Coming Soon: ShakeItPhoto Update With New Border
I know Marty hates rumors, but there’s evidence in the official ShakeItPhoto Facebook page and the Flickr Stream of Banana Camera Co’s Alexia Brown to support this. The latest update to popular instant camera app ShakeItPhoto, which is currently awaiting Apple approval, will feature a revised border much more reminiscent of the traditional Polaroid border.
Credit: Alexia Brown (Banana Camera Co)
Unlike ShakeItPhoto’s current border, it appears the new border features a much larger bottom area, reminiscent of what you’d get right out of a good old SX-70 (I’m thinking LabelBox might get some solid mileage out of this change in my own photography, I can’t resist the opportunity for a sassy aside). If you take a close look at the bottom area, though, there’s a noticeable line right about where the older border would have ended, which makes me wonder if the new one was simply clone-stamped into new dimensions.
Banana Camera Co, the developer of ShakeItPhoto, proudly makes simple photography apps. Their products do one thing, but they do them beautifully. The saturation, vignette and subtle shadow as if a real paper border surrounded the photo made me love ShakeItPhoto instantly. But this devotion to simplicity as a concept is both their amazing strength and their potential weakness.
Unfortunately, their devotion to the simplicity mantra sometimes puts simplicity before user experience, and this has me worried. The ShakeItPhoto 1.3 update featured a totally revised photo processing algorithm, without any warning to users and without the simple inclusion of a toggle to select the old one. The fallout from users who felt ambushed by the change was massive, and to their credit Banana Camera Co engaged in discussion with their users and decided to revert to the old algorithm. Given past history, it seems likely that this new border will come at the expense of the current border style.
Credit: Alexia Brown (Banana Camera Co.)
There’s also the fact that Apple has put the kibosh on apps that offer super realistic Polaroid-style borders (such as forcing PictureShow to remove their Instant 1 filter from the latest 3.0 update). The update is currently waiting for approval, and it will actually be interesting to see if it gets blocked or not since the border really looks like an old-school Polaroid (texture and border ratio are pretty much bang-on).
Personally, I’m on the fence about this update. ShakeItPhoto and CrossProcess have gorgeous processing that enhances rather than overpowering virtually any photograph. I love them. But I also think that when you remove an existing feature to make room for a new alternative, rather than adding it as an option, that’s just lazy programming and often poor user experience. Still, anybody with the vision to write those filter algorithms will hopefully (eventually?) have the vision to make their apps the sort of simple that users appreciate rather than suffer through.
What do you think? Is it worth losing the current ShakeItPhoto frame for this new, more historically accurate one?
Nox is a freelance writer and consultant from Toronto, Canada. She loves gadgets, her dog Kali and shiny things. Her most recent hobby is wheezing and expecting imminent death, which she took up unexpectedly along with jogging.
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great comments Marty. i agree completely. very well put. I'm sure banana will read this…
Hey, Zach,
That's not me. That was written by the awesome Nox Dineen. I love this post and i agree with her points.
I really hope there's an option for the old frame. While I *like* the idea of the new frame, I don't really like how the chemical tab in the new frame looks cut and pasted. But, we'll see how it actually looks when the update gets released. There are many others who like ShakeIt Photo as is.
If past performance is any indication of future events, I'll be pleasantly surprised if Apple let this one get approved with the frame as is. I really hope the update gets approved.
=M=
Well, I for one would very much welcome a 'proper' Polaroid border to this app, since the demise of my staple, favourite app Polarize when iOS 4.3 was released.
I downgraded my phone to 4.2.1 again so I could still use Polarize but I will have to update the iOS sooner or later so I'm living on borrowed time with what is/was the best Fauxlaroid app I've ever tried.
ShakeItPhoto isn't nearly as good as Polarize in the effect it gives but with a more realistic Polaroid border, it'll probably become my default when I finally have to say goodbye to Polarize (RIP).
Hey Matt,
Have you tried the InstantCam? It can't touch Polarize for image processing (if anything can, please let me know), but it does a decent border and includes the option to "write" on it. You may not love the image filters, but the "Digital" one doesn't do much other than add a subtle vignette so you can aim for a Polarize mimic in another app first.
It's far from perfect, but if you really want the frame it's the best I can think of as of today.
If you want I can whip up some samples so you don't buy it and then find out you hate it.
Hi Nox – thanks for the info. Do you mean InstantCamera? I can't find one that's just called InstantCam…
This is the one I've found: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/instant-camera/id3…
Not sure if I've tried it already but might be worth a look. More than just the nice Polaroidy border, it's a lot to do with the processing that gives the image the look I'm after.
Polarize does this beautifully (if lo-res), with great contrast, colour-shift and wobbly vignetted border that I haven't seen another app come close to.
*sobs*
Can’t wait for this to come out! What a great surprise. I love the app and have been looking for a great classic Polaroid border app.
(you put “ShakeItCamera instead of ShakeItPhoto, by the way…)
Nice catch, I've corrected that error.
I love the realistic border, but I'm worried about losing the choice. I'm stuck with an iPhone 3GS until the next iPhone is released (I'm pathalogically incapable of buying tech i know will be outdated soon) so losing some photo resolution for the border will bother me in edge cases.
Good points by all and welcome Nox ! … I want the border as an option as I like what I have now with the app – but would be willing to try the new one . I too have a 3GS and would want to see how this new border responds with my more limited pixels first .
Hopefully there will be a toggle for the two different looks and one for the two borders. I have yet to updat from 1.3 as I was one if the few that really like the new look it provided.
"their devotion to the simplicity mantra sometimes puts simplicity before user experience"
Well said! I do like their apps, and for a buck, who's to really complain that much, but I definitely agree…they 'simplicity' mantra tends to be taken a bit too literally and can tend to annoy rather than enhance.
They better not get rod of the old border. Thats why I use it. If its gone, Im gone.
*get 'rid'
Forcing users into the new border will be disappointing if the developers don't allow choice. The best aspect of the current frame is the way the square look captures portraits in particular, an element I fear will be lost with the newer, though apparently more accurate, border.
Thanks for the heads up Nox. I'm also one of those in favor of 1.3 due to its colors, or photo processing algorithm if you will.
I also hope that they will feature the options to choose 1.3 and 1.4 colors, as well as the borders — if the new border is approved, that is (fingers crossed).
Hurrah! New update does indeed have a 'proper' Polaroid border (but you can still choose the old, square one if you prefer), so I might now be ready to finally update my iPhone's iOS and finally say a teary goodbye to my old faithful friend Polarize once and for all.
ShakeItPhoto is not as good as Polarize in terms of the way it 'processes' the image, so I'll probably have to do a bit of a treatment in PhotoGenie or another app before I run it through SIP but it seems like the best of the bunch at the moment and is at least hi res…
A very welcome future update would be an option to open the app in CameraRoll mode, rather than automatically going to camera, or just a choice-screen on startup.