The Samsung Galaxy S4 is due to hit the market later on this month, but already, iOS developers have begun the task of offering Apple device users some alternatives to the new, S4-specific features. Earlier on this week we featured DuoCam app which introduces the Dual Shot feature for iPhone, an app which seeks to replicate one of Galaxy S4’s most applauded features, and today, an iPhone-made take on the Smart Pause feature has just emerged over at the App Store. With so many different applications making up Sammy’s “Smart” range, it’s difficult to keep track of them all, but Smart Pause, which automatically pauses media when a user looks away from their device, has somewhat manifested itself on iOS in the form of LookAway Player.
Okay, so it’s not a like-for-like simulation of Smart Pause, since developer Cube26 would have needed to bypass restrictions within the Apple API to offer such a feature across the board. However, it does bring at least a taster of the functionality Samsung Galaxy S4 users will enjoy from Smart Pause when the handset finally hits the market in late April.
LookAway operates as a YouTube player, but with its own facial recognition feature ready to pause your streaming media whenever your attention becomes diverted, you’ll never miss a beat. This, in itself, is a neat little feature, but perhaps even more interesting, is that when a user utters the word “Shh!”, audio is automatically muted. It’s a very, very cool little additional quirk, although might make you look a little bit on the crazy side if used to excess in public.
The eye-tracking feature is the most important bit of LookAway Player though, and in actual fact, it works fairly well. A bit hit-and-miss at times, as you might expect, but with future updates and improvements, it could bring a very respectable touch of Smart Pause to iOS.
Perhaps, in future, we could see Apple implement a similar feature to iOS, although with the company having accused its bitter rival of flagrant copyright infringement on numerous occasions, LookAway probably the closest we’re going to be getting for the time being.
Still, considering LookAway Player is absolutely free, it’s worth checking out; if nothing else, for the “Shh!” feature.
(Source: LookAway Player for iPhone on App Store)
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