Gear 360

The Gear 360 is a new, consumer-friendly 360-degree camera that integrates with the rest of Samsung's VR ecosystem and allows users to easily capture real 360-degrees images. It was introduced at Mobile World Congress 2016 in South Korea and is scheduled for the second quarter of this year.

Features

This 360-degree camera can work either in a single-lens mode or in a dual-lens mode. The single-lens mode is used primarily for video capture, while the dual-lens mode is used for shooting fully immersive panoramic images.

The construction of this camera is outdoor-friendly and built to withstand rough handling, dust, rain, and just about anything else that comes hand-in-hand with extreme sports and outdoor exploration.

Hardware

The Samsung Gear 360 camera measures just 66.7 x 56.2 x 60 mm - slightly smaller than the size of a baseball - and weighs only 153g when the battery is included. It's designed to be easily transportable and attached to various pieces of equipment using the standard camera 1/4 inch thread.

The main control element is a big red record button on the top side of the camera. A small .05-inch PMOLED display conveniently displays useful status information, which allows users to keep eyes off their smartphones and focus on the action ahead.

The front and rear lenses each capture 180 degrees horizontally and vertically, creating a seamless and complete 360-degree field of view. The camera's dual lens setup also captures still 30MP photos that create panoramic images at 7776 x 3888. This is Samsung uses their proprietary Bright Lens 2.0 aperture that has been engineered to perform exceptionally well in low-light conditions.

Image processing is taken care of by a DRIMe5s image processor and 1GB of RAM and power is provided by a removable battery with 1350 mAh capacity.

Technical Specifications

• Camera: Dual CMOS 15MP Sensor, Dual F2.0 Fisheye Lens
• Resolution (movie): up to 3840 x 1920 (30 fps) for dual cam and up to 2560 x 1440 (30 fps) for single cam
• Resolution (still): up to 7776 x 3888 (30M) for dual cam and 3072 x 1728 (5M) for single cam
• Dimension: 66.7 x 56.2 x 60 mm (153 g incl. battery)
• Display: 0.5" (72 x 32) PMOLED
• Memory: 1GB RAM, MicroSD Card (up to 128GB)
• Sensors: Gyro, Accelerometer
• Battery: 1350mAh
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth® v4.1, USB 2.0, NFC
• Codec: MP4 (H.265), JPEG
• Compatible Devices: Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+, Note5, S7, S7 edge
• Chipset: DRIMe5s

Software

The dedicated mobile application greatly extends available recording options and add the support for time lapse and looping video. The camera works with all phones that can run the required Samsung Gear 360 Manager app, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5.

Gear 360 is also compatible with the Google Street View app. That means you can capture and instantly publish your photo spheres to Street View, and invite the world over to your street. Click to get the Google Street View app.