[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ntel recently released Pocket Avatars, an instant messaging app for iOS and Android that puts you in the role of one of several animated characters.
The world of social messaging apps is a little bit crowded at this point. Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp platforms are going up against competitors like Snapchat and Kik with increasingly undifferentiated feature sets. This is made even harder with countless spinoffs and clones being released seemingly every day.
Pocket Avatars attempts to differentiate itself by allowing you to shoot 15 second videos in the form of an animated avatar. It comes with a blowfish, but a number of options featuring everyone from the Internet character Annoying Orange to Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan can be downloaded.
The app works by accessing your camera and microphone and synchronizing with your head and lip movements. This isn’t Pixar level lip dub quality, but the technology is pretty cool. I could see kids having a lot of fun with this.
The app is available for free with some paid avatar downloads available.
I spent a while trying to figure out how to properly demo this. Screenshots don’t do it justice.
My grandma once butchered the name Hootie and the Blowfish into Fish and the Blowhards. I vowed that if I ever started a cover band, we would perform under that name. Ladies and gentlemen, the day has come.
