Jisgaw +0.5K 4+

I downloaded this app because I'm interested in the 10k version and wanted to try it, but it needs some work. I look forward to buying 10k after some fixes are in place.

Pros: Excellent functionality, best of any jigsaw app I have seen. Would easily be worth a five-star rating if not for the flaws. The windows are a wonderful way to address the large number of pieces. The pieces have a nice jigsaw shape, and there is piece rotation (inexplicably absent from many other jigsaw apps).

Cons: The biggest problem is the low resolution. This is a deal breaker because when the pieces are zoomed to a good working size, the detail is too low to easily match them up. Not to mention it looks poor. A related problem is the fact that unselected pieces "fuzz out". This is not necessary - the red border already indicates when a piece is selected, and the loss of detail makes finding matching pieces difficult. Also, the rotate function could use some work. If the piece is not rotated completely in one swipe, it's easy to lose the selection and have to tap it again. This is minor compared to the other two issues, but would be nice if cleaned up.

Boards are difficult to set up, poor control features. Puzzles look lovely though. Just wish I could work them,. Got frustrated. Going to delete this and look for something else instead.

After putting together all four of the puzzles provided in an early version of the "big brother, 2,000 piece" version of this, I was initially disappointed that this app only has 500 piece puzzles. However, after putting together my first choice, I decided that I like it, because I am a bit of an addict when it comes to putting a puzzle together; once I start, I am compulsive about working it until it is finished. It was nice to able to finish the 500 pieces in 8 hours instead of 80 hours for the 2,000 pieces.

I have tried several other puzzle apps and I like the shapes of the puzzle pieces of this app much better than the others--they are more true to what a real puzzle is like. It did take me some time to really figure out how I wanted to arrange pieces in boxes, but after I learned how to manipulate the pieces, the app flowed well. Once I learned to make the zoom percentage of the boxes that I was working with equal, it made looking for pieces much easier.

I do wish that there were puzzle choices that had more contrast. A puzzle should be fun to put together, not frustrating. The 2,000 piece version of this now has the capability for you to make any picture that you want into a puzzle; hopefully that capability will be added to this app soon.

Give us some more choices with bright colors so we can have fun and I'll give it 5 stars.