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Samsung could be joining the 360-degree video camera space, with a device dubbed the Gear 360.
Sammobile reports that Samsung will announce the Gear 360 alongside the Galaxy S7. That phone, the latest Samsung flagship, should be announced by the end of this month: Samsung has scheduled the Unpacked press conference for February 21.
The Gear 360 will reportedly operate much like Ricoh’s Theta S: it’ll capture 360-degree images through a pair of fisheye lenses, and stream that content directly to your phone. Samsung’s Gear VR is one of the best VR devices you can buy right now: it’s limited to recent Samsung smartphones, but it offers a compelling VR experience at an attractive price. But content remains limited. Gadgets like the Gear 360 could help fill that content gap, lending average users the ability to record VR-friendly content.
Samsung’s Project Beyond.
James Martin/CNET
The Gear 360 joins and increasingly crowded market, so we’ll need to wait and see what this device will offer over others already available on the market. We also got our first taste of what could be the device’s predecessor back in 2014: it was called “Project Beyond” then, and promised to capture 360-degree, 3D video for Gear VR owners. The Gear 360 would have to be a bit easier to tote than that saucer-shaped contraption if it’s going to catch on, though.
We’ll likely know more about the Gear 360 (and the Galaxy S7) in just a few weeks, at Samsung’s Unpacked event in Barcelona, during Mobile World Congress.
