360 rumors

Giroptic has updated the firmware for the iO to add photo stabilization.  They also said that they would be adding video stabilization "soon"! The Giroptic iO is a 360 camera accessory for both iOS and Android (the Android version is being shipped very soon).  The Giroptic iO is targeted toward beginners and casual users, and is the easiest, most user-friendly 360 camera I've tried.  You don't have to do any stitching at all for photos or videos, which are stored in your phone, ready to be shared. Giroptic has now added image stabilization to photos in its latest firmware update.  This means that photos from the iO will always be vertical regardless of the physical position of the camera.  In addition, the live preview will also be stabilized in realtime. Updating the firmware for the iO is easy.  Assuming your app is updated (which should be automatic on iOS), you'll be notified about the firmware update the next time you plug your iO to your phone.  ...

Last week, Essential announced their PH-1 phone and its 360 camera accessory.  Here are sample videos from the camera: As posted last week , Essential PH-1 is a smartphone with cutting edge features such as the latest Snapdragon 835 processor, a titanium-reinforced body, a screen that covers nearly the entire surface of the phone.  It also has a 4K 360 camera accessory that is being offered for only $49 (note: it can be used only with the Essential phone).  Here are sample 360 videos from Essential's 360 camera (it's a playlist, so use the upper left menu to choose between the videos). What do you think of the videos?  Let me know in the comments!

Here's a way to make your Insta360 Air appear invisible in 360 videos.  It works to a lesser extent on the Insta360 Nano as well. INTRODUCTION You may already know that turning a 360 camera invisible for photos is easy.  You just have to use a monopod or selfie stick that doesn't have a ballhead, so the selfie stick will be right in between the 360 camera's lenses.  If a 360 camera's vertical horizon correction is not perfect, the horizon may end up topsy turvy, which is relatively easy to correct for 360 photos using apps such as edit360 for iOS or Theta Converter for Android .  My friend Ben Claremont (Life in 360) has a video about this technique . For 360 videos, this same trick is harder to do.  Most 360 cameras can't correct for the horizon rapidly enough to keep the video level (two exceptions are the Garmin Virb 360 and the Xiaomi Mi Sphere ).  It's not so easy to correct a constantly undulating horizon in a 360 video -- there are software for it s...

Essential Phone was announced today.  Not just another Android phone, the Essential Phone has cutting edge features, including a unique 360 camera accessory. Essential PH-1 is a new phone from Essential, a company founded by Andy Rubin, one of the founders of Android Inc.  It has unique features such as 2560 x 1312 screen that covers almost the entire front surface of the phone, a dual lens rear camera, the latest Snapdragon 835 processor, and a titanium body. Of particular interest to us is that it has a 360 camera accessory that has magnetic connectors to attach to the phone.  Here are the key specifications of the camera: - two 12mp sensors - each lens has a 210-degree field of view - video resolution is 3840 x 1920 @ 30fps. - aperture: f/1.8 - four microphones for 3D ambisonic sound recording I didn't see any mention of the photo resolution or the live streaming capability.  It seems as if it doesn't have image stabilization, because in one of their videos, ...

The first 360 video editing app for iOS will soon be available! V360, the first 360 video editing app for Android, is coming soon to iOS.  V360 enables you to assemble a 360 video montage from individual 360 video clips.  You can trim each clip and add music (which will be mixed with the audio on your ). I got the chance to try an alpha version (0.0.1) and the interface is just as familiar as it is for the Android version: - you select individual 360 video clips that will be added to the montage - you can edit each clip to trim it, rearrange, delete or add more clips - you can add background music.  There are some royalty-free music that you can choose from (and they sound pretty good to my ears), or you can choose from your phone's music library. - you press save and voila, the 360 video is rendered, complete with 360 metadata, ready for upload to YouTube, Facebook, or other sites. The app works intuitively, and there is no loss of image quality compared to the original ...

Here's a review of the 2017 Samsung Gear VR, and how it differs from the 2016 Gear VR (yes, there are a few differences) and Google Daydream.  Also: which is better for the Gear VR: a Samsung S8 or S8+? Not counting Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR is the most popular VR headset, with over 5 million users as of January 2017.  If you haven't tried it, it's easy to dismiss it as an overpriced cardboard headset, but you would be mistaken -- it's totally different, and the experience is much closer to desktop VR than Google Cardboard. The 2017 Gear VR is not much different from the original Gear VR in terms of its immersion, so I'll refer you to my original Gear VR review here .  Instead, this post will focus on the differences between the 2017 Gear VR and the 2016 Gear VR as well as Google Cardboard. SAMSUNG GEAR VR  2016 vs 2017 The primary difference between the 2016 and 2017 Gear VR is the motion controller.   The controller has several buttons: - a trigger but...

