Product description : A simple peek is one of the most powerful mentalism tool, simplicity at its best ! Lots of devices, center tear and things are coming out recently and one of them is Eyephone, produced by Mark Mason. The idea behind it is genius and will allow to do a very natural peek with a object everyone has already seen: a smartphone. You ask someone to write anything on a card, you place it down in the wallet at the back of your phone and you’re immediately able to reveal what was written by the spectator. Innocent looking but devious working, this is Eyephone !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $99 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic partner !
What you get : You receive a small white cardboard box, with a printed paper rolled around it, I’ve seen better packaging and I think a such ingenious and nicely crafted product would deserve a better packaging. Anyway, inside, you get a white card with a link to watch the online instructions, they’re well made, typical Mark Mason style but clear enough so that you understand everything about the product. You also get a white instruction paper with some routines on it but you’re likely to come up with your own routines. The product in itself is a dummy phone with a wallet stuck at the back, it’s well made, the buttons are not working but it does look like a real phone. The working is really clever, some other devices (telethought pad and wallet) already use this principle but using it within a phone is really ingenious. Overall, I think the price is faire compared to what you get, I’m not disappointed with it !
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
You have to use the phone provided, so it could be a bit strange if you pull out your real phone after having performed Eyephone. You could justify it with the fact you have 2 phones, one personal and the other professional but I don’t like that.
You may have some angle restriction because of the working of the gimmick, you wouldn’t be able to use this surrounded.
THE PROS :
I really like the working of it, if James Bond had a peek device, I think it would be Eyephone. It’s clever and at the same time, really easy to master so you can include it to your existing routine quite quickly.
You get a full peek and a clear one, so you can have people writing down anything on the card, whether it is a word, a number, a drawing.. It can really be anything so that you can adapt your routine.
The fact you use a phone can lead to other type of routine, such as asking the spectator to write down the name of a contact he has on his phone.
I don’t think the wallet stuck at the back of the phone is weird at all, I see more and more people having this kind of devices on their smartphone so it’s a natural and innocent looking object.
You can get the peek very quickly, and just by placing back the phone in your pocket, you can get the information. It’s a modern tool, easy to use and which will allow you to do miracles if you use it well.
Overall rating : I think I was more pleased by the working than by the object and the potential of it, I already have my peek devices on me every time so I won’t be using this. But this is a good and solid release that will please most mentalist out there, if you like what you see on the trailer, you won’t be disappointed by what you receive, 3/4 hearts
As for the difficulty level, if you already master a peek technic, this won’t be hard to use, 2/5 stars.
Similar products : Telethough pad and wallet are two other devices which allow you to do the same thing but are hidden in different things.