Aside from the much anticipated Galaxy phones which Samsung unveiled the day before the official commencement of the 2016 Mobile world Congress (MWC), the South Korean electronics giant also unveiled its Gear 360 camera yesterday.
The Gear 360 is a cool looking spherical ball-only slightly larger than a baseball. It weighs 153 g and comes with 2 f/2.0 fish eye lenses/195 degree field-of-view cameras. The views from both cameras are then combined by the software in any compatible Galaxy smartphone and cut where both points overlap in order to create a 360 degree video.
Samsung announced that the device would be available for purchase in the 2nd quarter of 2016 but failed to mention a price.
Other features of the Gear 360 include:
- Captures videos in high definition, 3,840 pixels x 1,920 pixels,
- A small on-camera display for status and settings
- Time-lapse Video and Looping Video modes
- Dust- and water-resistant body
- Possesses a removable and rechargeable battery
- Comes with its own small tripod/handgrip
- Comes with a standard tripod mount on bottom
- Single-lens mode for GoPro-style action cam recording
- It comes with PC software in order to allow for additional editing capabilities
- Sharpness, White Balance, HDR, EV, ISO limit and Wind cut user settings
With all these specifications, it’s easy to see that this camera was made for the everyday person. It’s definitely Samsung’s way of encouraging more of us to create VR content on our own and just the way we like it.
At the moment, only the Galaxy devices that are compatible with the Gear VR are compatible with the Gear 360 and these include the; Note5 S6,S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, S7 and S7 Edge.
Below is a video clip that’ll show you just how this device works.