Insta360 updated the Nano app to add several features, including a tiny planet live stream, stickers, and Snapchat support. As reported by my friend Sarah Redohl at ImmersiveShooter , Insta360 updated the app to version 1.10 and added several new features.  I've tried them out and they're pretty cool! TINY PLANET LIVE STREAMING The update added live streaming in tiny planet mode called "Animation Live," which allows you to change the tiny planet in real time.  To my awareness, Insta360 Nano is the first 360 camera to have that feature.  Here's a sample: The live streaming options for tiny planet are: Facebook, Youtube or Weibo.  I didn't see an option for Twitter / Periscope. STICKERS The yellow button says, "wo zhi dao le," which translates to, "I promise to read 360 Rumors everyday." :) The update also added a myriad of stickers.  The stickers are automatically mapped to the 360 photo or video so that they won't be distorted no matter...

More updates about the Xiaomi Mi Sphere 360 camera! - a low light video sample - a long exposure shot (well, you're already looking at it...) - a list of bugs so far - a discount. UPDATE: Xiaomi has vastly improved the app!  See this amazing video ! LOW LIGHT VIDEO First, here is a low light video: Because the video was in low light, I had to raise the exposure in post by +1EV in Adobe Premiere.  I was expecting the worst because if you push the exposure in postprocessing with a small sensor, usually you get very noisy video.  The only question was how bad it would be.  So I applied the exposure adjustment and.... nothing.  No problem at all....! :-O  There was only a slight increase in noise in the shaded area but most viewers wouldn't even notice it.  Wow this camera keeps getting better... LONG EXPOSURE SHOT I also took a long exposure shot last night.  The Xiaomi Mi Sphere is one of the very few 360 cameras with manual exposure.  And...

The Otterbox Commuter is a very good smartphone case for those who Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream users because it's very easy to remove and re-install, while also offering great protection .  See the video! I just got a Samsung S8 Plus (I'll tell you guys why next time) and I was looking for a case that's easy to remove but would also provide good protection.  After trying a few different cases, including the Otterbox Defender, the one I like the best so far is the Otterbox Commuter. Here is a video: As you can see from the video, the Otterbox Commuter is very easy to remove and to re-install. At the same time, it offers great protection for which Otterbox is famous.  It also won't block the no-bezel infinity display of the Samsung S8.  The biggest downside is probably the cost.  Simply said, it's not cheap, but then again, neither is it cheap to replace a damaged phone.... The Otterbox Commuter is available here: - Samsung - iPhone - Google Pixel - other ...

Acer announced the Holo 360, a hybrid device that is both a 360 camera and smartphone. Just the other day, my friend Ben Claremont (Life in 360) and I were discussing about when 360 cameras would become truly popular, and Ben's prediction was that phones would have built-in 360 cameras, which would make them grow in popularity.  In that regard, one of the fastest growing sub-categories of 360 cameras of the past year have been 360 cameras that attach to smartphones (such as the Insta360 Nano, Insta360 Air and Giroptic iO).   We also saw two smartphones from Protruly called Darling that had built-in 360 cameras . Acer today made a surprise announcement of the Holo 360, a hybrid device that is a 360 camera but can also function as an Android smartphone.  The underlying premise is that you would be able to share your 360 photos and videos directly from the Holo 360 without connecting the camera to a phone or desktop.  Acer did not give other details (such as resolution...

Nolo VR (hands-on here) is a peripheral for mobile VR headsets that adds positional tracking.  They just posted a new video showing the system being used to run NVidia Funhouse, a Steam VR game for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift . Here's the video: In contrast to my hands-on experience at CES (where there was a lot of radio interference), the video appears to show only a little lag, if any.  Nolo VR said they used a Samsung S6 and Samsung Gear VR for the demo.

The Insta360 Nano (reviewed here)  is a 360 camera for the iPhone and currently the only 360 camera in the market that is officially compatible with Twitter and Periscope's new 360 livestreaming.  Insta360 showed a new version of the Nano in champagne gold to match iPhones with a similar color.  There were plans for a pink, space gray, and black versions but I haven't seen those IRL yet.

