Going 360 degrees with Samsung – Gear 360 announced

Full credit to Samsung for their vision that saw the world of Virtual Reality as a clear future path for their company way back when they first announced the Gear VR.  Now, at Mobile World Congress 2016, Samsung completes the content circle with a 360 degree camera.

Coming in the second quarter of this year, the Gear 360 is a small sphere with two lenses which together create a full 360 degree video experience.

Viewed live on a Samsung Smartphone (and Gear VR if you choose), or recorded and uploaded online, 360 video is already taking off in a big way, without there being a huge amount of options for content creation.

We’ve been super impressed with the 360fly, and while that simple little single lens camera is making waves, they’re going to now be competing for airtime with the big guys – LG’s 360 camera and now Samsung too.

 

It makes complete sense for a Samsung user to be able to create, preview and view content made in 360 degree using Samsung product.  The Gear 360 captures high-resolution (3840×1920) 360-degree video that also supports 30 megapixel still images.

It looks nifty and should do quite well – we look forward to testing one out for you!

Samsung Gear 360 Specifications

Camera	Two CMOS 15 megapixel fisheye cameras
Image Processor	DRIMe5s
Video	MP4 (H.265) – Dual Lens: 3840×1920 (30fps)
Image	JPEG – Dual Lens: 30M (7776×3888)
Audio	Codec: MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ Format: MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG
Memory	microSD card (Up to 128GB)
Features	Display –  0.5” (72 x 32) PMOLED
	Shooting mode –   Video, Photo, Time Lapse Video,  Looping Video
	Camera mode – Dual/Single Lens mode Camera Setting – Sharpness, White Balance, HDR, EV, ISO limit, Wind cut
	IP53 Certified Dust and Water Resistant
Samsung Services	Samsung Gear 360 App, PC S/W (Gear 360 ActionDirector)
Connectivity	WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz) WiFi Direct, BT v4.1 USB 2.0 NFC
Sensor	Accelerometer, Gyroscope
Dimension	66.7×56.2×60 mm
Weight	153g (including battery)
Battery	1,350mAh Li-ion

Trevor Long travelled to Barcelona as a guest of Huawei, details at the EFTM Disclosures & Commercial Interests page