Stefan Mileschin

Earlier this year, if you recall, a startup called Satarii started shipping the Swivl, a crowd-funded smartphone dock designed for motion tracking. Now the company is back, this time with a bigger model that can accommodate tablets and DSLRs. Actually, make that two docks: there's a "Basic White" model and a "Premium Silver" version with some additional features. (We'll let you figure out which is which in the photo above.) As before, they can pan 360 degrees, but now they're now sturdy enough to hold items as heavy as 10 pounds, and use Bluetooth for pair with devices. That's good news if you're the owner of an older iDevice and would've had to use a clumsy 30-pin adapter. The base also now packs a rechargeable battery, as opposed to AAs.

What the premium version adds is a remote control and wireless mic, which you can control with your finger or pin to your person (or pet, or whoever) so that you can track movements automatically. The remote is also more compact than it was before, which should make it more viable as a bona fide wearable device. Finally, the premium model has built-in speakers, in case you need to project a bit farther during conference calls.

In addition to support for larger devices, though, Swivl is opening up its platform to developers: it released an iOS SDK today, and said an Android equivalent is in development. Meanwhile, the company's whipped up some apps of its own, including one that takes advantage of that new DSLR compatibility. In that particular program, you can control your camera's shutter over Bluetooth, as well as steer the dock so that it rotates where you want it to aim. (Note: this only works with still photos for now, not video. Remote previews for photos are also coming.) Meanwhile, Satarii also created a video capture app for iOS, along with one for video conferencing. That, too, is iOS-only for the time being. In any case, the hardware itself is up on Kickstarter now, with the Basic White model going for $149 and the Premium Silver edition priced at $229. They're expected to ship in June 2013. In the meantime, we've got hands-on shots and a quick demo video embedded after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/11/s...ilver-premium/