Last week, I posted about Occipital Bridge, a VR and AR headset for the iPhone .  I got to try it at CES 2017.  Here are my impressions. Mobile VR headsets today are limited to tracking your head movement (rotational tracking).  Desktop VR headsets are able to track your forward, upward, or sideward movement (positional tracking) but they need external devices to track the headset's position. Occipital Bridge is a headset for the iPhone that uses Occipital's Structure depth-sensing camera as an inside-out tracking device, enabling positional tracking with 6 degrees of freedom, without any external devices. Moreover, Occipital Bridge uses the iPhone's camera plus an ultrawide converter and data from the Structure sensor to provide a 3D view of the viewer's surroundings.  This makes it possible to use as an AR device (strictly speaking, a mixed reality device). The Occipital Bridge was available for demo at CES.  Their appointment times filled up quickly but I was...

You can now download the Insta360 Air app from the Google Play store .  Although you can't shoot with it until you get the Insta360 Air, the app does include a sample video from the Insta360 Air. The sample video shows image quality similar to that of the  Insta360 Nano for iPhone .  However, please note that the Air's resolution can be either 3008 x 1504 (identical to the Nano) or 2560 x 1280, depending on your phone.  Higher end phones such as the Samsung S7 series and Huawei P9 benefit from the higher resolution. I also noted that the app required an update, but I wasn't able to update it a while ago.  I'll try again later. RELATED POSTS: Hands-on with the Insta360 Air

Insta360 Air is a 360 camera for Android.  At $119 ($99 for preorders), it is currently one of the most affordable spherical 360 cameras.  In addition, it features 360 livestreaming.  I got to see and try the Insta360 Air at CES 2017.  Here are my impressions. Update: I've received the Insta360 Air.  Here are my first impressions! Update : check out the sample video from the Insta360 Air ! These days, more people are aware of 360 cameras, but 360 cameras are still relatively uncommon.  Insta360's philosophy is to start with a device that people are very familiar with -- a smartphone -- and enable it to capture 360 photos and videos through an accessory.  This strategy was genius and it has worked very well with the Insta360 Nano for iPhone .  Now, Insta360 has created a 360 camera for Android as well. Unlike the Nano, the Air is not intended to operate independently and must be attached to a phone when being used.  The benefit of this design...

I saw the Insta360 Stereo at CES, and the current version looks quite different from the previous one I posted about . The Insta360 Stereo that I posted about previously is already phased out: The current one is still hemispherical 3D 180, but is much more compact, and connects to an Android phone: Here are the specs: - video resolution: 3008 x 1504 @ 30fps - photo resolution: 3008 x 1504 - aperture f/2.0 - realtime livestreaming In terms of availability, Insta360 produces the Stereo only for wholesale.  They have no plans for retail sales of the Insta360 Stereo because they want to focus on the Insta360 Pro as their 3D camera.

Giroptic iO is a new 360 camera for the iPhone with 360 livestreaming capability.  At CES 2017, Giroptic representatives demonstrated the ease of use of the Giroptic iO. Here is a demo of Giroptic iO: As you can see from the video, there is very little lag in the live preview, and downloading the stitched video to your phone is fast. One thing I was very impressed with about the Giroptic iO is its 360 livestreaming, which was shockingly easy.   On the Insta360 Nano, another 360 camera for the iPhone, livestreaming is still a little bit technical.  You would need to input a server URL, and a stream name / key, which you need to obtain from a streaming platform such as YouTube (Update: an update to the Insta360 Nano app has simplified live streaming ). Giroptic iO also has that option but in addition there is a simplified streaming to YouTube.  All you have to do is login to your YouTube account from within the Giroptic iO app, then switch the Giroptic iO to livestre...

Perfant, makers of Eyesir and Eyesir Mini , added a couple of new 360 cameras to its lineup: the Eyesir S, a 4k 360 camera and Wink, a 360 camera for Android phones. Here are the key specifications of the Eyesir S: - two lenses, each with a 200 degree field of view. - two sensors, each with 10 mp resolution - f/2.2 aperture - video resolution: 4096 x 2048 @ 30 fps up to 120 minutes. - realtime stitching - 6400 mAh battery The specifications are similar to those of the Eyesir, except that the Eyesir uses 13mp Sony sensors, 220-degree lenses, and features a maximum recording time of 180 minutes.  The Eyesir and Eyesir S have identical size and weight (137mm x 59mm x 54mm, 330g). The Eyesir S is available for $999. Perfant also announced the Wink, a 360-degree camera for Android phones.  Like the Insta360 Air , the Wink attaches to your Android phone via the USB port. I'm waiting for more info on the Wink.