VR or Viewmaster? Samsung releases Gear 360 Camera, aimed at VR and Oculus Rift crowd

Along with the release of the Galaxy S7, the big buzz is for the Gear 360 Camera, an extreme dual-fisheye based unit that, combined with the Galaxy S7 and the Oculus Rift, gives the mobile phone market a purpose-built camera to start the journey into Virtual Reality content creation. Though not necessarily able to grab content you can completely walk through and experience, you can, much like using Google’s Cardboard to watch YouTube videos you can turn your head and watch in different positions, create this content with the combination of the Gear360, the Galaxy S7, and some software to get you on the road to content creation in this new format.

Gear 360 with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Oculus

Here’s specifics from Samsung on the Gear 360 camera;

Gear 360 is designed to deliver immersive photos and video at a high resolution (3840 x 1920) that is viewable in 2D via the mobile app or in 360 via the Gear VR.

Compact Design with High Performance for Every Activity

With a light and compact, spherical design (weighing only 153 grams), Gear 360 maximizes portability, so consumers can film anywhere—in their home, in the middle of the city, or in the middle of the wilderness. Gear 360 features a user-friendly tripod and also supports the industry standard thread sizes to easily work with a wide selection of accessories and mounts currently available on the market.

Gear 360 is splash-proof and dust resistant and is smaller than a baseball, so it can go almost anywhere, to capture the full sphere of memories. The new camera leverages the best of the Samsung Galaxy experience so users can easily edit and share their videos and pictures via select Galaxy smartphones, and are able to immerse themselves in their own content through Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus.

Samsung Gear 360 is equipped with dual fisheye lenses, each with high resolution image sensors, capable of capturing 3840 x 1920, 360-degree video, or 30 megapixel still images. Users can also choose to shoot 180-degree wide angle video and images with only using one side of the camera lens. Built to capture life’s everyday moments, Gear 360 offers Bright Lens F2.0, which creates high resolution images and full panoramic videos even in low-light conditions.

The Galaxy Experience

Gear 360 is compatible with select Samsung smartphones including the newly released Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. When synced, users will be able to preview their footage in real time, using the phone as a remote. Gear 360 will automatically give users the option to view and save footage on their smartphone, or share it directly to their favorite social channels, while performing a quick and easy stitch of the content to fuse together the two fields of view. All of these features will be available through a dedicated mobile application for download from Google Play. In addition, PC software is available for more in-depth editing capabilities.

Gear 360 will be available in Q2 2016 in select countries. Storage via micro SD card can accommodate cards up to 128 gigabytes in capacity.

Samsung Gear360 Specifications

*All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.

**Battery performance may vary depending on configuration, and device usage.