Samsung first revealed its 360-degree video camera at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year and now, the company is finally ready to release it on April 29th.
The Samsung Gear 360 features two cameras crammed into a sphere, which looks strikingly similar to Portal 2’s Wheatley. It even comes with a tripod that makes the whole package given off an adorable robot vibe. Aww.
In more serious news, each camera is capable of capturing video at 3,840 x 1,920 resolution at 30 frames per second. Video is stitched together seamlessly into near-4k resolution, and can be viewed on your phone by swiping around. You can also use it to capture 30 megapixel still images.
You’ll need a lot of space to store all those videos and photos, so Samsung is allowing users to bring up to 128GB of storage via microSD card. This equates to about 140 minutes of video recording, or approximately 0.89 Justin Bieber concerts filmed start-to-finish.
The camera is also IP53 certified, which means it’s dust and splash proof. Don’t expect to take the camera underwater like you can with other action cameras – it’s a little disappointing that Samsung didn’t make the Gear 360 waterproof like its Galaxy S7 smartphone.
Samsung’s VR vision
Samsung is building out its virtual reality ecosystem with its Gear 360 camera to help users create content for its Gear VR headset. Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge users can preview a live feed from the camera and download footage to their phones. This means you can cut and upload 360-degree video from your phone directly to support sites like YouTube and Facebook.
Although the camera is launching in two days, Samsung still hasn’t announced pricing for it in the US. In Europe, the camera will cost 350 euros, which is roughly $ 400 USD. This puts it squarely up against the Kodak SP360 4K, which retails for $ 449 per camera. But unlike the Gear 360, the Kodak requires two cameras to create true 360-degree video, making the Gear 360 a bargain if it can hit a $ 400 price point.
LG is also releasing its own 360 camera and VR headset, and we’ll have to wait to see how they compare.
- Read our full review of the Samsung Gear 360 camera.