Smugmug falling behind in mobile space

dannydan · July 24, 2011

Hello fellow Smugmug users,

The context of this email is not support related, but I'm hoping it will reach the right people. I've written a similar email to support more than a year ago but nothing has changed, so as a last resort I decided to try this forum.

First let me just say how much I love Smugmug - I've been using it for over 2 years after migrating from Flickr (and previously Picasa) and it is by far superior to both when it comes to web interface, usability, features and speed.
However, in the mobile space I can't help but feel that you guys are falling behind.
First, the mobile version of the site (tested with iPhone 4) is buggy, unfriendly and lacking basic functionality such as full-screen zoom. I was expecting more from the AJAX pioneers in online photo storage. I Would also love to see support for gestures such as swipe to browse pictures. As an example, see Google's implementation of their mobile image search (images.google.com).

Second, about your iPhone application - SmugShot...I have a confession to make - I do not take all photos with the SmugShot application and immediately upload them to SmugMug. Most of the time I take photos with the standard camera app, and then just upload a batch. Unfortunately your app doesn't allow batch upload / selection of images. I have to select and upload them one by one from the camera roll. Not to mention how annoying it is that the app defaults to the camera tab on launch...Check out the PhotoSync app to see how it should be done.
Now for the iPad app - I recently purchased an iPad 2 and one of the first applications I installed was the Smugmug iPad app. It crashes very frequently, and is almost unusable. Just read the reviews, I'm not alone.

I can't help but feel that Smugmug is falling behind in the mobile space, and unfortunately I've started considering migration to other services. It's been too long and nothing has changed; it seems like there is almost no investment in mobile interfaces to the service. I find this difficult to understand as tablets and smartphones are extremely popular - it is not a niche market.
I'm really hoping Smugmug will improve its mobile apps / interfaces. You guys have the best desktop interface and there's no reason it shouldn't be the same for mobile / tablets.

Regards,

Danny

Andy · July 24, 2011

Thanks Danny for the awesome feedback. We have some goodies coming out pretty soon we hope. We've been working on improvements to our iPhone, iPad, and Android apps.

Opps · August 24, 2011

Have these "goodies" been released? I've been looking for something similar to MyPics & MyPics HD (uses Picasa) but aimed at SmugMug instead.

Andy · August 24, 2011

Opps wrote: »

Have these "goodies" been released? I've been looking for something similar to MyPics & MyPics HD (uses Picasa) but aimed at SmugMug instead.

Not yet.

Opps · August 24, 2011

OK ... if I could wish for one thing in such an app (except uploading) it would be the ability to easily generate the HTML code to include the photo in a blog. An extra bonus for me would be the ability to define how the HTML code would look like.

piolet_rampe · August 24, 2011

Bad Android app
I use the Smugmug Android app for phones, and it is merely adequate for showing a few pictures to friends when we are at the bar. I recently got an Android G Slate tablet, and the first thing I did was download the Smugmug app. Boy was I disappointed. The resolution is absolutely terrible, so much so that I would be embarrassed to use the tablet to show my photos. Same goes for the Ipad app as well. Please put some resources into an optimized tablet app for both Ipad and Android tablets.

Opps · August 24, 2011

piolet_rampe wrote: »

Boy was I disappointed. The resolution is absolutely terrible, so much so that I would be embarrassed to use the tablet to show my photos. Same goes for the Ipad app as well.

I'm a bit surprised about this, when I use "SmugMug" to look at photos stored at SmugMug they are perfectly OK ... any problems with the photos are all due to myself. The resolution looks perfect to me. (on an iPad)

ninjapirate83 · September 24, 2011

Mobile Disappointment - May prevent me from signing up
Hi Andy -- I am just starting a 14 day free trial of SmugMug, and I'm incredibly disappointed that there is not a batch upload feature from SmugShot. I use Camera+ for all my photo-taking, and save them to my Camera Roll. Selected each photo and tapping upload is way to inconvenient for me to consider paying for SmugMug (since nearly all my photography is done while mobile). However, I am heartened to hear that you are working on upgrades to your iPhone and iPad apps. Are those going to be released soon? By end of CY2011 perhaps? Any information would be most helpful in considering SmugMug -- everything else I've seen and experienced about your site is incredible, but mobile is a huge let down.

EverythingEverywhere · September 24, 2011

I second this

dannydan · September 25, 2011

Any updates from the Smugmug team? The iPad app is still broken! Common' guys, at least fix the current functionality, I'm not even talking about new features...
I'll gladly fix it for free if you send me the source code.

Shizam · September 25, 2011

I know you've all been patiently waiting for updates to our iOS apps, they're comin'.

JohnR · September 27, 2011

Any idea when? Are you waiting for iOS5 to be released?

Shizam · September 27, 2011

No timeline I can commit to at the moment but we're not waiting for iOS 5.

Malte · November 8, 2011

Has Smugshot for iOS been revved? iOS 5 is out.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.941346,12.806455

Malte · November 20, 2011

Bump.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.941367,12.806469

Andy · November 20, 2011

Malte wrote: »

Bump.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.941367,12.806469

Bump right back at you

Hang in there, Malte....

dannydan · December 18, 2011

Andy wrote: »

Bump right back at you
Hang in there, Malte....

<sigh>
Common' guys, at least give us a date. This is really disappointing. I just want to be able to view my photos on my iPad without random crashes and missing galleries.

athos · January 29, 2012

for Android users the Smugfolio app is far better than the official app. very fast, lots of features, including batch upload. create galleries. etc..

maybe smugmug could just buy that app.

outdooreventphotos.com · January 31, 2012

personally, I don't care about apps. should a customer have to download an ap just to view and buy a photo on my web site? just make the mobile version work and then we can sell our pics on mobile devices.

