After reading other’s comments that the program did not install on Windows 7, I decided to test it on a Win 7 Pro 64-bit OS to see what the issue was.
When the install is first executed, WidsMob prompted for UAC control. I do not have any idea why a photo editor should need that type of control over the user’s PC. Its a photo editor, no special security options should be needed.
WidsMob Photo Retoucher takes a long time to do all of its pre-install, which may be why others have reported that it does not install on Windows 7 Pro. After waiting long enough, the program did install. The activation also went smoothly.
I loaded a photo, then played around with the initial sliders (Saturation, Contrast, Brightness, Temperature, Tint). When testing programs with sliders, I want to make sure I can move it back to the same starting place WITHOUT using the Restore option. In WidsMob Retoucher, the only way to change the slider’s position is to use a mouse. I tried moving the slider away from its default position (0), then slide it back to the same starting place, but the end value is either -1 or +1, but never could I get it to zero again. Using the keyboard arrow keys would be a great help in fine-tuning slider positions.
The other problem with the sliders is that the value they produce cannot be manually set. I had rather be able to enter a value and have it be used instead of being limited to the mouse-controlled slider.
The sliders did each have an effect on the appearance, but I really didn’t want to make any changes permanent because I was only testing.
There is no way to save the settings to a file so that they can be used for other photos (or even the same photo) later on. That should be a standard capability of any photo tweaking program.
The program’s Portrait mode is supposed to recognize a portrait image judging on what I read online. The photo I loaded was a human whole body-shot but in a horizontal position (not a portrait). Regardless, I clicked on the Portrait mode with the intent of zooming in on the face of my photo. Instantly, the program crashed with the message:
WidsMob Retoucher has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.
Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.
To give the program another chance, I restarted from scratch but this time loaded a photo that was more of a portrait view, in the sense that the person in the photo is looking at the camera, however, the photo includes the person’s body down to the knees. At least this photo allowed me to get into Portrait mode. I used the Zoom feature to center the image a little more around the face. To my surprise, the result was that the left side of the image was repeated on the right side of the preview. I wondered if it was an artifact that would not be saved with the final image, but after saving the image, the saved result matched the odd preview. This problem has to be an issue with the Zoom feature.
The program did not crash with this second image, so I decided to reload the first image to see if it caused the program to crash again. I left the program in Portrait mode. The image opened just fine. I changed back to the original photo editing mode, moved the sliders similar to what I had done before, did the Restore, then clicked on the Portrait mode. The program instantly crashed with the same message as it had before. Regardless of whether the image loaded is a portrait or not, the program should not crash. If the program cannot detect a portrait, then it should inform the user, and provide additional information.
One other mention is regarding the program’s menu options that have the FAQs and the Online Help, both of which are online. Everyone should read the Online Help, which is displayed as the User Guide online. The reason I suggest this is the remote possibility that you might learn something if you are a Mac user, but for Windows users, to see that the entire User Guide is for a Mac edition of the program, but it is nowhere near what this Windows edition has for features. It is as if it is for an entirely different program. The menu options at the top of the program in the User’s Guide do not match what the Windows edition has. It looks like the Windows edition was rushed to production, does not have the same features, but they wanted some feedback to see how the current state is working out.
I did not locate a Changelog online, so to me that in itself is a failure. I cannot recommend any program that does not publish a Changelog that contains dates and version numbers, and detailed changes made for each release.
Thankfully, there are better options available in the marketplace than what WidsMob Retoucher does. Several “free” programs outshine WidsMob Retoucher. I hope WidsMob will improve on this program and be able to compete with similar programs in the future.