Pxl Gives Your Photos A Generous Dose Of Weird [Review]

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Yesterday we showed you how to make your own gorgeous pixel art with The Grix. Today we’re looking at pixels again, this time with a clever new photo toy for iOS called pxl, by Rainer Kohlberger.

Apps that pixellate and otherwise mess with your photos are ten a penny, but pxl has that spark of uniqueness that marks it out from the rest of the pack.

The special effects it applies look unlike anything else you’ll find out there – they’re imaginative, different, and sometimes just plain weird. You can create some really artistic effects with them.

It’s hard to describe, so let me show you. Here’s my original photo…

Original hand

And here are some of the effects pxl did with it…

Blocky hand

Liney hand

Weird hand

Minecraft hand

Wait, what?

Symbols hand

Each effect (they don’t have names, only symbols) can be varied with simple, obvious gestures. Pinching usually changes the size of the pixellations. Swiping can change the direction or scale of a particular effect. Sometimes, a little button in the top-left corner lets you alter shape or style of effect.

There are lots of effects and variations on offer, so the Shake-to-randomize feature is also fun to use. That said, I’ve already found some favorites among the effects on offer, which I tend to use more often than the others.

I like pxl because it’s good value (there’s easily a dollar’s worth of fun in this app), and because the results are so unusual. And because they’re unusual, they’re eye-catching, and have a little more impact than yet another Instagrammed sunset.

[xrr rating=90%]

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