Samsung introduces 360-degree video recording to the masses

At Samsung's Galaxy S7 event, the company's new flagship smartphone was not the only thing that scored a lot of attention. The company also announced the Gear 360, a 360-degree camera meant to help users shoot videos for the GearVR, which Mark Zuckerberg was invited to talk about because of the partnership with Facebook subsidiary Oculus that helped create the headset.

Many companies are now taking a shot at the 360-degree camera market, but the most compelling thing about the small and handheld device is how consumer-centric it is. Like the GearVR, Samsung appears to be using the Gear 360 to tap into the low end of the VR market. This is quite different from the expensive, professional-level products from Nokia and Lytro. As VR headsets become more popular, Samsung knows users are going to want to easily capture fully-immersive video for these devices.

The consumer-centric nature of the product means it is not as powerful as other expensive 360-degree cameras that have come out. The Gear 360 uses two fisheye lenses with 195-degree angles. Similar to other cameras, it stitches the photos together into a sphere on the software side. It can take 30MP still images and capture videos at 3840x1920-pixel resolution, a little less than 4K quality. The spherical camera also comes with a small tripod mounted on the bottom that can be used as a hand grip and is water- and dust-resistant. No price has been announced for the camera yet, but the GearVR is $99. It seems Samsung is wading into the territory of China manufacturers, so it is likely that the company's products will have an impact on the low-end of the market.

See a comparison table of 360-degree video camera suppliers on GlobalSources.com