Cut!
The screen layout on the iPad puts the media browser right alongside the main preview window, making it easier to quickly locate the photos, audio and video clips that you want to use. You can also view the audio waveforms of your video clips and quickly adjust volume with a simple slider control.
Precision Mode lets you fine-tune edits... with your finger
Even more useful is the Precision Editor option, which allows you to overlap clips and create cuts and cross-fades with greater precision.
iOS' gestures and touch UI is used well. You can pinch-to-zoom iMovie's timeline to zoom in and time edits more finely, for example. Tap-tapping on a clip pops up an options menu. It's all intuitively done.
To be honest, I’ve found iMovie very fiddly to use on the small screen of my iPhone, but the app bursts into life on the iPad. It’s simple enough for hobbyists to have fun with, but I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few professional film-makers also start to use it as a convenient rush-cut tool when they’re out on location. ®
Plenty of output options
We'll be making our selection of the best iOS smartphone and tablet downloads every Thursday. It you think there's an app we should be considering, please let us know.
'Droid fans, Android App of the Week is published every Tuesday.