Do the "Wave" for your iPhone!

UPDATE:  When this blog was written WaveCam was free.  The price is currently .99 cents.

How many of us have tried to take a self-portrait by holding your iPhone straight out in front of you.  Do you get a picture of your arm in the picture or your shoulder looking in a funny position?  What about shots with your friend from further away.  Ask a stranger to take the picture for you if one is around?  Some cameras now have timers for the iPhone, but you need to get ready and pose before it goes off.  What if you could trigger the shot with a “wink” or a “wave”?  Well now you can.

Wave Cam and Wink Cam are two simple apps that use a form of motion detection to initiate a photo shot rather than a timer or by pressing a button.  These two apps need to use the front camera which is usually lower quality, but it is still great for taking self-portraits or pictures with your friends when there is no one around to take the photo for you.  Best of all they are both free, but do they really work?  In a nutshell Wave Cam seems to be the better of the two.

Wave Cam

Wave Cam takes a picture using a form of motion detection which recognizes when your hands (or head) passes through a certain location on the screen indicated by a hand as illustrated in the photo.  Simple is best and this simple set up works quite reliably.  Your hand passes through the designated place and a 3 second timer starts before the shot is taken giving you time to put on your best “Magnum” pose.  You can even move the hand to a location you want on the screen to avoid triggering it by mistake.  So what about Wink Cam?

Prepare the Shot and Place the Camera

Get into the picture yourself

3,2,1 Magnum

Wave to the camera

Wink Cam

Wink Cam is a great concept.  You have your face in the shot, “wink”, and then a 3 second timer starts so you can do your best “Blue Steel” pose before the photo is taken.  (Yes I like the movie Zoolander). It does work well when you are close up.  Meaning that your face is big enough on the screen for the app to recognize that you winked.  Good for head shots.  But when you are farther away from the camera it has a hard time detecting the “wink” as I experienced.  Maybe my eyes are small and my glasses interfere?

Place the Camera and get ready

Now do a BIG Wink

The thing is that Wave Cam works when you are near or far so why bother with two apps?  I have to say that I like the novelty of Wink Cam and the technology is fun, but with a limited use it just does not stack up to Wave Cam in my opinion.

Try them both and tell me what you think of them!