras to take snaps before pushing every last one through to Facebook.

With Facebook being the multi-billion dollar enterprise that it is, some Instagram devotees obviously held reservations about it taking Instagram under its wing – particularly since it makes a habit of enforcing change on users at regular intervals. Having said that, Mark Zuckerberg promised Facebook would still be Facebook, and Instagram would maintain its own identity, and so far, that has proven to be the case.

One might have suspected, however, that with Instagram covering much of the mobile image-sharing market, that progress on the official Facebook app, which also allows images to be taken and uploaded instantly, may have been sidelined momentarily – at least its photo-sharing aspect – in favor of developing and improving its newest purchase. Not so, and as it happens, Facebook Brazil has confirmed that the Facebook apps for all devices will be getting photo filtering options.

The ability to filter a photo, or, as I like to put it, the ability to make a shot of anything look half-presentable, is one of the main reasons why Instagram has been so successful. Not only does it add an extra dimension to an image, thus leaving the snapper more inclined to share it with the world, but it also allows amateur photographers to feel like professionals. It’s amazing what a little bit of focus and a border can do, isn’t it?

The official announcement, translated via Google of course, will supposedly add sepia and black and white effects to photos, with more filters – we presume – to arrive in subsequent updates.

Interestingly, the move isn’t directly consequential to the Instagram purchase, since Facebook has been planning to implement such a feature for over a year. In fairness, it’s actually quite a smart move by the world’s foremost social network, since it brings both Facebook and Instagram closer together rather subtly, while still keeping each as a separate entity.