ShakeItPhoto vs. ShakeIt, by Brandon Lee

It's easy to take the iPhone's versatility for granted these days. With over 100,000 apps available, and its combination of sensors and multi-touch input, it readily morphs into near-perfect facsimiles of countless tools people once had to pay significant money for. Not just software tools like GPS, mind you, but even silly things like wave machines , spirit-levels , and you know, libraries . Naturally, photographers began to clamor for a virtual version of a once-costly, frivolous analog relic: the Polaroid instant camera.

Twin rivalry is always a little ugly, and never easy to understand. The competition between these two photo apps, which arrived in the iTunes Store within weeks of each other last year, started off like Jet Li fighting a parallel universe version of himself but ended like the Jean-Claude Van Damme masterpiece Double Impact, in which two identical brothers brought up under different circumstances come together to kick ass and do splits.

ShakeItPhoto ($0.99) arrived first, although ShakeIt's ($0.99 /free) developer maintains that his app was submitted to Apple for review as many as four months prior. Without this knowledge, many viewed ShakeIt as a me-too effort when it was finally released with an oddly similar name. Some cattiness briefly appeared on Flickr discussion boards and blog comment sections, but the two apps eventually managed to coexist. Anecdotally, ShakeItPhoto became the more popular because it reproduced aspects of the Polaroid experience. After taking a photo, the undeveloped frame eased into view with a satisfyingly mechanical sound. Shake the iPhone, and the photo would sway from side to side, slowly fading into view. In comparison, developing a photo in ShakeIt was like shaking an empty snow globe. No visible response, no indication you were doing it right, and no fun. Eventually you'd get your photo, but the whole process was unpolished and boring. ShakeItPhoto produced consistently beautiful results, and using it felt great.

The release of the iPhone 3GS unexpectedly shifted the balance. Long story short, Apple decided to tweak the camera's output to produce photos that it believed most users would find more appealing. More color, more contrast. It also meant that some shots turned out darker than they would have on an iPhone 3G. This pretty much wrecked ShakeItPhoto's processing, and the photos lost quite a bit of their blown-out, faded charm. To this day, it doesn't appear that enough has been done to address this. On the other hand, ShakeIt has received a number of small updates over time to improve its image quality. It still doesn't have any animations or sound effects, but its photos are often more attractive than ShakeItPhoto's on an iPhone 3GS.

Two examples of the underdog's innovation: ShakeItPhoto uses the same white border for every photo. Look along the top edge of the "paper" and you'll notice a speck of dust that's always there. ShakeIt has a number of different photo frames that it randomly assigns. Every now and then, you get an emulsion artifact or a smudge over the photo. ShakeIt also employs a number of different color treatments; which one you get is down to luck (akin to Takayuki Fukatsu's ToyCamera). These little details matter if you're writing a camera emulator for people who like taking photographs. And with instant and toy cameras, it's often the case that the more randomness they encounter, the more people tend to love them.

Nevertheless, ShakeItPhoto remains a great tool in good lighting conditions, and outputs a unique square format size that ShakeIt does not (ShakeIt offers a regular Polaroid-shaped frame, a longer rectangular frame with a uniform white border, and a frameless processing-only vertical rectangle). Its shortcomings can be minimized by applying an exposure fix in apps like Perfectly Clear before processing, although this reduces its usefulness as a camera app. But if you have been otherwise unfortunate enough to still be on an iPhone 3G, its better output should be one point of consolation to you. For now, ShakeIt has pulled level with its competitor, and represents one of the best faux-laroid apps on the App Store. One possible contender for the throne might be Lo-Mob, but that's another story for another time.

Example photo #1: A dimly-lit bar. ShakeItPhoto's tendency to darken photos is visible here next to ShakeIt's interpretation, which is even brighter than the original photo.

Above: The original photo

Above: The ShakeIt version

Above: The ShakeItPhoto version

Example photo #2: Part of an Indian temple's decorated gate in bright daylight. ShakeItPhoto provides more vibrant colors and a vignette. ShakeIt, on the other hand, emulates the greenish color cast of some Polaroid films but the effect isn't particularly well-suited to this scene.

Above: The original photo

Above: The ShakeIt version

Above: The ShakeItPhoto version

AppStore Link: ShakeItPhoto - Price £0.59/$0.99

AppStore Link: ShakeIt - Price £0.59/$0.99

Editors Comments: I would just like to thank Brandon for this review, and if you would like to read more from Brandon, then why not check out his blog 'Positive Machine'

Comments

[Jesse]

So would you say ShakeItPhoto is still superior to ShakeIt for pre-3GS phones?

[Brandon Lee]

As I remember from my old iPhone 3G, you get a different sort of look with ShakeItPhoto (vignetting, more saturation, and a blueish color cast if any at all) – it seemed to make really pedestrian shots interesting – whereas ShakeIt applies a more 'vintage', muted look.

it comes down to personal preference at the end of the day, but I was using ShakeItPhoto a lot and definitely count it as an essential app to have if you own an original iPhone or iPhone 3G.

[Jonathan]

I don't agree that "ShakeItPhoto became the more popular [app] because it reproduced aspects of the Polaroid experience". Although the shaking is a fun part of the app, ShakeItPhoto is simply better aesthetically... and while that can be a matter of someone's taste and preference, just take a look at the iTunes reviews. The people have spoken. If we are comparing the two, there is a CLEAR winner: ShakeItPhoto.

[ddolga]

The whole idea of "shaking" is actually kind of stupid considering that it had no effect on integral Polaroid film (SX-70, 600). It's a popular myth, that might have originated with the original peel apart film where shaking helped dry it faster once it developed and was separated from the backing.