SamirD · January 31, 2012

outdooreventphotos.com wrote: »

personally, I don't care about apps. should a customer have to download an ap just to view and buy a photo on my web site? just make the mobile version work and then we can sell our pics on mobile devices.

That's the way it should be. But until the consumer wises up and stops buying apps, the push for web development won't start again. Sites were getting intelligent and started to detect mobile platforms until the 'apps' craze came along.

But there is some merit to developing dedicated software for the various platforms. They're usually faster since the data connection is only being utilized to transfer key data versus the whole infrastructure. I guess this keeps data usage low, which in turn makes the cost of an app a quick ROI.

But while I'm venting a bit, why the change from 'software' or 'program' to 'app'? Isn't it just the same thing? So why the name change? Who's idea was that?

keithlm · February 3, 2012

YAY! I got a Nook Tablet for Christmas and the B&N store finally got the Smugfolio app yesterday, 2/1/2012.

Color e-book readers are the perfect size for previewing pictures. Especially at events. (Or while socializing. A 7" e-book will fit into a large pocket. An iPad not so much... and an android phone is just too small.)

One nice thing is that it will auto-download my photos (smaller format) to the hidden partition for previewing so I don't need an external card.

BUG ALERT: There is a bug that will cause it to crash if you try to open the "settings". I have rebooted and retried with the same results. So we already need an update to fix this. But I suspect that getting an update submitted through B&N is probably a lot easier than getting the original app submitted through their vetting process.

Since I can't see the settings I don't know what abilities it has... but I would suggest that if someone shoots photos with a microSD card in their camera (via adapter usually) they can then plug the microSD card into the nook and the Smugfolio app should be able to scan it and then upload previews of those pictures to it's download cache. And also possibly allow a process to review/approve and then upload the original to the online site if the Nook has wi-fi. That would be completely and totally awesomesauce.

rainforest1155 · February 5, 2012

Keithlm,
Did you report this to the developer as well? It might be helpful to them if you also include what Android version your tablet is running. You can find their site here:
http://www.snapwoodapps.com/

keithlm · February 7, 2012

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Keithlm,
Did you report this to the developer as well? It might be helpful to them if you also include what Android version your tablet is running. You can find their site here:
http://www.snapwoodapps.com/

Thanks: I sent him an e-mail just now. I didn't know exactly who to send an e-mail to until I saw your post.

(Actually the error message did display the java exception com.snapwood.smugfolio so I could have guessed. Or I might have been able to be more diligent searching... but the app does work... you just can't change the defaults. All I did know for sure was that B&N wouldn't be the ones that would fix it.)

Anyway: the author might have tested with the older Nook OS version 1.4.0 and submitted the app for review. I'm guessing that since a new version was released while waiting for approval that has an issue. Luckily app updates should take almost no time compared to the initial review at B&N... so it might only take a recompile and update.

keithlm · February 8, 2012

UPDATE... sent an e-mail yesterday around noon and had a reply about 6 hours later.

The update is ready but will probably take a day or so to get through the red-tape at the B&N store.

EDIT: Yep... got the update today. All is well. Does exactly what it should. You can use th microSD card on the Nook if you want to. And there are other nice thigns in the settings... like hide hidden directories or photos. Etc.

rainforest1155 · February 11, 2012

That's great to hear, Keith! Thanks for taking this on and letting us know.

Shizam · February 29, 2012

Its been a long time in the making: http://www.awesomize.com/ but it was worth it. And then...

JayP · February 29, 2012

This still is a frustrating issue for those customers who still insist on using their browser to pull up my site.

Shizam · February 29, 2012

Its true, a browsing app refresh is next in the pipes.

JayP · February 29, 2012

Shizam wrote: »

Its true, a browsing app refresh is next in the pipes.

That is good to hear.

doug b · February 29, 2012

Shouldn't the Smugmug app have taken precedence over yet another iPhone filter/editing application? It's not like there aren't already a ton of them out there. I find this to be more of a disappointment than anything else, and doubt that I'll be sticking with SM due to things like this. Right now, Zenfolio is looking quite good with their new integrated blogging features, plus they've got what looks like a decent answer to mobile browsing and uploading/management. Quite frankly, I'm very surprised that they pulled it off before the SM team has. On top of that, I'm also surprised that management is "ok" with the appauling smugmug apps which already exist for iOS and the Android Market and have not attempted to reconcile this.

Doug

Andy · February 29, 2012

doug b wrote: »

Shouldn't the Smugmug app have taken precedence over yet another iPhone filter/editing application? It's not like there aren't already a ton of them out there. I find this to be more of a disappointment than anything else, and doubt that I'll be sticking with SM due to things like this. Right now, Zenfolio is looking quite good with their new integrated blogging features, plus they've got what looks like a decent answer to mobile browsing and uploading/management. Quite frankly, I'm very surprised that they pulled it off before the SM team has. On top of that, I'm also surprised that management is "ok" with the appauling smugmug apps which already exist for iOS and the Android Market and have not attempted to reconcile this.

Doug

Concurrent development, totally different team working on the new iPad and iPhone browsing apps. We're NOT OK with where our browsing apps are right now, and we're NOT ignoring this and we hope soon you'll see some really cool improvements!

Have you tried Camera Awesome? Give it a go

Smugmug falling behind in mobile space

Comments