I’ve finally found an accessory for my iPhone 4 that i just can’t live without. The mega toy company Hasbro have unveiled a 3D viewer that’s designed for Apple’s second, third, and fourth generation iPod touch, iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4. As soon as I found out about it I ran to my local Target (its exclusively sold there, coming to a different store near you in June!) and patiently waited for the sales guy to unpack the boxes. Needless to say I was the first person to buy one from that store.
My initial impressions are that it’s a modern twist on a traditional Holmes stereo viewer. It’s solidly built (except for the latch, it’s hard to snap shut sometimes) and worth the $34.99 I paid for it. It comes with a total of four different adapters for the different kinds of Apple devices. Hasbro has a number of applications available on the Apple iTunes app store, games and immersive 360 degree pano stuff. I downloaded all of them and so far I like ‘Bubble Bolt’. Think ‘Super Monkey Ball’ but in 3D with fish. You need the ‘secret code’ that’s printed on the viewer if you were thinking of free-viewing the app. Kind of clever, can’t fault them for doing that.
Anyway, the apps were cool and everything but I wanted to see how my stereo photos looked on it! I had loaded the iPhone with a few of my own photos the night before so I was all set. Using the regular photo viewer on the phone worked very well. The My3D has two thumb holes in the underside so you can press buttons on the screen and whatnot so flicking through the pics was easy. I later chose the slide show just because once in a while I’d get the menu and not the next image. Something that did annoy me is that Hasbro didn’t put the center divider in the exact center of the viewer. It’s off to the left just a bit, enough that a little of the left image will show up in the right frame. It’s not show stopper but I have to wonder if Hasbro did this to make it proprietary. lame if that is the reason.
Image quality of the stereo photos was good, I attribute this to the Retina display on my phone. If you have anything less then the experience will not be as good. I expect loads of people saying that the viewer is crap when it’s the fact that they are for the first time getting an up close look ant their devices display. If you are a fan of 3D photography then this is a ‘must-have’. I hope that a few more stereo photo-centric apps show up soon in the store, until then I’ll be happy with what I have and I’m glad I’ve a new and easy way of showing off my pictures.
For more info about 3D photography check out the International Stereoscopic Union
If you want to bend your eyes have a look at my 3D photos (crosseye freeview method). More here as well (in universal freeview mode).