Virtual reality continues to be the Holy Grail for electronics and technology companies right now, so it’s no wonder that VR headsets and 360-degree cameras are getting quite a lot of attention over the past year or so. With every company seemingly starting to bet big on virtual reality, two of the largest and most well-known electronics companies in the world, Samsung and LG, both announced their respective 360-degree cameras at the Mobile World Congress trade show that was held in the Spanish city of Barcelona last February. While LG’s 360 Cam went on pre-order a few weeks back at $200, Samsung’s Gear 360 also went on pre-order in Netherlands last month, and is currently available for purchase in the company’s home country of South Korea for 399,300 won ($341).
The device is also currently listed as ‘Coming Soon’ on B&H Photo Video but the online retailer had originally put the device up for pre-order at $350 last month, but the ETA is only said to be Fall, 2016. However, it is now the turn for VR enthusiasts in the United Kingdom to get a chance to pre-order the device, as British online retailer, MobileFun, has listed the Gear 360 on its at £299.99 with a mid-June shipping time frame. While there’s nothing specific about that shipping date, it’s still a whole lot less vague and a whole lot more exciting than ‘Fall 2016’, which is what B&H Photo Video seems to be suggesting at the moment, as mentioned already.
Taking a closer look at Samsung’s Gear 360 spherical, panoramic camera, the device comes with dual fish-eye lenses with 15-megapixel image sensors that are capable of capturing high-resolution (3840 x 1920) 360-degree videos at 30 fps and 30-megapixel still photographs. The camera is also fully compatible with Samsung’s VR ecosystem and can sync with the company’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones, as well as Windows PCs for stitching and editing images and videos. 360-degree images and videos shot through the camera can also be viewed through Samsung’s Gear VR headsets. The device comes with 1 GB of RAM and supports up to 128 GB microSD cards. The Gear 360 also carries a 1,350 mAh battery and supports Wi-Fi ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and USB 2.0.
