There’s a high likelihood that if you’re a frequent reader of this site then you also know Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD, the renowned content creator who’s basically the king of tech content on YouTube. If you don’t know who MKBHD is then this is your cue to be keen.
On many of his videos online, if you are to check the follow up comments on whichever platform those are posted, you’ll quickly notice a recurring theme: fans and other people asking for the wallpaper Marques has on whatever device he’s showcasing in that video.
Going forward, there will be no need to do that. The creator has announced the release of a new app that curates most – if not all – of the wallpapers he rocks on his devices and some more. An interesting approach for a creator whose product portfolio is very expansive.
Dubbed Panels (see the download link below), the app is available on both Android and iOS and features a free plan as well as a premium tier that costs Kshs 8,900 annually or Kshs 2,100 per month. For some context, Kshs 2,100 is what it cost to pay for the 100GB Google One plan annually before prices went up at the start of the year.
Paying for the premium tier, called Panels+, unlocks all the wallpapers on the app.
Early reactions to the app’s release show lots of concerns for the pricing, which is on the higher side.
There are also concerns regarding the permissions the app requests on devices but, as per our experience, that is not a concern for Android users. Sorry, iOS folks.
When one launches the app upon download and installation on their phone, they are presented with an option to either sign in with their Google account, directly join the aforementioned premium tier or just skip and browse through the wallpapers. Clicking to sign in with the Google account, users get the same treatment that they get on another popular wallpaper app that is also a darling of ours: Backdrops.
To get started, one has to select content from at least 5 artists (MKBHD gets these wallpapers from somewhere, after all) so that the home feed, which is the app’s default landing page, can be populated with some pre-selected content for one to get started with. This is where, as is the case with Backdrops as well, one will be able to see the said feed as well as any canvases they “like” on the app. Purchases (yes, the app offers users a chance to buy “collections” from the artists) made will also show up here. There’s a styling issue though that has some of the elements overriding each other, something that should be fixable in a future minor update.
The “As seen on MKBHD” section is where users of the app will find some of the wallpapers they may be familiar with from watching Marques’ content on YouTube and other platforms.
Clicking on any of the wallpapers as seen on the app opens them up in a new page that also includes more information on the canvas – its name and the artist it’s from – as well as the type and display resolutions supported.
The free tier is ad-supported and gets one a sizeable amount of free canvases. However, in some cases, one will view content in standard definition as a result. Need HD? Got to pay.
Does Panels sound like something you want on your smartphone?
Here’s a list of other wallpaper apps that we have explored in the past.
