Four out of five stars.
If you use Facebook, you’ve most likely seen a comic strip or two featuring one of your friends. The recently updated app, Bitstrips available for Android and iPhone — allows users to turn themselves into cartoons and create comic strips that are shareable on Facebook and Twitter.
Although the iPhone app was released in September, it’s recently gained popularity with many users sharing their comics on social media sites.
When you download the free app, you’ll create an avatar of yourself. You can create a fairly accurate portrayal with many options in hair color, style and length, face shape and size.
Once you’re satisfied, you can view a list of friends who already have Bitstrips and add them to your feed. From there, you click the pencil at the bottom of the screen to begin “making” comics. Although the word “make” is used throughout the app, it’s important to know that the comics are automatically generated.
You can choose among Status Comic, Friend Comic and Greeting Card. Status comics feature your avatar only. You choose a mood, situation or announcement, and the app generates laughable comics such as, “Jasmine found $20 in the park today,” which shows the avatar reaching for cash hanging out of an old lady’s purse.
Friend Comics feature you and a friend or two playing pranks on each other or illustrate common idioms in a humorous way. You can use Greeting Cards to send a funny birthday messages and serious get-well cards to your friends.
Whether you like comics, this app and the funny situations it puts your avatar in will have you laughing.
With a quick glance at my Facebook profile littered with Bitstrips comics, it’s no secret that I was instantly hooked. I’ve found myself literally LOL’ing at some of the comics, especially those involving my friends. But, that doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed a few downfalls with the app.
From the start, you’ll quickly find that the comics sometimes load extremely slowly. Closing and reopening the app may help, but it’s not guaranteed. Also, while you’re waiting for your comics to load, the app is quickly draining your battery.
If you’re anything like me and enjoy a good laugh every once in a while, give Bitstrips a try. Just don’t waste too much time on it because you’ll also be wasting your battery.
Maki covers arts and entertainment and life and style. Call her at (701) 780-1122, (800) 477-6572 ext. 1122 or send email to jmaki@gfherald.com.
Grand Forks Herald (ND)
(c)2013 the Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)