There's been a nice thread going on the Miscellaneous area around iPhone apps. The potential for using the iPhone as a prop or part of a routine is very high, and I've successfully amazed (and failed to amaze) friends and others with some of the apps on offer. Here's my first reviews for this site with a little collection of my favourite apps. I hope I've pasted them in the correct place!
The first app is also the newest one, so I've not really had time to fully use it, although I've practiced the effect and checked it works.
The Effect is called Magic Card, by Renditions Design and is used to reveal a picture of a chosen card
Cost
At the moment $2.99 (£1.79) but it's on a special price.
Difficulty: 2 - 3, some sleights needed (actually, you can do this very easily with a cross cut force, but I think I'd prefer something more reliable - a lot of my friends are very observant geeks!)
Review
The effect uses a gaffed home screen and camera, which is used to take a photo of the back of a forced card, you show the picture to the spectator and as you shake the phone, their card is revealed face up. This is a very nice effect, but there are a couple of problems with it - it takes quite a bit of practice to take the initial photograph initially, you need to get it the correct size, which means placing the camera very precisely, otherwise the 'back' of the card shows under the revealed card or the card sizes don't match correctly. The revealed card is quite small in the screen - it would be nice if it was a little larger, as it would make the initial setup a little less 'obvious'. Also, it would be great to be able to use a screen-shot of your actual 'home' screen as this would be more difficult to detect as being gaffed.
Overall
This app is actually pretty good, I like it a lot, and I think with a bit of practice to make it seem more natural, it will be a great effect. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 as the addition of the features mentioned would really make it stellar.
The second iPhone App I use a lot is "Marty's Magic Coin".
Effect - The performer produces a coin that is placed 'inside' the iPhone, rattles and rolls around inside and then is transferred back to the hand of the performer.
Cost - $2.99 / £1.79
Difficulty - 3, some sleight needed (requires French Drop or similar coin sleight)
Review
There's a great range of coins of various countries on offer, and they look very realistic. The latest version includes roll and drop sounds, so as the coin rolls around 'inside' the iphone you can hear it rolling about.
A little practice is needed to get the transfer 'into' the iPhone smooth - it requires a longer touch than first expected - but once you have it smooth, it's quite amusing and makes for a good effect. A few backgrounds are available, but I personally use the facility to create your own using a screenshot from your own iPhone. This means you can have the trick ready to run, without the spectators suspecting that you've gaffed it. This for me is one of the best features of the trick, as there's no expectations of a 'trick'. In fact, I performed this today, as someone was asking about apps I used frequently, so I started to tell them about the new 'banking' application
Overall
This is good fun, it's quick to do in any country with a wide selection of coins - is reliable once you've practiced it, and it doesn't require a lot of setting up. I give this 4.5 out of 5, the only thing I would like is a few more British coins, currently only the UK Pound coin is available, which is a little bit small for effective palming (I often use an american half dollar or 2 euro for the trick).
The third trick is called "Telepath" by Curious software -developed by Sarah Angliss & Richard Wiseman
Effect: The spectator chooses an item out of 4 displayed on the screen, then without the performer touching the phone again, the correct item is displayed on the screen when the spectator picks up the phone.
Cost $0.99/£0.59 (on offer at the moment, I think I paid more)
Difficulty: 1 very easy once you know how
Review:
This is an incredibly effective trick if done properly - it really looks like telepathy, and it's quite fun to hear the explanations people come up with. The great beauty of this trick is that it's one of the few that's truly repeatable. The 'trick' is more in getting the 'distraction' right, as in some cases you need to keep the spectator talking. It's not hard to figure out, but it's surprising how few people do (only one person in maybe forty or more performances actually figured it out, though of course I didn't let on he was right). It's very well made, and has quite a bit of variation - and the best thing is that once you know how to do it and have practiced your routine, it's foolproof - the only time I've had a problem was in a very noisy environment - it does somewhat rely on sound (though not voice recognition, as many people have tried to guess) Actually this is an effective repeat - the spectator may think that the phone is 'listening' to them say what they've chosen, so you can repeat the trick silently, asking them to hold up the number of fingers relating to the number of the item in order. This really puzzles them!
Overall
4 out of 5. It's a good trick, but it's quite hard to perform in noisy environments. Also, it's not really what I would call a 'magic' trick, it doesn't really require any sleight for the effect - in fact, anyone could do it without much effort. I like it as something to do when you have nothing to talk about in the pub, and it genuinely puzzles people!
I'm sure there are many mmore great iPhone apps out there, and there are quite a few effects that can be done with the iPhone just using the camera. If you integrate the iPhone into routines and become comfortable with it as a performance aid, it can be very effective. Where it falls down is if the trick is at all unstable or difficult to use, then there's no backout, as it's an electronic device - you can't just 'change' the trick and do something else in the same way as if you're doing, say, a classic force, and it fails.
I hope you like these reviews, and those of you with iPhones, I hope you'll let me know of any other iPhone tricks you like.
regards
Len
