Following celebrity trends can be a good way to waste time. But in the case of Mobli – Share the Moment, celebs aren’t just using the service, they’re investing in it. At Austin’s SXSW earlier this month, Mobli debuted version 2.0, which boasts investments from actors Leonardo DiCaprio and reportedly Tobey Maguire, according to Forbes. Other celebs, such as Paris Hilton and Lance Armstrong, are using the photo and video sharing service for iPhone and iPod Touch, too.
The Instagram competitor (a bandwagon I never jumped on), Mobli’s network provides a real-time glimpse of photos from everywhere of anything. Although I had some difficulty creating a Mobli account—I went with Facebook Connect and repeatedly received an “oops” message—I was impressed with how easy the app makes it to find people or channels to follow. Once you’re connected in the app, you can browse recent updates, posts from near your location, or by specific user or channel, such as fashion, pets or entertainment.
New in Mobil 2.0 is the darkroom, which makes uploading your own photos even slicker. After you’ve selected a camera roll image or taken a live photo, pop into darkroom to add filters (18 were added), frames, or effects, such as Hawkeye, which sharpens image detail to give a stylized look. When you’re messing with filters, I love that Mobli displays six versions at once. This makes it easy to compare looks without a lot of unnecessary back and forth application. When you post an image, you can select which channels to tag (use the more button to search for a specific keyword) and also simultaneously share the upload to Facebook and Twitter. Right now I’m only seeing support for channel tagging—I hope optional keywords or event-specific channels can be created in the future.
Mobli is relatively easy to use (there’s a small learning curve) and its redesign is top notch. Because you don’t have to spend much time setting up a social network, you can be seeing and sharing photo and video in seconds. Take notice, Mobli is worth a look.
