Belkin’s new face tracking iPhone holder always points to you

Why spend $ 250 on Amazon’s new, auto-rotating face tracker Echo Show 10 smart display when the new Belkin Magnetic phone holder with face tracking turns your iPhone 12 into a standalone display with similar smart features (minus Amazon sliding a camera around your home) for only $ 65?

If you’ve ever had to nibble your neck to follow a recipe video while bustling around the kitchen or stopped a workout routine to reposition your smartphone as a new pose made it difficult to see the instructor, so you can already see the value of Belkin Echo Show 10 Alternative. The mount is battery powered so you can position it anywhere in your line of sight without being held back by a power cord, but a rechargeable battery would certainly have been preferred over the three AAA batteries that this thing will likely eat in one. no time since they are powered. an electric motor mechanism.

The stand can rotate 360 ​​degrees so you can even set it up on an island and have it follow your movements in every corner of the kitchen, but it has some limitations. Movements are limited to horizontal rotation, so while the stand can be adjusted vertically from -15 to 30 degrees, you’ll have to do this part manually. Its use of MagSafe to hold a smartphone securely in place in landscape or portrait orientation also means that the holder is only compatible with the iPhone 12 range and future iPhones, assuming Apple does not abandon MagSafe from so early.

The other issue with Belkin’s new Magnetic Phone Holder with Face Tracking is that it cannot be used for video calls. It relies on the iPhone 12’s own front camera and a new app from Belkin for its face tracking capabilities, which means shooting or streaming content from social media services such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube all happen. via Belkin’s own app. Therefore, it cannot be used to make video calls through services like Facetime, Zoom, or Skype, which all depend on their own iOS apps.

The fact that the medium “is not recommended for video content with multiple faces” further complicates its use for video chat. according to Belkin. There is no reason why you cannot use the mount in fed-stop mode to keep your iPhone 12 in place during a Zoom call with lots of family or friends, but when it’s powered onlooks like he’s going to have a hard time deciding which face to follow in a crowd.