DiCaprio-Backed Mobli Pushes Major Revamp for SXSW

Not missing an opportunity to make an impression upon hipsters, Mobli is going to squeeze all the juice it can get out of SXSW with a major app revamp, and a party in Austin to boot.

Mobli, which counts Leonardo DiCaprio as one of its investors ($4M funding to date), is dubbing the new version, ‘Mobli 2.0’. Personally I feel they should have gone with ‘The New Mobli’ — zing!

Besides a Pinterest-inspired interface, the new version packs a major upgrade to the camera, along with a set of features to edit, touch-up and enhance photos, all bundled under a new section in the app called, ‘Darkroom’.

Rebuilt from the ground up, the new camera now includes real-time tilt-shift and even real-time video filters. Focus can now be locked and white balance set. This is on top of the 18 brand-new photo filters, superimposed gridlines and a self-timer.

The more significant part of this update is the Darkroom, which users can enter after they take a shot. Photos can be beautified with auto-correction for lighting and skin detail. A ‘Hawkeye’ button is an instant color and contrast enhancement feature, and there are now nine more frames.

One of my favorite things about Mobli is its context and location-based features. In drunken honor of SXSW, Mobli will feature one exclusively available for folks in Austin (see screenshot below).

And if photos don’t express enough words for you, Mobli also built in a new messaging system into the app version 2.0

All-in-all, Mobli 2.0 is like Instagram on crack. Some may hate it, others will get hooked.