Aging Mirror – What does the future hold?

by Jay O. on Jul 7, 2011 5:20:53 PM — read 2,249 times

TAGS: Apps,

Tested version: 1.3
Latest version: 1.3
Requires Android: from 1.6

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Summary

Smartphones: a shortcut to becoming old and wise? An app that will bestow upon you all of life’s lessons and allow you to circumvent that tiresome act of growing old slowly? Become cool, calm and collected in a way that only life experience can engender, with the help of a lil ol’ Android application...

Okay, okay, don’t call me out, I admit that most of the above is a load of codswallop... But I really did stumble across and application that can at least make you look old on pictures. Find out more about Aging Mirror in today’s review.

Features & Use

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Test device: LG Optimus Speed / 2x
Android-Version: 2.3.4
Mods: CyanogenMod 7

Aging Mirror has one sole purpose – to make you look old. Ah, just what we've always dreamed of, right ladies?
Start up the app and you will see an overview of photos. Hit ‘start’ to see what a photo should look like. Only portrait-style photos will do, so decide whether you want to select one from the gallery or take a new one.

You can either trace the eyes and mouth manually or have the app recognise said features automatically. A few of us here at the AndroidPIT headquarters have tested the app and the automatic recognition function almost never works. That being said, the manual tool works and it’s easy as easy can be: simply draw two circles around the eyes and one around the mouth. A display then blows up the selected areas.

Once that’s done the effect can begin, the loading time for which is totally decent. Annoyingly, changes aren’t visible straight away, meaning that one has to start prodding at the screen until finally the aged version of the image appears.
The results are passable: the face is wrinkled, the eyelids droopy, the mouth shrunken. But overall the effect isn't mind-blowing. The app doesn’t transform the chin at all, the wrinkles look quite unrealistic... and check out Christian’s photos (see screenshots): he’s got hair falling into his face, and after the aging process his hair is wrinkled. Weird!

Photos can saved to the gallery, or to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.

Bottom line:
The Aging Mirror outcomes are somewhat disppointing on the whole. I don’t think I’m setting my standards too high when I say that there’s definitely room for improvement here. I mean, come on, the app should be able to recognise if someone’s got a fringe/bangs and not adorn them with wrinkles.
Furthermore, I don’t like having to bash at my screen in order to display the results.

Screen & Controls

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Controls are relatively simple. As mentioned, I found the whole ‘hack away at your device’s display until something pops up’ approach somewhat frustrating.
The Aging Mirror UI is quite basic.

Speed & Stability

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The effect takes but a few seconds and there aren’t any harsh waiting or loading times to contend with.
Aging Mirror performs well overall.

Price/Performance Ratio

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Aging Mirror can be downloaded for EUR1,41 in the App center or Android Market. In my mind, that’s too steep for what the app has to offer. I fully realise that developing this type of app is a lot of work, but there’s a lack of technical maturity here...