As Samsung's flagship smartphone for 2013, the Galaxy S4, gears up to hit the shelves, iOS developers are already working on the much-touted Smart Pause eye-tracking feature the Android device sports for iDevices.
The LookAway Player from Cube 26 is one such app that will bring the much-lauded Smart Pause feature of the Galaxy S4 to iPhone and iPad. The Smart Pause feature automatically pauses media when a user glances away from his/her device and the LookAway Player app for iOS looks to replicate the same.
iOS users will now be able to get a taste of the eye-tracking feature thanks to the innovative app from Cube 26.
"LookAway Player is a standard YouTube player that is powered by Cube26's vision control capabilities. Two features currently included in the Lookaway Player are Lookaway to pause video midstream and Shh! to mute/unmute volume," notes the app description.
The LookAway app operates like the YouTube player, but with the facial recognition feature thrown in, which allows users to pause the streaming media whenever they look away from the iDevice. Pretty nifty, you think? Another neat and somewhat quirky feature is the usage of "Shh!"
In case you're wondering what this functionality is, a user simply needs to utter "Shh!" and the audio mutes or unmutes automatically.
The eye-tracking feature is at the very core of the LookAway Player app and works decently, for the most part. The minor nitpicks would improve with future updates.
Who knows, in the near future we could well see Apple implement a similar feature in iOS 7. However, given the constant patent infringement battles and lawsuits frenemies Apple and Samsung lock horns in, perhaps the LookAway Player could be the closest we'll get to the real thing.
The LookAway Player is a free app and is compatible with iPhone 4S and above, and iPad 2 and above.
